What to Pack when Wild Camping

I have recently put together a series of skills videos with online retailer, Simply Hike. In this video we look at the sort of kit to carry when wild camping.

Wild Camping Filming

I have been out with Simply Hike again today for the second day of presenting some short skills films for their website. On the agenda today was wild camping, amongst others!

Skills Video Presenting

I have been out with online retailer Simply Hike today doing some filming here in Snowdonia. They have booked me for two days to present a series of very short films for social media, covering a wide range of hill walking, scrambling and wild camping skills and tips. I won't say where we have been and what we have been doing as I don't want to spoil the films!

Sunshine & Warm Rock on Milestone

It has been a stunning day here in Snowdonia and Louisa, Chris and I headed to Milestone Buttress where they lead Direct Route for themselves, followed by the first pitches of Rowan Route and Pulpit Route - managing the abseils off for themselves too. Some great climbing in great weather!

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

I have been joined by Louisa and Chris this week for a 5 day learn to lead climbing course. It started off a little moist yesterday and so we had a very rare day in the climbing wall and this morning were itching to get outside. It was spitting with rain as we abseiled into Castell Helen at Gogarth but it soon brightened up and we had a fantastic day in some beautiful settings!

Thank Yous

Hi Rob,
Just a quick note to say how much I enjoyed the scrambling course.
Would you pass on a big thanks to Sam whose guiding and instruction skills were excellent.
Good company, brilliant tuition, stunning scenery, blue skies, sunshine and dry rock.... the best Snowdonia had to offer... What more could you ask for?
Hope to catch up very soon.
All the best Martin.

Advanced Scrambling 9-10 July 2015.

Hi Rob, thanks again to you, Huw and Jez for a fantastic week; really appreciate the time and effort all you guys put into my training course.

Thanks again and look forward to seeing you soon

SiD ML Training - July 2015

Security on Steep Ground

I have been back out with the ML Trainees again today whilst Huw has been out with the assessment team. We spent the day looking at security on steep ground with the use of a rope and with a bit of careful faffing we managed to avoid the early rain and stay dry all day!

Security on Steep Ground

Huw and I have swapped places today and whilst he took the ML Trainees on Tryfan, I took the ML Assessment team on their security on steep ground day. Along the way I learnt a bit about the flora and forna of Snowdonia and was looked after as we climbed, traversed and descended rock, scree and steep grass - thanks folks!

Moel Siabod

For day two of our ML Training course we headed up onto Moel Siabod today which gave some great weather and terrain to practise navigation, leadership, security on steep ground and emergency scenarios in a true mountain context. It was pretty wet all day and the visibility up high was poor so it gave ideal training conditions! We finished the day with an evening session at Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team base looking at the role of Mountain Rescue in the UK. 

Mountain Leader Training

I am running a Mountain Leader Training course this week and for our first day we headed up into Cwm Cneifion via Cwm Idwal and then across into Cwm Bochclwyd looking at teaching navigation and mountain skills and having an intro to security on steep ground. We have had some sunshine and showers which lead nicely into an evening lecture on Mountain Weather!

Rock Climbing in the Pass

It has been stunning here in Snowdonia and for the our second day out together Charlie, Dan and I headed into the Llanberis Pass to progress  onto teaching multi pitch climbing from single pitch. We climbed Flying Buttress (my second time this week) which is a wonderful climb and lends itself well to teaching climbing with big stances, ever increasing interest and some great climbing. Cheers boys!

Ive put some aerial clips on my filming site here: http://filmuphigh.com/stock-aerial-footage/

Holyhead Mountain

I have been joined for two days by Dan and Charlie who are on my trainee instructor mentor scheme. We wanted to spend the two days looking at teaching climbing and today the boys brief was to introduce two novice clients to climbing outside and to stay dry as long as possible. They chose Holyhead Mountain as the venue for the day and we spent the day climbing until the rain arrived which was a bit of a shock to the system after all the nice weather we have had - a temporary glitch in the matrix I am sure!