Carnival

There's a lovely carnival atmosphere in Llanberis this morning as the Olympic flame heads up Snowdon. Off to do a search dog demo and interview with ITV News now. More stunning sunshine, Snowdonia at its very best.

Pinnacle Ridge

Wow what a stunning week it's been here on Skye! For the grand finale of our week we climbed Pinnacle Ridge on Sgur nan Gillean. It has been another stunning day giving wonderful scrambling on grippy, warm rock, stunning views across the Hebrides and Torridon and to cap it off nicely we had a swim in the mountain pools on the way down! Awesome!

Clach Glas, Blaven

It has been another superb day here on Skye and we have had an awesome day traversing Clach Glas and Blaven under the blue skies and beautiful sunshine. The whole team enjoyed the same route to give a nice sociable day with a real Alpine feel.

The Cioch

Jim, Robin and I headed onto the Cioch today, once again it has been a stunning day with blue skies and sunshine. We climbed Arrow Route onto the top of the Cioch and the up Walworks Route up onto the top of Sron na Ciche. Barry, Andy and Alec climbed Cioch Gully whilst Sandy, Rob and Danny spent a day on the sea cliffs at Elgol. It's paradise here at the moment and looks set to stay the same all week, it's not work when it's like this!

The Inn Pinn

Today I teamed up with Danny and Rob and we headed up Sgur Dearg and climbed the Inaccessible Pinnacle in beautiful sunshine. A few other folks had the same idea but this only made the day more sociable! Sandy took Robin and Andy up the same route, whilst Alec took Jim and Barry on the round of Coire Lagan. A stunning day.

On Skye in the sunshine

This week I am working on the Cuillin Ridge on the Isle of Skye. I have been joined by Barry, Robin, Rob, Danny, Jim and Andy and fellow instructors Alec and Sandy. We have timed it right and coincided our visit with a high pressure system which has given wonderful blue skies, warm rock and sunshine. Today we headed over Sgurr a Mhaidaih, Greadaidh and Banachdich. 

East Face of Tryfan

Today Russ & Dave lead Bastow Gully Buttress (2/3) on the East Face of Tryfan with me alongside offering advice where it was needed and taking photos! It has stayed dry all day and we enjoyed a romp up the top of the North Ridge of Tryfan, a quick jump to gain the freedom of the mountain from Adam to Eve and then a descent of the South Ridge. A great day out and the boys did a great job of climbing the route safely and efficiently. 

Llanberis Pass

Russ, Dave and I have had a technical crag day today looking at the components of leading grade 3 scrambles. We started off at Pont Cromlech where we looked at placing gear, building belays and self protecting abseils. After lunch at the Pen Y Pass cafe we then looked at taking coils and short pitching, with the boys setting up their own retrievable abseil in descent. It was warm and dry all day to give another lovely day out in the mountains. 

Advanced Scrambling

I have been joined by repeat clients Dave and Russ for a 3 day advanced scrambling learn to lead course. Today we shook off the cobwebs by heading up The Idwal Staircase (2) and the Cneifion Arete (3). It has been a beautiful day with blue skies and sunshine and the rock has been warm and dry despite a brisk Northerly wind and a dusting of snow on the tops. 

Navigation & Hill Skills

This weekend we had a Navigation & Hill Skills course running and were joined by Debbie, Tina, David & Jo. I was out with the Search Dogs all weekend and so the course was run by my friend Bryn. Over the weekend they had a lovely couple of days around Craftnant and on Moel Siabod enjoying some fine weather. Thanks all. 

Welsh 3000 Success

Today I have been running a Welsh 3000 challenge event. The day started at 5:00am at Pen Y Pass and finished at 9:00pm at Abergwyngregyn. A big congratulations to the boys who completed the day in a very respectable 13 hours 30 minutes from summit to summit and an overall day out of 16 hours (the challenge is 24 hours). Superb effort!