Cragging in the Pass

I have been joined for the day by John and Rob who are on my trainee instructor mentor scheme and are working towards their MIA. We spent the day looking at teaching climbing in a multi pitch context and climbed Flying Buttress on Dinas Cromlech in series and included some simple problem avoidance and a stacked abseil descent for good measure. Another lovely day.

Climbing at Rhoscolyn

It was wet in the mountains today and we nearly considered heading to the climbing wall on the last day of our learn to lead climbing week. Thankfully I had a hunch that it might be nice on Anglesey (where the sun always shines) and so we headed North. Indeed it was a little claggy to start with but a good breeze soon dried the crag and Veronica & Henry did a great job of leading their first sea cliff routes and managing their own abseil into the foot of the cliff. Truly self sufficient now, my job is done! 

Article on UKHillwalking

I have been featured in an article on UKHillwalking.com this week for my mountain drone filming, if you have a spare 5 minutes the article is online here: http://www.ukhillwalking.com/articles/page.php?id=7430 

Climbing at Tremadog

Yesterday I was out filming for the Dragons Back Race (see here) and so Veronica and Henry were taken out by Tarquin and spent the day multi pitch climbing at Milestone Buttress. This morning it was wet in the mountains and so we escaped out to Tremadog where we looked at rigging single pitch crags for bottom roping and got them both leading Severe for themselves. It was warm and dry and got brighter as the day went on, we even had the crag to ourselves for half the day.

Cragging in the Pass

Veronica, Henry and I headed into the Llanberis Pass today and soaked up some sun on the South facing crags. We started off with Skylon (HS) which they simu-lead with me above them, placing gear and building their own belays. We then moved to Crackstone Rib which they lead entirely for themselves with me along side offering coaching and advice and leaving the odd bit of crucial gear in place on the first pitch. Its been a cracking day, we even had a foot dip in the stream at the end - it feels like summer!

Beautiful day rock climbing

It has been a beautiful day on Anglesey today which is where I headed with Veronica and Henry for the first day of our five day climbing course. We spent the day climbing on Holyhead Mountain, bagging a couple of severes and a couple of VS's in the warm sunshine and enjoying some stunning views across to Ireland and the Llyn Peninsula - proper summer!

Helicopter Training

I have been playing on the new Coastguard Rescue helicopter today that will be replacing the RAF Sea Kings here in North Wales from the end of this month. Whilst its nice to be on board a spangly new aircraft, to have a bit more space and shiny paint job I can't help but feel a bit nostalgic for the big yellow taxi that has been such an iconic sight within our mountains. Having said that it was lovely to see some old faces on the new aircraft and I look forward to sharing some adventures together.

Mountain Skills - Day Two

For the second day of our Mountain Skills course the boys and I headed up onto the Carneddau to put our new found skills from yesterday into good practice. Working in pairs they planned and executed a route up onto Pen Yr Ole Wen and Carnedd Dafydd with coaching from me along the way and my hot collie for company! It was another stunning day with just enough breeze to make the temperatures pleasant and we had some beautiful views from the top - check out the photos of the cloud clinging to the Glyderau - we should have gone there!

Mountain Skills Course

It has been a beautiful day here in Snowdonia and I have been out running day one of our Mountain Skills course on Snowdon, whilst Huw has taken the Classic Scrambles course out on Tryfan. We looked at navigation structure and its basic tools as part of a journey that looked at on and off the path navigation in readiness for a day of poor visibility tomorrow!

Thank You

Hi Rob

Thanks for lasts week's excitement. Tracey and I had an absolutely great time. I think our work colleagues are fed up hearing about our adventures.
You covered all the things we wanted to "tick off" and got us leading a route in the rain too! I don't think I'll ever forget the exhilaration and satisfaction of the sea cliff at South Stack on such a windy day! Yet another successful holiday where I have had the mickey taken by the two of you all week.

I've posted up some photos (although I have still got the videos to process).

Whilst the one of you in the storm shelter is a classic, the one of you giggling at South Stack is brilliant.

We're already looking forward to our next marriage guidance holiday... 6 weeks to go!

Thanks again

Richard - 5 days private guiding - June 2015

Filming for the BBC on Crib Goch

I was working for the BBC yesterday doing some aerial filming and mountain cameraman work. You can get the full story on my filmuphigh blog here: http://filmuphigh.com/aerial-filming-for-the-bbc/

Climbing at Tremadog

I have been joined for today by Dan and Charlie who are on my trainee instructor mentor scheme. We spent the day at Tremadog and did a mixture of climbing and rescue/problem solving skills in the sunshine. Its never a chore to feel warm rock under the hands and spend the day in a t-shirt!

Thank You

Hi Rob,

Many thanks for the recent course. I had a thoroughly enjoyable time learning new skills with Huw.

Huw was an exceptional guide/ instructor once again and instilled a lot of confidence within me to be able to take others on trickier routes using rope techniques, route finding and judgement; I may work back up to Dolmen Ridge as a lead though. (excellent but nerve racking)

I will be sure to enroll on another course/ expedition in the future.

Once again many thanks.

Tom Chaney - Advanced Scrambling Learn to Lead June 2015

Clogwyn Y Person Arete

I have been out with Paul and Ben today for the first day of an advanced scrambling learn to lead course. It has been beautiful weather and we headed up onto the Clogwyn Y Person Arete with me on the lead at first to refresh and build skills and then the boys taking over the sharp end of the rope for the upper section. A great day in the mountains.

Aerial Filming for the Dragons Back Race

I have been travelling the length of Wales over the last two days filming for the forthcoming Dragons Back Race: http://filmuphigh.com/dragons-back-race-aerial-filming/