Swiss 3000m Week

I have been in Switzerland all week this week running our Swiss 3000m week. I met up with Alan, Tricia, Liz, Simon, Alan and Ronnie on Monday morning in Zermatt and we enjoyed some beautiful alpine sunshine as we trekked up towards Fluhalp. After a lunch at the hut we climbed Pfulroe (3314m) which gave some stunning views towards the Monta Rosa, Dofourspitz and Rimpfischhorn. There had been some overnight snow and so we enjoyed some alpine looking photo posing on the summit, although in reality it was soft and didn't hinder our progress.

After a night in the Fluhalp we headed down to Zermatt and then trekked unto the Hotel Thrift which is run by Hugo, a character of a guardian who manages the difficult task of being friendly, fun, efficient and a little scary all at the same time. We had some dreich weather and so didn't get to listen to him playing his alpine horn this year but we still enjoyed his apple tart.

The following morning saw a lot of fresh snow and it was still precipitating heavily and so summit plans were abandoned and we headed down to Zermatt. I had booked us into the newly refurbished Hornli Hutte on the Matterhorn but the fresh snow and a few headaches in the group meant a change of plan and so we headed round to St Luc and walked upto the Cabane Bella Tolla. The hot showers were a definite hit.

An early start saw us climb Bella Tolla (3025m) and again we had some snow underfoot but once again not enough to hinder progress without winter kit. These last two days gave us stunning weather and the views were amazing, especially having been in some pretty poor conditions the day before. A long descent back to the valley and then a 4 hour walk back up the other side saw us arrive at the Cabane Becs de Bosson for our last night together. This is more of a high mountain hut in style and situation and another early start saw us bag the summit of Becs de Bosson (3148m) on the Friday morning. This summit is gained via a nice grade 1 ridge scramble and provides an airy climax to the week.

It was great to get back into the mountains after an enforced layoff for 4 weeks due to injury - thanks folks!

Highlands & Islands

I have been away for the last couple of weeks with the family, enjoying a bit of a road trip of the Scottish Highlands & Islands. Its been lovely to chill out and enjoy the beautiful scenery together, whatever the weather threw at us! I'm off to Switzerland tonight for our Swiss 3000 week so will post pictures next week.

Wet & Windy on Y Garn

Huw has had a fine welcome back to Wales with strong wind and rain. It's all good training weather though for Tom, Sara, Andrew, Adam and Clare who are here for a 2 day Mountain Navigation and Skills Course. Working alongside Rachel he took the team on a circuit from Ogwen Cottage through Cwm Idwal and up and around Y Garn. There wasn't a lot to see up there but it made for some realistic map reading.

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!