Another amazing couple of weeks here in Pembrokeshire, surely this good run of weather is coming to a close?! Here’s a run through of what I’ve be up to since the last blog!
With a flat sea, and acceptably warm enough to be in with just shorts on (still not warm though!) I decided to go for the Eldorado Traverse. This route has been on my radar for a while, and I finally kayaked along it a few weeks ago to scope out of it was acceptably safe to solo it, not wanting to use the rope tactics the first ascentionists employed! Over the 2.5km there’s lots of easy ground, but I found the max grade about vs+, tricky to grade over that distance and definitely the odd much trickier section, but instead of pendulums and tyrolean traverses like they used in 1970 – when it got hard I just jumped in and swam! Aside from the odd snappy hold and some proper big seals that hung around too long, the route passed by fairly quickly. Definitely not 3* climbing but absolutely a 3* top class adventure!
Eldorado Traverse – Pembrokeshire’s longest climb?
Julian and Abs came for a day trad climbing after that, they come out with me every year, often a couple of times, so it was great to get out with them again. We all swung leads down at Giltar slabs, with some great big long pitches and almost too hot weather! Fantastic to see young Abs getting on the lead confidently and Julian leading some adventurous routes!
Fun access to Gilar Slabs, top Pembrokeshire climbing spot…
I had another father/daughter team out after that, Jeremy and Isla. They were keen to climb as much as possible and for Isla to learn a bit about setting up top ropes. They climbed everything at Porth Clais which we had to ourselves, nice work guys!
Isla bringing dad Jeremy up one of the climbs at Porth Clais
It was up to North Wales for the weekend after that to take Danny Scrambling and Climbing on some long mountain days in big boots. Danny is hoping to climb the Matterhorn and wanted to see where he’s at with moving fast and efficiently over technical ground, learn some rope skills and face his mild fear of big drops! We had an absolute blast and did many hundreds of meters worth of routes over the 2 days, Danny did outstanding as I put him on some pretty tricky climbs and on some very exposed terrain!
Danny heading up the Persons Arête, Scrambling and Alpine prep in Snowdonia
Back down in Pembrokeshire I was then out with Dragon Activity Guides for the day, in my role as Technical Advisor for them. I was doing their coastal crag climbing sign-offs and PPE kit checks. They’ve all been through the sign-off process for many years so they flew through it, and I stayed out longer with Alun who is hoping to do his MIA assessment at some point and ran through some more technical rescues. The sign-off process is important as easy access single pitch sea cliffs fall outside the remit of their Rock Climbing Instructor awards, but with a little upskilling and a robust training/consolidation/sign-off process, competent and current instructors can work safely in these areas.
Hoists during the coastal crag sign off for Rock Climbing Instructors in Pembrokeshire
With the summer in full flow the outdoor companies in the area are busy with school groups. I was out with TYF for a few days with some lovely groups of youngsters, doing some climbing and abseiling out st St Davids Head and Porth Clais.. Great to get so many people outdoors and trying new sports!
Climbing and abseiling at St Davids Head, Pembrokeshire
From October 2018 I’ll be working alongside Dragon Activity Guides on an Outdoor Instructor Training Course right here in Pembrokeshire. This 15 week course aims to give people both the hard and soft skills to be great outdoor instructors anywhere, and get plenty of NGB training and assessments along the way..
We had a few people come down to visit to see what it’s all about, see what we can offer them and we got out for a climb and a coasteer so they could get a taste for the area. We’ll be offering the chance to work toward a heap of different paddle sports qualifications, Rock Climbing Instructor and Mountain Leader awards, first aid, fsrt, power boat, cossteering and a range of other bits and pieces – if you or anyone you know might be keen for that then get in touch with the guys at Dragon Activity Guides!
Climbing at Caerfai during the Outdoor Instructor Training Course open day
To wrap up the last week before we actually got some rain!! i was working on school programmes for TYF and Dragon Activity Guides for 4 days . We had great students, some taking their first steps in climbing, some doing it for their GCSE PE sports practical elements and some that had done plenty before.. A mix of climbing, abseiling and bouldering was enjoyed at various locations on the Pembrokeshire coast…
Bouldering in Pembrokeshire