Author: stu_mcinnes@hotmail.co.uk

This weekend I’ve been running an SPA assessment in Pembrokeshire. The SPA is an award for rock climbing instructors that allows them to take groups climbing outdoors on single pitch crags, and is overseen by Mountain Training, who I am a provider for. It’s a cornerstone in many instructors careers and crucial to being able to work in an outdoor activity centre.

I’ve had the pleasure of assessing Sara and Helena, both local Instructors. Sara will be working for an Outdoor Activity company this year, climbing, kayaking and coasteering, whereas Helena owns and runs The Overhang, the indoor climbing wall in Tenby. The usual nerves were there at the start, but they both showed me that they can run safe, informative and enthusiastic sessions on single pitch outdoor crags. Well done girls and enjoy using your award this year!

Leading at Newton Head on an SPA assessment in Pembrokeshire

Sara problem solving on a group abseil during her SPA assessment in Pembrokeshire

The start Spring had been great these last couple of weeks, meaning we’ve been out climbing in Pembrokeshire lots! I’ve always said the climbing in Pembrokeshire is special, and that’s one of the reasons I’ve made it my home here, but this last week was truly awesome in the sun!

Climbing in Pembrokeshire in the sun..

Ben and I had a great day on a very familiar crag, but it’s just so good I like to climb the routes there each year. Caerfai has lots of friendly, well protected sandstone routes and is a great place to start the climbing season, and a good introduction to sea-cliff climbing, with some harder and bolder slab routes if that’s your thing too!

Ben questing up into the Danger Zone climbing in Pembrokeshire..

My next day climbing with Ben we went somewhere we hadn’t been before, looking for an adventure – and we certainly got one! We struggled to find a good solid abseil anchor into the crag, and after linking together a few piles of not very good stuff, I abseiled down with a little trepidation.. We did a pretty decent route that’s definitely worthy of a star, if a little bold in places, but I was definitely glad of the abseil rope for the chossy top out! Our next route was intended to be a girdle traverse at sea level, and progress was good and the climbing interesting – until we hit zawn that we just couldn’t get across in the rough sea.. So it was Bens turn for a choss fest! He headed up a line we thought to be easy, but the bottom section (thankfully on good rock) was fairly tricky, once above this though onto easier ground the climb was very serious, and not to be recommended! He did great to keep his composure and get to the top, as I seconded I removed some of the dangerous flakes and blocks, but I’d still give it a wide berth!

Climbing in pembrokeshire has it’s perks! Walking across Barafundle to get to the crag..

My next day climbing in Pembrokeshire this week Alun and I went to the mercifully solid limestone in South Pembrokeshire! Mowing Word was the crag. I always love climbing here as the approach takes you over Barafundle Beach, without doubt one of the best in the county (if not the world!). We have for a long time hoped to climb Heart of Darkness/New Morning connection, a coveted line and one of the best at it’s grade around. Though after 2 pitches of traversing, in typical style for Alun and me not paying attention, we realised we were no-where our intended route…

Alun traversing, not on the right route, climbing in Pembrokeshire

So instead of our intended route I instead took a direct and steep line up the  crag, at a much harder grade than I had intended on climbing this early in the season! After a bit of a moment and a wobble, I made the top clean, and was thankful we could then head back across the beach back to the van! Definitely capped off a top week climbing in Pembrokeshire!

Heading into the steepness, climbing in pembrokeshire, at Mowing Word

Happy to be done, a great week climbing in Pembrokeshire

So I’ve left Scotland all behind and am now back home in Pembrokeshire, but got inspired by some of the Scottish landscapes I saw this winter, so thought I’d do a quick blog to remind myself how nice it can be up there! We endured some pretty grim and desperate days, leading to lots of important decision to be made on the hill both with clients and when out climbing and skiing personally, we saw plenty of avalanches, got blown off our feet, soaked to the skin and colder than cold, but at every turn we saw dramatic and inspiring Scottish landscapes..

Back home now in sunny Pembrokeshire it’s easy to forget how many dire and testing days we had in Scotland, and view it with rose-tinted spectacles! But there were some truly magical days, when the views stretched from Skye to Schiehallion, great powder days, perfect ice and days with good friends, and some fantastic Scottish landscapes, so here’s a few pictures to remind me what we’re missing out on down here (mountains!):

Back along The Dragons Tooth, above Ballachulish.

Looking over the Aonach Eagach, a classic Scottish Landscape

Down the Loch from the Mountains of Glencoe

Scottish Winter Climbing with my cousin…

Looking down on Ed, on his first time Scottish Winter Climbing…

Over the weekend, my cousin Ed flew up to Inverness to meet me, and experience what Scottish winter climbing is all about. He’s a keen walker, but mostly in his home of the Cotswolds’, so Scottish winter climbing was a bit of a step up! (And despite the big cousin ‘big talk’ he is pretty terrified of heights!). We  were staying at the wonderful Karn House, a hut owned by the FRCC, in Aviemore, and ventured into the Cairngorms for our daily excursions for some Scottish winter climbing.

