Climbing at Rhoscolyn

Having spent the morning putting a dent in the admin that has built up whilst I have been away I headed to Rhoscolyn this afternoon to enjoy the sunshine with friend Andy. We climbed The Wild Rover and Cocaine (both E1 5b). It was a lovely afternoon and great to be on warm rock in the sunshine. 

Home in Wales

A big dump of snow over the weekend meant a re-think for Alec and I on our climbing plans. With our intended routes being buried we decided to postpone our trip so I am home. Here are a couple more shots from last week in a better resolution.

Photos from last week

Here are a few unedited photos from last week. More will follow next week and apologies for the low res, it's the best I can do on my iPad.

 

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Arolla to Zermatt

For the last week I have been joined by Martin, Jo, Charlie, Simon, Penny and Josh for a week of trekking in Switzerland. We started the week in Arolla and finished yesterday in Zermatt. It has been a beautiful week apart from a day of rain and snow on Thursday, we have climbed over 16000 feet of ascent and visited some lovely villages, hotels and mountain huts along the way. The whole team did really well and enjoyed a good night out in Zermatt last night to spend any left over Francs (not many!) and celebrate the week. Photos will follow next week as I now have a week of climbing with friend Alec. The only downside is we awoke to heavy snow in Zermatt this morning!

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In the Alps

I have been joined for the last two days by regular client and friend Charlie for some private guiding in Switzerland. Charlie is preparing for is IML and is also joining my Arolla to Zermatt trek next week. We based ourselves in Zermatt and yesterday climbed Pfulroe (3265m) and then enjoyed a bivvy at 2600m overlooking the Matterhorn. Today we climbed the Oberrothorn (3414m), both peaks were new to me and gave some great views of the surrounding 4000m peaks. My eldest lad Josh has also joined us in our mini adventure. Off to Arolla tomorrow.

 

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Off to the Alps

I am heading out to the Alps today until the 9th September, email and blogs will be sporadic so bear with me if you need to get in touch. 

Advanced Scrambling

I have been joined for two days by Tracy and Duncan for an advanced scrambling course. Unfortunately Tracy arrived on crutches after a training day on Tryfan yesterday! Duncan and I therefore headed out as a pair and climbed North West Face Route, the Idwal Staircase and the Cneifion Arete. The rock got dryer and the day sunnier as it went on and we had a lovely day out in the mountains. We may delay tomorrow to give Tracy time to heal! 

RAF Valley

We had a nice afternoon at RAF Valley yesterday, enjoying the hospitality offered to all of the local MR Teams and their families. A big thanks to all at C Flight for all of the hard work, the kids loved the helicopter displays, police car rides, jousting, face painting and the sunshine - they even managed to summit Everest!

Looking set for a good winter

It looks like we could be in for another good winter :-)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-19288822

Filming on Snowdon

I spent most of yesterday with an ITV film crew and Caroline Quentin for a forthcoming program on the Snowdonia National Park. The weather was better than forecast and the team were happy with the end product so a nice day out! 

Cragging in the Pass

I had a lovely evening cragging in the Llanberis Pass this evening with friends Bryn & Paul. We climbed Ribstone Crack and enjoyed some lovely evening light - the midges were a bit harsh though by the end of the evening so we were forced to retreat to the pub!

ML Ropework Day

I have been out with Matt today who is on my instructor mentor scheme. Matt wanted to spend the day looking at ML Ropework and so we headed up to Pen Y Pass and put him through his paces. It was wet this morning but brightened up nicely as the day went on. I forgot my camera so no photos I am sorry. We had a busy weekend with the Rescue Team and the Search Dogs so I am all set for a couple of days off now. 

An inspirational character

Hamish MacInnes from John Sutherland on Vimeo.

ML Camp - Stunning

We had a stunning night for our ML Training wild camp last night, enjoy the photos:

Ropework for ML

On day four of the ML training course we have spent the day looking at the use of the rope within the syllabus of the ML. We based ourselves in the Llanberis Pass and enjoyed another beautiful day of sunshine, the crags all had climbers on them but were by no means busy and the rock was warm and dry. Lovely!