Well, what a ride. From the elation of passing my WMCI in March to having to find alternative work for much of the year, 2020 has been a year of ups and downs!
During the first lockdown I spent three months working at the local hospital as a porter, waiting for the first wave (that never really came to far South West Wales) when the weather was nothing but clear blue skies everyday – 3 months of what would have been perfect climbing conditions!
With my contract over at the hospital as all the extra staff simply weren’t needed, there was quite a period of not knowing when we’d be allowed to work. When we were finally allowed and the National Park opened (because obviously it wasn’t safe to get fresh air in wide open spaces…), people came flooding back and Pembrokeshire was the busiest I’ve ever seen it (in a good way – don’t believe everything you read in the news!). It would have been nice to have a bit of time with it to ourselves first, but there we are then, thanks Pembrokeshire Coast National Park…!
We had an uber busy period and had to make hay while the sun shined, so to speak, so all other aspects of life were put on hold and it was jam packed with guiding, intro to climbing days, sea cliff skills and instructor training and assessment courses.
One of the aspects of work I really enjoyed was taking youngsters out on rock for the first time, something I do less of these days, but watching kids as young as 5 crushing it on the rock was amazing, and you could really see how keen they all were to be outside having fun after so long stuck inside.
Having had my summer work exped to Madagascar cancelled it was great to get some Mountain time in Snowdonia directing ML courses, we managed to sneak our last ML training course in just before the second Welsh lockdown.
With my second overseas exped of the year cancelled in December (to Aconcagua – was really looking forward to that one!) I did a bit of labouring for a Tiler – wow that’s hard work – respect to those that do that full time! Lots of new skills learnt but really hard to see the justification for outdoor activities not to be able to run when you’re in a building site, can pop to get a MacDonalds or get in the scrum around the Supermarket…!
Heading into the winter with yet more cancelled work its hard to see what lies ahead, but fingers crossed by mid January we’ll have some more positive news and maybe we can get back to working and having some great personal adventures!
Thanks must go to all our amazing clients from the year, who have often been rescheduled due to changing restrictions, been happy with any changes in how we run things to make it “safe” and for being super stoked to be outside! It would be incredible to get out with you all again soon, whether that’s for some Welsh Winter Mountaineering/Scrambling or Alpine prep (if we’re allowed to work in the second half of January) – dare I say it for some Scottish Winter fun in February/March PLEEEEASE! or failing that some Springtime Climbing or Mountaineering Adventures here in Wales…