Catch Up!

It has been a while since I have updated the blog as I have been away from home for a while (and still am!). Last week I headed down to North Wales to do some work for my friend and fellow MIC Rob Johnson. I headed south through some very heavy rain however a few days scrambling with clients for Rob were not too damp and we got away without waterproofs each day.

Last weekend I then caught up with Monty for a few days play! Thankfully the weather gods were on our side and we had wall to wall sunshine all weekend. It was a bit of a challenge finding crags and climbs that Monty had not done as he lived in North Wales for a while. However we had two great days climbing at Tremadog in the sun with no midges! Armed with the new guide book we found a few routes that had been cleaned recently, finding great solid rock and great friction.

After the weekend it was back to work as I meet up with Charlie to look at some navigation in preparation for her Summer ML assessment. It was then time for holidays as I collected Laura from Manchester Airport and we headed to The Lake District. Since then we have continued to have great weather and have been out on the mountain bikes as much as possible both at Grizedale and Whinlatter.

Looks like the weather is going to turn on Sunday, however that does not bother me as I am inside next week at the Tamworth Snowdome doing my BASI Level 1!

Wet - Dry - Wet

Last weeks weather was timed to perfection, it was wet last weekend then dried up on Monday to Friday which was nice as I had 5 days climbing on a learn to lead course at Glenmore Lodge. We visited Cummingston, The Pass of Ballater, Kingussie, Redhythe and Duntelchaig whicg gave us a great tour of the single pitch crags around Glenmore Lodge. The on Friday night the weather turned and it was wet (very) over the weekend but that did not bother me too much as I was again at Glenmore Lodge but this time working on a Navigation  weekend. I had a team of 7 for an introduction to navigation, they had all done very little however by the end of the weekend went away being able to use the 3 D's for their navigation in the mountains. After a great 7 days at Glenmore Lodge it was home to help Laura pack the house up (we are moving on Friday) as well as pack my own kit up as I am heading to North Wales on Wednesday for some Scrambling work, hopefully some rock climbing with Monty and then some more navigation work before some holiday time with Laura! July is as ever a busy month.

Rock Climbing in the Sun

I am at Glenmore Lodge this week running a 5 day Learn to Lead rock climbing course. On Monday it was damp to say the least around Aviemore so we headed towards the coast and spent the day in the dry and sun at Cummingston. We spent the day looking at climbing calls, rope work, abseiling and equalising anchors. Cummingston was busy with all those who had fled the rain inland!

Today with a drier forecast inland we headed to The Pass of Ballater were we looked at placing gear, building belays and self protecting an abseil. It was nice and dry all day although some of the cracks were still drying out from yesterdays rain. A good start to the course, tomorrow it is the students turn to get on the sharp end of the rope and it looks like it is going to stay dry.

Dry on Curved Ridge

I was across in Glen Coe on Friday to climb Curved Ridge with John and Rona. Both John and Rona have done a fair amount of hill walking in the past but were keen to try some harder scrambling. Curved ridge was the goal for the day and the forecast looked like it was going to be touch and go with heavy showers forecast. However as you can see from the pictures the sun was out while we were scrambling and we only had a 10min shower on the way down, a great result considering that 15 minutes after getting back to the cars the heavens opened. Rona and John did really well, copying with the technical terrain with ease making short work of the ridge.

I am off to Glenmore Lodge tomorrow for 7 days and then off down to North Wales for some work before some holiday time with Laura! 

Busy on the Bike!

The last week has been a busy 7 days even though I have not been working! I was down in the Lake District over the weekend for a stag do and some great mountain biking on the Altura Trails in the Whinlatter Forrest. We did the trails a few times from the forestry commission car park and they were awesome! The trails are man made but with quite a few tree roots playing a role as well, it was bone dry which was nice as a mixture of slate and tree roots in the wet would have made it all rather challenging! There is also a good bike shop and cafe there so a great set up for a full days biking.

After a day recovering on Sunday (not from the biking!) it was back out on the bike again to do some final preparation for my TCL Assessment that was on Wednesday at Glenmore Lodge. I am pleased to say that I passed! We spent the day looking at leadership, navigation, bike skills, trail side repairs and emergency issues as we did a loop out towards Neathy Bridge from Glenmore and back again. A good day and it only rain heavily for the second half of the day!

It is now back to work with a day across scrambling on the west tomorrow and then back to Glenmore Lodge for a 5 day learn to lead course followed by a weekends navigation course. Fingers crossed it might stop raining!