Peak District Climbing And Navigation Courses

Over the past few days I have been working over in the peak district for a mate of mine John Bale who had unfortunately had a car accident and was unable to work. The first course over the weekend was an introduction to climbing course where we spent the first day at Birbridge North where we spent our time top roping a number of routes followed by a day on Stanage Edge where the team seconded me up a number of Stanage Classic climbs. The second of the courses I ran was a Bronze NNAS which is a 2 day introduction to navigation award where the team were trained and assessed by myself over the 2 days. The first day was spent looking at introducing the skills needed to navigate a simple section of terrain with the second day putting this into practice with less input from myself. What a fantastic 4 days in the peak blessed with sunshine every day

long Time...

I haven’t posted in a long time, well not since the end of the winter season. During this time I have been ticking of a lot of the north Wales rock routes when I have had a day off in preparation for MIA training course later in the year. I had my first trip to the fantastic Gogarth North stack which I have had my eye on for a long time and finally plucked up the courage to get on.

Spring is on the way

With things still warm high up and a spring like feel in the air we decided to head out for abit of rock climbing on Ardverikie Wall HS,4b which clams to be the best rock climb of its grade in Scotland. Not that I have climbed much rock in Scotland but I think I may agree even though it was dripping wet in places it provided 6 fantastic pitches of climbing which was a much better alternative to winter.

Disappointment on the Ben

We walked into the Ben again today with the plan of climbing Nasturtium IV,4 on Trident Buttress. Arriving at CIC things were warm around +8 degrees. We carried on up for a look but on arrival a avalanche had just come down the route. Whilst standing contemplating our options a very large block came down from the ledge Route area followed by several other falls from other areas in the coire. We both agreed very quickly to make a hasty retreat.

Green Gully

Somehow we found ourselves walking into the Ben again today to climb Green Gully which was in good shape and provided some good climbing. There was a lot of teams on the route today with some moving very slowly causing teams to stack up at the belays.

North East Buttress

Back on the Ben today and Johnny and myself climbed the classic North East Buttress IV,4 with the Slingsby’s Chimney start which proved a lot more tricky than expected. Once on the ridge proper we were moving well and arrived at the infamous Man Trap around 4:30. This route was certainly the highlight of my winter so far in a tremendously spectacular position looking down into the abyss

West Highlands Winter Skills

Over the weekend I have been running one of my West Highlands Winter Skills courses. Saturday saw us heading up into Stob Coire Nan Lochan which had been considerably striped of snow since I was up on Tuesday, never the less there was plenty enough to cover all of the required skills to travel safely in the mountains in winter. We then head up the east ridge which was a little icy in places. Sunday saw us heading over to the Mamores and head around the Devils Ridge  and Stob Ban in good sunshine.