Today I’ve been in Snowdonia on a scrambling day with returning clients Marie and Andy. With the day dawning bright and clear we decided to go high and tackle one of my favourite Snowdonia grade 3’s – Chasm Face.
The route needs a fair bit of effort to reach as it sits high on the side of Glyder Fach, but the awesome situation and excellent quality scrambling make it well worth the walk. Several technical sections lead to open scrambly slabs – a great line. Once at the top we headed over to Bristly Ridge and made the fun and exposed descending traverse to Bwlch Tryfan and the onward leisurely descent to the valley. As usual, a day with Marie and Andy is always a pleasure and I hope we can catch up again very soon.
I left the family in Pembroke and got the train back (which broke down twice!) to head up a day’s corporate activity which Peak Mountaineering were running for our good friends at Breathing Space (www.breathingspace.uk.com). Breathing Space are experts in corporate development activities and over the years we’ve organised a number of events and activities for them.
Today we were joined by 13 professionals from a St Albans based engineering consultancy for a day’s guided walking in the Peak District. This was provided as a package event with the team enjoying a challenging 10 mile circuit of the Derwent Valley (with a fine picnic lunch at Back Tor) then celebrating their acheivement in the Yorkshire Bridge pub before a fine meal and relaxing evening at the Devonshire Arms Hotel in Baslow. We also threw in a few games and development activities that are sure to be the talk of the office on Monday! The weather for the day was glorious and the team were great fun. I hope they enjoyed their evening as much as instructors Richard, Craig and I enjoyed our day with you. Many thanks to you all.
Over the years Peak Mountaineering has developed considerable expertise in organising and running events for a wide range of enlightened businesses and organisations and our collaboration with leading companies like Breathing Space strengthens the opportunities available. Please contact Breathing Space on 08453 880037 or speak to us on 01614407065 if you want to find out more. Now, more than ever, businesses need a bit of breathing space.
I’ve spent the last few days with the family (infact, a LOT of families!) in Pembroke. The week has become a regular Whitsun fixture and in recent years has been expertly orgainised by John. I’m not sure of the exact number of particpants but I do know there were 42 children (which is the most significant number as it obviously made up the noisiest bit!) and we took over a large field on Sandy Haven campsite near Milford Haven to enjoy a week of awesome sunniness (not sure that’s actually a word but you get the idea).
There were lots of activities going on and the kids cycled, swam, created weird structures on the beach, caught a lot of crabs (but released them again of course!), slacklined (Ben managed his first 180 turns and Tom invented a Master Yoda move that should soon make the world slacklining circuit), played cricket, football, frisbee, flew kites (Tom had an ‘exciting’ experience with the Flexifoil that nearly saw him heading for America!), ate lots of ice cream, cooked awesome pizza (*see the note about these at the bottom) and jaffles (**read about these at the bottom too), ran, jumped, skipped, hopped and put on some great puppet shows. It’s been a great week.
Of course no trip to Pembroke would be complete without some climbing and we fitted a chunk of that in too. We took a load of children to the brilliant Caerfai Bay near St Davids and they enjoyed some exciting abseils and climbs up to hard severe. Then the adults took over while the kids did kid type stuff at the beach and we did a number of routes topped in quality by the brilliant moderate classic Amorican (VS 4c) which is a Pembroke must. I also visited St Govans’s with Katherine and enjoyed a lovely evening revisting some of the mid range classics. There really is nowhere quite like Pembroke. Please climb there if you haven’t already……….or give us a call and we’ll take you there to show you what you’re missing.
Cheers,
Paul
Two bits of camping equipment that we’ve picked up on our travels and you should not leave home without…..
*The Outback Camp Oven is fantastic. It sits on top of your campstove and cooks anything an oven can. Pizza is brilliant, muffins and cookies are outstanding and pies and quiches are the bees knees. The rest we’ll leave to your imagination.
It’s an American product but you can find them available in the UK via http://backpackerspantry.co.uk/shop/index.php/outback-oven.html. There’s various you tube videos showing how they work. It’s well worth getting the larger one. Not cheap but worth every penny.
** We bought our Jaffle Iron (also often known as a pie iron) in South Africa but it seems they are used all over the world. They make great toasted sandwiches over a stove or in a fire (egg and cheese toasties are our favourites). We have a simple round design but they appear to be available in all shapes and sizes at http://www.pie-irons.co.uk/shop/.
Happy Cooking and remember where you heard it first
I’ve spent the second half of the week in Shropshire running an Outdoor First Aid Course. Despite family connections to Shropshire I’ve not managed to visit the area very often and I really enjoyed my time in the stunning countryside. The course was great fun and I really enjoyed working with fellow trainer Martin. Many thanks to the 16 participants.
