Rock Climbing at Gogarth

I have been joined for the week by Paul who is a regular client and friend for a week of rock climbing and mountaineering here in Snowdonia. We decided on a cragging day today and in search of the sunshine escaped the rain in the mountains by heading to Anglesey. We climbed Lighthouse Arete (Vs 4a, 4c, 4a) at Gogarth this morning and then dodged showers at Holyhead Mountain to climb Black & Tan (VS4c) and Tension (VS 4b) before the rain really set in. My eldest son Josh is working at Plas y Brenin all week - on work experience! He had a great day climbing this morning and canoeing this afternoon with the very friendly staff at the National Mountain Centre. 

Rock Climbing at Gogarth

Kurtis and I spent the morning with our heads in our computer screens this morning! I have put together a new website for him for his navigation courses in the Lake District - you can have a look here. Kurtis is on my mentor scheme and is working towards his MIA training. Having done the boring stuff we then headed to Gogarth and climbed Lighthouse Arete (VS 4c) in 3 pitches. It was a glorious afternoon and we even saw the resident seal. 

Lliwedd - West Peak via Bilberry Terrace

I am running an advanced scrambling course today and tomorrow here in Snowdonia. Unfortunately 1 client had to cancel this morning leaving Kurtis (as some of you may recognise from my Mentor scheme) to benefit from 1:1 instruction for the duration. (Perhaps I am flattering myself by calling it a benefit, poor Kurtis had no one but me to talk to all day!) We decided that we could afford ourselves the luxury of a long route and chose Bilberry Terrace on Lliwedd. It is described in the scrambling guide as the best of the most difficult scrambles and is graded 3 with 3 stars. It was a great route in fine architecture but with a slightly loose top section. It finished on the very summit of the mountain though and we had fine views all day.

Rock Climbing & Scrambling with Bill

I was joined for the last two days by regular client Bill who made the trip from Scarborough for a couple of days of rock climbing here in Snowdonia. Yesterday the weather had other ideas so we had a great day out doing some grade 2 scrambling, sharing the leading in Cwm Idwal. Today we headed to Anglesey leaving the rain behind over the mountains and enjoying a day of climbing in the sunshine. We climbed a variety of routes from V Diff to Hard Severe and it was great to see Bill again.

AMI Workshop - Improvised Rescue Day

The MIA trainees and I headed to Anglesey today to practice improvised multi pitch crag rescues in the sunshine. It was a real contrast to yesterday with bright sunny skies all day. We practiced a wide range of problems that got ever more complex as the day progressed with some great acting skills along the way! 

AMI Workshop for MIA Trainees

I have been working with a group of 5 trainee instructors today who are preparing for there MIA assessments. The workshop weekend is run by the Association of Mountaineering Instructors (AMI) and I have been working for them. Today the trainees wanted to look at short roping, looking after clients on grade 2 and 3 scrambles. We headed into Cwm Idwal and looked at ascents, traverses and descents on grade 2 ground in continual lashing rain! Nevertheless a great day was had with a good deal of information exchange taking place all round. 

The wheelie big rescue on Snowdon

Tonight we have bin out on a wheelie important but rubbish job on Snowdon. The Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team were asked to recover a Wheelie bin that had wheeled itself off the summit of Snowdon from the new cafe and ended up several hundred feet below at the bottom of a very steep cliff! We walked up, carried the bin to the railway and had great fun recreating the exploits of Joe Brown and chums sliding down the railway on slates, only for us it was in a wheelie bin! Thats not a claim everyone can make! 

Rock Climbing & Scrambling

I have spent the last two days with Steve & Charlotte who booked me for some private guiding  to do some rock climbing and  some advanced scrambling. We spent the day yesterday at Anglesey in beautiful sunshine and a fresh Easterly wind. We climbed Stairs (S) and New Boots and Panties (S 4a) in two pitches each looking at multi pitch climbing skills. We also did some multi pitch abseiling and spent our time looking at the skills needed for them both to lead for themselves. Today we headed into Cwm Cneifion and climbed the Cneifion Arete with Steve & Charlotte leading whilst I was alongside offer tips and advice. A lovely couple of days culminating in two self sufficient mountaineers.