Wales Part 2

Yeap, I'm in North Wales again. Working for Duchy College on their Advanced Instructor Training Programme. Had an easy drive up, but it was a long one. Thats the trouble with speed limited minibuses! Someone should hurry up and invent the teleport, just like in Star Trek.

Fun on the White Stuff

Mark Garland and I managed to sneak in a half days winter climbing in Cwm Idwal on Saturday. The weather was fabulous, with blue skies and virtually no wind. However, the same couldnt be said for the ice etc. After much wandering about, we decided to climb Idwal Stream (grade II). Unfortunately, it wasn't fully frozen so we had to skirt around the main pitches to avoid getting wet!! I am now back in Cornwall for the rest of the week. Hopefully I'll get a surf in.

Cold Camping

I've just got back from a cold night's camping in the Moelwyns. Theres plenty of snow about and it keeps coming! We made life a little easy for the students by allowing them to follow a fence/boundary line for most of the day, before pitching camp. For many of them, this was their first winter camping experience - it was a fast learning curve!

Welsh Winter Continues..

I am up in Snowdonia for the week with the Advanced Instructor Training Programme students from Duchy College. We've been out and about at the southern end of the Ogwen valley, working on their navigation and mountaineering skills. The weather has been fabulous, giving great views of the higher peaks., but there has been the odd snow shower passing through. It was good to get out and stretch the legs after a long drive from Cornwall.

Mega Days

The last two weeks have been fabulous down in the South West, if a little cold. Both Will and Jez have progressed well and are now leading climbs graded Severe, which, considering they had never climbed anything 3 weeks ago, is fab news. Our final full day was at Trewavas Head which was warm enough to be climbing in t-shirts (as long as you kept in the sun and out the wind!). The boys now have a weeks break before heading up to Plas Y Brenin in North Wales to undergo Single Pitch Award training. Good luck guys!

Dry Rock on Dartmoor

Had a fab day at Sheeps Tor on Dartmoor yesterday. Sunny, warm and dry! No-one else their either. Bonus. Spent the day showing the guys how to rig the crag for group work, then did a bit of climbing. Jason was showing off his proud collection of new wires he bought at the weekend. They look ok now, now that they have a few scratches on them! Off to Bodmin Moor today, followed by another few days down in West Penwith. Weather forecast looks ok too.