During this time Al has been out with Charlie and Max on an Introductory Climbing Course and Steve was in Wales with returning client James for some quality scrambly action in the Ogwen Valley.
Today I have been out with another introductory climbing group to Froggatt. Gill, Simon, Paul, Helen and Ruth are all members of the national organisation Spice and I was helping out the East Midlands group.
The weather has been very wet but fortunately the group were all game for anything that came their way and we had a great day ticking off a number of Froggatt classics including the testing Trapeze Direct……..and especially testing in the rain! Thanks to them all for a great day.
The Peak District, like most of the UK, has been basking in incredible sunny weather this weekend. This happily coincided with 2 more climbing courses Peak Mountaineering has been running for the Mynydd Climbing Club.
On Saturday Deborah, Ali, Trish, Julie and Sonja headed to Burbage North to look at a range of leading climbing skills. Although this wasn’t one of our specific lead climbing courses the team were able to practise many key lead skills while still enjoying the level of safety seconds have by using a ‘ghost’ rope back up. We looked at all aspects of gear placements, building efficient and safe belays and general ropeskills as well as taking it in turns to ‘lead’ a variety of climbs to practice placing effective and efficient gear and manage ropes effectively. A great day with lots of laughs along the way.
On Sunday Toby and I met up with Phill, Pete, Chris, Catherine, Phill, Andrea, Rick and Jen for a rescue skills course. The group are all experienced climbers and this course was designed to give them ‘a get out of that’ toolbox to help deal with the unexpected. Over a busy day we hoisted, lowered, ascended and abseiled as well as looking at quite a few other rescue skills along the way. Another really enthusiastic and inspiring group which made the day really enjoyable. A big thanks to Toby for all his help too.
Thanks to everyone that has sent back such positive feedback………….
” Thanks for a really instructive day. You’ll be amused to know I spent last night belaying off my garden shed tying off Italian hitches!”
“Brilliant tutoring as usual.”
“Great course. Frightening how much I had forgotten and great to be reminded and updated. You obviously have the inside track with the weather.”
“A brilliant day. I really enjoyed the discussions and found the very practical nature of the course really suited my learning style. Many thanks.”
Thanks to you all. You’re the ones who make it worthwhile.
While we were basking in the sun Dan was having a tougher time in the sizzling temperatures on a Coast to Coast guided ride. The team of Sandra, Alex, Mike and Dale set off on Thursday and managed to finish the route by midday on Sunday - great going team! Rumours that Dan ate 4 Cornetto’s within 30 minutes of arriving on the beach at Robin Hood’s Bay have NOT been proven!
I’ve just had a few spectacular days in sunny Scotland. First I met up with returning client Paul and his friend Chris for a few days on Skye. Paul and Chris are regular walkers and Paul now has a fair amount of climbing under his belt (or harness!) too. Their aims for this trip were to tackle some quality scrambling and try to ascend the famous Cuillin landmark….the Inaccessible Pinnacle.
For those who don’t know it the Inn Pinn is one of the most famous landmarks on the Cuillin Ridge. Famous for being atop the highest Munro on the ridge and also famous for being the only munro that requires specific rock climbing techniques and skills to ascend and descend it. Our first day was greeted by low cloud over the Cuillin but winds were light and the rock was dry so we headed up to have a look at the pinnacle. Any ascent on Skye is hard won as most walk ins start from near sea level, but we made good progress and were soon gearing up at the base of the route. 4 shortish pitches of moderate climbing got us to the top and soon we were setting up the famous rappel descent. A confident whizz down the lines brought us all safely back to terra firma and the walk down to the valley. By the time we dropped out of the clouds we had absoultely stunning views of the surrounding islands and the beautiful mountains and coastline, so we took full advantage of it and strolled down at a leisurely pace. Paul and Chris were well set up with their camper van but before I left them to their meal preparation we enjoyed a celebratory beer in the evening sunshine. What a day!
The next days forecast was excellent so we drove down to have a go at the Clach Glas - Blaven traverse. This is another extremely famous route that weaves an intricate line across what many believe to be the finest section of the outlying Cuillin Ridge. The weather forecast proved every bit as good as expected and after plenty of up, plenty of down. lots of across and certainly plenty of interesting ground we got across to Blaven. By the time we arrived it was nearly 6pm but we had plenty of daylight so we nipped onto Blaven summit to enjoy the full traverse experience. Blaven is one of my favourite Cuilllin peaks because, although you still have all the islands and fine long distant views, you are also well set for views across to the main Cuillin Ridge too. We sat and looked, looked some more, turned, looked there , more, more, and finally, reluctantly, realised we better head down to the valley. A real privilege to be in the mountains kinda day. Thanks guys.
