Scrambling in Cwm Idwal

Gary and I were joined by Michael today for the beginning of an advanced scrambling course. We walked into Cwm Idwal and began our day by climbing North West Face Route (2) which we followed into Cwm Cneifion. We then enjoyed the Cneifion Arete (3) in some beautiful autumnal sunshine and on grippy dry rock, certainly a contrast from yesterday!

Milestone Buttress, Tryfan

Gary and I decided that Milestone Buttress was the place to go today to avoid the worst of the wind, it was still pretty wet though! A great day for practising good footwork and for testing waterproofs, well done Gary for keeping on smiling!

Crib Goch in the sunshine

It has been a glorious autumnal day today and we made the most of a lack of wind together with some warm sunshine to head up Crib Goch. It was surprisingly busy and we shared the route with a few teams which made for a sociable day. Along the way we looked at emergency use of the rope and put into practice the movement skills we looked at yesterday. A stunning day.

Rescue on Snowdon

Here is a short video of a happy rescue on Snowdon last night.

Gribin Ridge

I have been on the Glyderau today for the first day of an intro to scrambling course with Gary, Nicky, Alan and Richard. We headed up the Gribin Ridge (1) which is a great option for introducing people to grade 1 ground. Along the way we looked at movement skills, risk awareness and management and of course had a giggle. Some nice colours for photos too!

Winter is on its way

I am out with the Search and Rescue Dogs this weekend and its feeling very chilly in the mountains. Here is a short video of our winter courses to get you in the mood for the colder weather!

2014 Nepal Dates Now Online

The dates for our 2014 trips to Nepal are now out! http://www.expeditionguide.com/diary.php

We will be running trips next autumn to Everest Base Camp and Island Peak, come and join the adventure!

ML Assessment

For the three day expedition element of the ML Assessment we enjoyed a journey on and around Snowdon, with two nights of wild camping. We stayed reasonably dry and had some great views between the clouds.

ML Assessment - Tryfan

I took the assessment team onto Tryfan today. We ascended the North Ridge and then descended Little & North Gullies and along the way looked at security on steep ground, with and without the use of a rope. It stayed dry all day although the rock was fairly slippery, looking set to get cold for our two nights of camping!

Mountain Leader Assessment

We have an ML Assessment running this week. For the first day the candidates are out with Paul, MTUK require that each assessment has two staff members throughout the week as a minimum and so I have a day off, catching up on the admin! 

Advanced Navigation Course

I have been joined for the day by Barry, Roddy, David, Oli and Phil for our advanced navigation course. For this course I have had some bespoke maps made up that only show contour and water features, at a 1:25000 scale. We spent the day around the Southern flanks of the Glyderau and the Horns on Snowdon navigating using contours alone which is a great way of improving existing nav skills and learning to equate map to ground like a Jedi. It has stayed dry all day and we enjoyed some lovely views into the bargain.

Mountaincraft Expedition

For the last two days of our maintain craft course we headed for an overnight expedition on the Carneddau. We started and finished our journey at the North coast, heading up over Drum to the summit shelter at Foel Grach where we cooked dinner and enjoyed the craich with some Belgian soldiers on exercise. We then navigated in the dark down to a camp for the night before completing our circuit this morning. The weather was ideal as we had thick mist and very limited visibility, giving the boys the ideal conditions to put together all of their new skills from a great week.

North Ridge of Tryfan

The boys and I headed up a misty North Ridge of Tryfan today. We had a brief shower this morning but have otherwise stayed dry and again the winds have been much less than forecasted. It was greasy underfoot and so movement skills have been the order of the day, we also looked at emergency use of the rope in ascent and descent on the upper section of the ridge. The boys did a spot of relocation in descent and we then enjoyed tea and cakes for Leanders birthday in the cafe!

Scrambling on the Glyderau

For the third day of our maintain craft course we had a pretty poor forecast but once again the weather has defied all odds and the forecast 50mph winds did not materialise whilst we also stayed dry all day. We headed into Cwm Idwal to introduce the boys to grade 1 scrambling ground, making our way under Suicide Wall, up Seniors Gully and Seniors Ridge and doing some great off the path navigation in poor visibility to the top of the Devils Kitchen. This evening we visited the LLMRT base to look at what happens behind the scenes in a Mountain Rescue callout.

Cnicht

The boys and I headed up Cnicht today for the second day of our mountaincraft course. We were looking at navigation skills including contour interpretation and the skills we learnt yesterday as part of a mountain journey. Despite a poor forecast we stayed dry all day again and enjoyed some lovely autumnal light shows and some surprise views from the summit, lovely.