Isle of Skye

I am working on Skye all week this week on my Skye scrambles course. I have been joined by repeat clients Mick, Stu, Martin and Gez who have all done several climbing and scrambling courses with me and fancied a week of the best scrambling in the UK. To warm up today we headed up to An Dorus and onto Sgurr a Mhadaidh before traversing Sgurr a Ghreadaidh, Thormaid and Banachdich, all on grade 3 ground giving lots of exposure and some truly wonderful scrambling. We were in the cloud most of the day but the view from out cottage in Gelnbrittle as we ate dinner was gorgeous as we watched the sun set over the Cuillin.

Heading up to Skye

I have been at the British Mountain Guides open day at Plas y Brenin today and am now heading off to the Isle of Skye to run our annual Skye scrambles course. I will be home on Sunday the 30th and emails and phone calls will be fairly sporadic until then as the cottage we are renting has no phone signal and no wireless. Heres to a week of good weather!

Cragging on the slate

Today I teamed up with my friend Bryn for an afternoon of cragging in the slate quarries. We ticked off a few routes in Vivian Quarry in the sunshine and of course did a bit of gear shopping and cafe visiting into the equation! It was nice to be out on the slate as the climbing is so positive and it gives a nice mixture of trad and sport climbing. A good day off.

Scrambling in the sunshine

Today I was joined by regular client and friend Stu for a days scrambling in Snowdonia in preparation for our course on Skye next week. We headed up Main Gully Ridge (3) on Glyder Fach, posed for photos on the cantilever stone and then descended the Gribin Ridge (1), the Cneifion Arete (3) and Seniors Gully (1). A great day in gorgeous weather moving quickly and getting loads of mileage in.

Lead climbing coaching

I have been out with repeat client Jason today and his belay bunny for the day, John. Jason booked me for a day of climbing coaching to crack the VS grade. He had never lead VS and was feeling nervous about doing so for the first time. We started the day off with a bouldering session at the RAC boulders where I provided some movement coaching before we headed off to the sunshine of Anglesey and Holyhead Mountain. I lead Black & Tan (VS4c) which Jason seconded in good style and so he then lead Tension (VS4b) with me alongside him on a rope offering support and advice. We then moved onto the New Boots area and again Jason lead Teaser (VS4c) and Birthday Passage (VS4c) with me alongside. A cracking day and really nice to see such great progression, well done Jason.

Moel Siabod

Today Alan, Will, Vic and I headed up the East Ridge of Moel Siabod for another day of scrambling. The forecast had predicted a drizzly day and it was spot on! Nevertheless we had a great day out, taking the most challenging line whenever we had a choice and maximising our scrambling time. We navved off the summit in poor visibility and toasted the end of a good week in the cafe with tea and cakes!

Scrambling in the sunshine

Today Will, Alan and I were joined by repeat client Vic for a couple of days of scrambling here in Snowdonia. It has been an absolutely beautiful day, the snow has melted off the tops, the wind changed to a South Westerly and we have enjoyed blue skies and sunshine all day. We headed up the Gribin Ridge (1) this morning onto the Glyders, doing some movement coaching along the way. We also looked at how to look after each other on steep ground and route finding on grade 1 scrambles. We then did the same in descent on Seniors Ridge (1), continuing down the side of the Idwal Slabs to Cwm Idwal. A lovely day out.

Its still pretty cold!!

I have been out with Will again today and we were also joined by repeat client Alan for the last 3 days of our navigation and scrambling week. We headed up Y Garn, starting off in the sunshine but soon found ourselves in the snow! Big fluffy flakes gave the appearance of winter and it was giving a light covering on the tops as you can see in the photos. We made the most of the conditions to navigate to and from the summit in very poor visibility, working on contour interpretation as well as micro navigation techniques. Its May and still feels wintery - whats going on?!

Cnicht

There was a dusting of snow on the tops as I drove up the A5 this morning and it was only 2 degrees when I got to Capel Curig! Will, Gary and I headed to the Moelwyns and went up Cnicht. It was wet this morning but it really brightened up as the day went on and we were glad of the suncream this afternoon! We put into practice the skills we covered yesterday and learnt some new ones to deal with getting lost and of course avoiding getting lost!

Navigation & Hill Skills Course

I have been joined by Will and Gary today for a couple of days of navigation skills here in Snowdonia. Will is out with me all week whilst Gary is here for the two days. Today we headed up onto the Crimpiau above Capel Curig and looked at basic navigational skills such as measuring distance on the map and the ground, interpreting contours, setting navigational legs, using tick features, backstop features, how to take a bearing and some more general hill skills too. It stayed dry all morning and we had some rain this afternoon which was good as it reduced our visibility for practising taking bearings!

Search Dog Training

I have been training Skye all weekend with SARDA Wales. I have updated the dog blog and there is a link on the right of you want to see what we got upto!

Craig Lloer Spur

Today Mick, Paul and I headed up to Pen Yr Ole Wen and climbed the Craig Loer Spur (2/3). This goves some lovely exposed scrambling low down and then gets easier higher up so was ideal for me to lead the first half and then hand over the rope to Mick and Paul for the second half. We had all four seasons in one day with sunshine, rain, sleet, snow and hail throughout the day! We also had some lovely views and the peace and quiet that you can often enjoy in the Carneddau. A lovely day out.

NEW Scrambling Course Added

I have added a new advanced scrambling course to my website tonight for people that would like to learn to lead on grade 2 and 3 scrambles without taking up rock climbing. This course has been added following feedback from past clients and will run over 3 days at a 1:2 ratio. For full details click here.

Advanced Scrambling Course

I have been joined by Paul and regular client and friend Mick for the next two days for an advanced scrambling course. Today we headed up the Clogwyn y Person Arete (3). It was a surprisingly nice day despite a dreary forecast and we enjoyed some atmospheric cloud and sunny spells with no wind. We looked at short pitching, movement skills and efficient ropework on this type of ground and had a really nice day out.

Emergency Ropework for Climbers

I have been out with Jim today who is on my instructor mentor scheme. Jim is wanting to progress his personal multi pitch climbing and with a day of rain here in Snowdonia we decided to head to the Beacon Climbing Wall and look at some problem solving techniques. We looked at escaping the system in a single and multi pitch setting with bot direct and indirect belays, hoisting a stuck second and an injured second, ascending a rope and we also did some climbing! I provided some movement coaching and we also both practised taking and holding leader falls - on purpose! A good day despite the weather.

North Ridge of Tryfan

Skye and I took John, David, Julian and Andy up the North Ridge of Tryfan today for day 2 of their intro to scrambling course. For two of the group they had made a couple of attempts at climbing this mountain before and so success was all the sweeter when we reached the summit via its most famous route. We had a fantastic day with more beautiful spring weather in contrast to the forecast.

Intro to scrambling course

I have been joined by Andy, David, Jonathan and Julian for a two day intro to scrambling course here in Snowdonia. Skye and I took them up the Gribin Ridge (1) where we managed to avoid the crowds and look at some movement and route finding skills before ticking the summit of Glyder Fawr and descending Seniors Ridge (1). We looked at some emergency rope skills on the way down and enjoyed more fine sunshine all day!

Cragging at Penmaen Head

I have been out with friend Terry today. This morning we went sport climbing at Penmaen Head at Colwyn Bay. This small single pitch venue offers a nice range of bolted routes that are reasonably steep and provide climbing from 5 to 7a. Terry and I climbed a selection of routes in the middle grades before our arms gave up the ghost and we did some search dog training with Skye and the kids in the afternoon sunshine. It has stayed warm and dry all day here on the North Coast which is most unusual for a bank holiday weekend!