I left Paul and Chris and headed down to Lochaber for a few days with Sandy and Al. The drive from Skye to Roy Bridge is another spectacular bit of countryside and I had a lovely late evening drive through Glen Shiel. Another great forecast and Sandy, Al and I headed up to the Buchaille for an ascent of Curved Ridge. The ridge is another spectacular line that I never get tired of completing and we had a ball of a day. Another evening descent amidst spectacular scenery and celebratory beers in the Clachaig - there’s quite a theme developing here isn’t there!
My last day in Scotland saw us enjoying a mainly hillwalking day (but with a twist of scrambling) around the CMD arete and up to the summit of Ben Nevis. More fine views, more delighted clients (this was their first time on top of the UK’s highest peak) and more celebratory beers. A brilliant few days with fantastic company. Thanks everyone.
No, no, no, not my birthday! Today I’ve been out for a day of climbing bought for Julie by her caring sharing husband Phil.
Julie has been building up plenty of experience on single pitch routes in the last few years and the aim for the day was to develop her multi pitch skills. Initial plans to use the Ogwen Valley were scuppered by the forecasts for afternnon showers (which, it seems, actually arrived in Ogwen around 10am anyway!) so we headed to Tremadog instead.
Julie had brought friend Ali along too and we all headed up to One Step in the Clouds to start our day. For those that haven’t climbed it One Step is a classic Tremadog VS with great climbing throughout and a particularly spectacular wall pitch in the middle. As expected Julie and Ali cruised up with Julie setting belays on each stance and Ali stripping the gear.
We abseiled back down Grim Wall and, after a picnic lunch in the sun, headed for Valerie’s Rib. Unfortunately rain stopped play on this one as we were engulfed in an epic shower and we made a hasty retreat to Eric’s bunkhouse to let it rain itself out.
Soon we were back in action and, despite wet rock, we finished the day on the fine initial pitches of Oberon. A final look at abseil technique and a textbook slide down the ropes got us back to terra firma. A great day and hopefully the rain didn’t dampen the experience too much for Julie and Ali (rain didn’t dampen the experience…..see what I did there?!). Julie and Ali are back for more in a few weeks on a Learn to Lead course so I’m hoping they can put a lot of what we did into practice again.
While we were enjoying Wales Sam was out in the Peak District with returning mountain bike clients James and Jo. They are both based down in the big smoke and try to escape to the Peak a few times a year to put rubber to singletrack. The team had a full on day doing a Kinder loop although I did hear reports of rather a long lunch stop in the cafe!
James and Jo are back for more in the Autumn and I promise I’ll be trying my best to catch up with you both myself that time around….although I know you’ve heard that before!
I’ve been down to the local park for some more slacklining practice with the boys tonight. Great to see them progressing quickly and we’re all really enjoying it. Will be a little while until any of us reach this level though……
There are several professional bodies that co-ordinate and administer the training of instructors and guides in the UK - and they do a brilliant job of ensuring instructors are highly trained and professional. They also help to keep instructors up to speed by providing CPD (continuing professional development) opportunities and representing the profession in related national and international matters.
The Institute of Outdoor Learning (IOL) sits among these organisations, and yet slighty apart, because its focus isn’t so much the technical skills but the ’soft skills’ that are just as important to enable instructors to provide as valuable an outdoor experience as possible. In its own words ” the institute encourages outdoor learning by developing quality, safety and opportunity to experience outdoor activity provision and by supporting and enhancing the good practice of those who work in the outdoors”.
About 18 months ago I started on the road to becoming a Leading Practitioner of the Institute of Outdoor Learning (LPIOL). This followed becoming an Accredited Practitioner of the Institute of Outdoor Learning (APIOL) some years ago and then helping as a mentor and assessor to other instructors going through the accredited practitioner scheme. The Leading Practitioner scheme is a higher level accreditiation aimed at outdoor professionals actively shaping practice on a regional or national basis. IOL describe LPIOLS as ‘practitioners who demonstrate in-depth, professional development in outdoor learning, and have made a significant regional contribution to the outdoor sector. Leading Practitioners are the next generation of movers, shakers and leaders in the outdoor field; they are ambassadors for outdoor learning and guides for younger practitioners.’
In the intervening 18 months I have undergone a detailed process of self assessment, reflection and practice analysis with a professional coach and today I travelled to Birmingham (and managed to arrive 10 minutes late due to a car fire on the M6…not my car!) for my final interview. 90 minutes of discussion and questioning and, at 1.32pm precisely, I was delighted to be told I was successful in being accredited. It’s only the start of a journey aimed at my increasing involvement in regional matters but I’m really pleased to be here.
I appreciate that David Cameron must feel pretty happy tonight…….but I bet I’m happier!
Cheers,
Paul