He’d turned up with walking attire ready for some tea shop walks in the Cotswolds’, so after an extensive gear over-haul and some crampon adjusting, a plan was made to head into Coire an t-Schneachda, and a day on the Fiacaill ridge. We focused on safe and efficient movement, and using an ice axe and crampons for the first time, he got to the summit and experienced a proper Scottish whiteout!

Ed getting used to Winter Mountaineering up Fiacaille Ridge…

After a warm up, dry out and a few beers, we decided on Aladdin’s Couloir for the next day. Ed’s fear of heights didn’t get in the way and he managed to follow me up, finishing in another whiteout.. He took to Winter Climbing really quick, and proved to be surprisingly competent at it! (Even if I couldn’t persuade him to look at anything other than the square patch of snow in-front of him when we were climbing!).

Ed Winter Climbing for the first time, on Aladdin’s Couloir..

The view on the Monday of Ed’s depature was clear, sunny and incredible, Scotland taunting him to come back! Lots of fears confronted (I’m not sure conquered!), and a great experience, left Ed wanting more! Great weekend and great company cheers Ed!

Ed safely tethered to a rock!

SAIS & Avalanche Avoidance

Earlier in the winter I was lucky enough to attend an SAIS avalanche course, funded by the Chris Walker Memorial Trust. We spent the day with Graeme Moss, one of the forecasters for the SAIS in Lochaber, and looked at how they make their predictions, as well as gaining an insight into some of the latest developments in the avalanche forecasting world.

One of the most interesting points was that the experts ways of thinking are always changing, and some of the recent developments turn on their head some of our previous thoughts. The new evidence suggests that “Islands of Safety” are actually the opposite of that due to a greater temperature gradient difference because of the shallow snowpack around objects such as boulders and cliffs! Just one of the many useful snippets gleaned from Graeme..

SAIS forecaster Graeme showing us how he makes his decisions…

It was great to walk around the Nevis Range and get an insight into their world, and it’ll definitely bolster my teaching of avalanche avoidance.

During a winter skills course we try and impart useful and practical information on how our clients can avoid avalanches, it’s not very sciency and we don’t dig big holes (other than to show you out of interest how the layers behave with each other). Instead we focus on weather and SAIS forecast interpretation, pre-departure planning and observations whilst on the hill and any changes and differences we may be seeing.

Its a fascinating area and one that every hill walker, climber and skier should gain more knowledge into. One day it might just save your life…

Getting the probes out on the SAIS Chris Walker memorial course

Over the winter I’ve had some fantastic days Ski Touring in Scotland, and thought I’d share one particular day here, as it was one of the best I’ve had in the hills, on skis or climbing, anywhere in the world! Yes, Scotland can be pretty magical…

For this particular day Ski Touring in Scotland, I was out with Ben, a mate from Pembrokeshire, who was also up north of the boarder working. The weather forecast was near perfect, and looked set to be one of the best days of the winter, so although I was due to start my MIC training the next day, there was absolutely no way I could resist!

Ski Touring in Scotland

I had in the week previously been working on one of our Winter Skills Courses and had been up Sron Garbh a couple of time, once from the Devils Staircase and once from Am Bodach, so I had a good idea the snow was deep and cast up there! The ski-fields looked rammed, the car-parks were all full, yet with a bit of local knowledge we had the hill to ourselves!

After a long skin up and only 20 minutes walking, we were up above 900m. Not a breath of wind, views across to Skye and perfect snow conditions. Man we were psyched for the down hill! The whole way up the only company we had were the tracks of a fox, that had gone almost the exact same way we had – I wonder if it had enjoyed the views as much as us?!

Turn after perfect turn took us all the way down to the bottom of the Devils Staircase. What a day and great company… Here’s to more days like it next winter!

MIC Training

This last week I’ve been on my MIC Training in Scotland, run by Plas Y Brenin. The focus of the week is to build on the skills gained through the MIA and WML assessment process, and build on your experience to eventually go for assessment. The Mountain Training website details the awards they oversee, but here is a brief description of the mountain based ones:

ML (Mountain Leader) – to take people summer hillwalking

WML (Winter Mountain Leader) – to take people winter hillwalking (must have done your ML)

MIA (Mountaineering Instructor Award) – to take people multi-pitch climbing and Scrambling, coaching lead climbing or any other mountain climbing related activity, in a Summer environment (must have done your ML)

MIC (Mountaineering Instructor Certificate) – as the MIA, but in the Winter environment, ice and mixed climbing (must have done the WML and MIA)

So, the MIC is the highest British climbing qualification, and the holder of this award is able to take people winter climbing and teach them to do so on their own as well as a plethora of other things! After the MIC Training, you must spend some time consolidating your skills before an assessment. This length of time varies from person to person, but is usually a number of years….

Our week MIC Training up in Scotland with Plas Y Brenin had some awesome weather, and a couple of poor days, but we made the most of it all and got some great mountaineering and climbing in, winterised some summer skills and got lots of top tips from some highly skilled instructors. Cheers for a great week Tim, Al, Ollie and Matt… Now for some hard work and climbing for a couple of years training for the assessment!

Al Halewood telling us about the snow on our MIC Training! Looking at some large faceting and surface hoar in Stob Coire Nan Lochan

Heading up to the Ben, for a days Ice Climbing on our MIC Training.

Short Roping on our MIC Training on Stob Ban.

Ice! On the Ben on the last day of our MIC Training.

Winter Skills Weekend in Scotland…

Peter and Stuart had made the long journey from Northern Ireland and Darren had travelled from South Wales for our Winter Skills Weekend Course in Scotland this weekend – and man were they treated to some ‘proper’ Scottish weather!

It was one of those weekends that you really should spend in a cafe, but that meanrt there was lots of learning to be had – mostly won the hard way! The guys were sceptical when they arrived the night before, that there would be any snow or ice around at all – how wrong they were! From the valley all they could see was rain, the soggy lower slopes of the hills, and the trees buckling in the wind… They were soon to realise what a different world it was up there in the mountains!

Given the strong (70mph gusts) winds that had created a considerable avalanche potential, the team came to the conclusion that Buchaille Etive Beag would give them a safer day out, despite being exposed to the winds. I’m a big believer in giving my clients the skills to make their own decisions to keep them safe in the hills. So into the wind we went!

Winter Skills Weekend in Scotland

The route itself was just as we had expected, being safe from an avalanche point of view, but a bit breezy , and we found some nice slopes to practise moving with our ice axes to keep us safe. Whilst heading to the summit, on several occasions the wind put us all on our knees, and in the end the team made the prudent decision to turn back just before the top, given the high and uncontrollable risk of the wind knocking one of us over and leaving us incapacitated! The day was a real eye opener to the guys, and they remarked that they really had no idea the conditions could be like that up there, but a great day out looking at navigation, snow-craft and making sensible choices.

After a planning session involving the weather forecast, the avalanche forecast and the map, we opted to spend the next day focussing on micro-navigation on the far east side of Sron Gharbh. We reasoned this would give us shelter from the majority of the westerly wind, and be low enough we could manage the avalanche risk safely, plus had some great features to practise compass bearings, pacing, timing and contour interpretation. It made for a fantastic day, and the choice paid off, as the winds were less forceful than the day before, and we looked at loads of the navigation skills the guys were keen to develop.

Poor weather navigation coaching…

The chaps deserve a massive amount of the credit for making the weekend so fun and successful, a lesser team may have buckled! They learnt heaps and even enjoyed the ‘proper’ Scottish conditions!

Venues We are able to carry out our courses in a variety of locations to meet your needs.  It is stated on the course information where they can be held.  This flexibility means we can make the best of the weather, conditions and travel time.

Pembrokeshire – Possibly the most diverse climbing area in the UK, world class sea-cliffs, single and multi pitch, deep water soloing, bouldering – we have it all!  With a very kind climate the weather is often dry here, making it an ideal place to book your climbing course.  We also have the Preseli Hills, a very undiscovered upland area which is ideal for our introduction to hill skills courses.

Looking across Pembrokeshire from Porth Clais. There’s a lot of Adventures to be had here!

Snowdonia – The Snowdonia National Park is simply breath-taking.  Whether your here for one of our hillwalking, climbing or scrambling courses, a lifetimes worth of adventures awaits.  Its the perfect location for some navigation, has some astounding crags to learn on, you’re sure to venture back on your own after a course with us.

Snowdonia has it all, hills, cliffs, sea…

Brecon Beacons – Within such close proximity to Cardiff and the M4, we are so lucky to have this beautiful area on our door step in South Wales.  Whilst not as rugged as the hills of Snowdonia, the Brecon Beacons sure do pack a punch, there are some truly wild places making it superb for navigation and learning different hillwalking skills.

Great walking to be had in the Brecon Beacons!

Wye Valley – So close to the Severn Bridge, yet so many people just don’t know of this amazing and beautiful resource.  Rock abounds here, often in a tranquil forest above the winding River Wye, making this area simply superb for learning to rock climb.

Some great Limestone for climbing in the Wye Valley!

Scotland – It’s a big old country, full of history, folklore and awe inspiring views. We base our Winter courses up here, either on the dramatic West Coast (Glencoe) or the Cairngorms (Aviemore). People are always surprised by the amount of snow we get up here – there’s even a few ski fields around! Our courses here are big on adventure, exercise, and views… Come up North this winter and explore the area with us!

The incredible Scottish West coast during the Winter months…