Author: stu_mcinnes@hotmail.co.uk

Post winter hasn’t included much of a break this year, which is great but it was straight back at it with courses when I got back from Scotland! Tying my journey back south with an update level 5 First Aid course based on far from help medical emergency situations was great, and as always super interesting with Dr John Dallimore. So much better and more worthwhile than the standard outdoor first aid courses, many of which aren’t really that relevant or useful for our work guiding expeditions to remote places.

Rock Climbing Instructor courses

Our first RCI training of the year was blessed with good weather, with Porpoises at St Davids Head setting the backdrop for day 1, the Haverfordwest Climbing Wall on day 2 and finally the perma-sunny Newton Head.. A fantastic and knowledgeable group of candidates that really added to the training process.

The weather has been good for some personal climbing, with numerous sessions at the North Pembrokeshire staples of Barcud, Caerfai and Porth Clais, and a few visits to the South Pembs Limestone in the Penally and St Govans area. As always, plenty of visits to Plumstone for some bouldering as it’s only a couple of minutes from home.. I’ve also popped to the Gower for a bit of trad but more so the sport climbing there. When I first moved to Pembrokeshire the sport climbing on the Gower was fairly minimal, but now there’s so many ace routes to go at – well worth a visit! Loving the longer nights again!

Rock Climbing Development Instructor Courses

It was super exciting to be approved as one of the new (and only 4 in Wales) providers of the new Rock Climbing Development Instructor Scheme… This highly anticipated award is aimed at teaching lead climbing on single pitch crags, and will fill a gap for many great climbing Instructors that don’t want to do their Mountain Leader award and progress through the Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor scheme… I cant wait to get delivering these exciting courses – have a look if you’re interested and get involved!

Continual Professional Development

Early season is a great chance to get some CPD in, and as well as being super interesting, a great way of showing your currency and professionalism as an Instructor. Having done loads of CPD in Scotland over the Winter it was great to get out with local Pembrokeshire Geology experts and learn about the home crags! Followed by a sunny evening personal climb at Caerfai watching a pod of Dolphins enjoying playing in the bay – it doesn’t get much better!

I was in North Wales after that, and as great as Pembrokeshire is, its always nice to be in the hills! I was working on a Mountain Leader training course for Wet and High Adventures – the poor candidates had it pretty cold! Thankfully the weather swiftly changed and the Rock Climbing Instructor assessment I was directing for Dave at Acwaterra was bathed in glorious sunshine! Really nice candidates all round as ever!

Mountain Leader Courses

Then a stint back home working in the climbing wall running all sorts of sessions from beginners taster classes, intro to climbing courses, learn to lead climb and a bit of coaching for the Haverfordwest youth climbing team. It was back up to Snowdonia after that and a Mountain Leader assessment for Wet and High Adventures, a spectacular week and a glorious exped with warm sunny days and beautiful wild camps!

Easter arrived and the weather was booming! Some more personal climbing and plenty of days private guiding left me a little frazzled from all the sunshine, so some more climbing wall work was pretty welcome!

The rest of Spring will fly by and we’ll soon be in to summer – where does the time go?!

It’s taken me an age to write a report for the winter just gone and what we got up to. To say it was a funny old one would be an understatement! I had booked my MIC assessment for the end of the winter, and had lined everything up around that… For anyone that was up there, the fact that winter was often actually summer can’t have gone unnoticed, and conditions were far from ideal for training toward my last Mountain Training qualification…!

As it transpired, my assessment course was cancelled a few days before it was due to start. This was pretty much expected by this point, but pretty gutting none the less! This qualification was essentially what I’ve been building up to for a number of years both professionally and personally, making certain choices in life to fit around it..

Post winter the name of the award has in fact changed, so I’ll never actually be an MIC now anyway! I however look forward to my Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor award assessment in the winter of 2020! Currently the WMCI will be exactly the same, though a review of it is due to start this autumn. With a super busy summer ahead, I thought I’d better wipe the winter slate clean and get a little blog up of what we got up to, move on and look forward to things to come! The rest of 2019 looks pretty exciting for a number of reasons!

“Winters” beginnings…

Figuring I’d go up in early January and get some good winter hill days in to get these seaside legs working again, I was greeted with early season conditions in the Cairngorms – fantastic for some hilly training runs, but meant I had to look pretty hard for the white stuff for our early season winter skills clients!

CPD and Training

I had booked onto several trainee workshops, aiming to check I was on the right lines with what I was doing and to give my training some good direction and get feedback as to my progression. The AMI agm workshops ranged from short roping to winter weather. I spent a couple of days at the CIC hut on Ben Nevis learning all about the mountain from Rich Bentley. A day out with the SAIS forecasters in the Lochaber region was as always super interesting and useful. Far too many winter outdoor professionals just don’t up-skill their avalanche awareness enough. This should be as mandatory as your first aid quals – if not even more important. A final couple of days with Al Halewood looking at all aspect of guiding and teaching with multiple rope options was great, and after all this cpd throughout the season I was feeling pretty happy with it all!

Winter Skills Courses and Guiding

I’d purposely not booked in too much Winter Skills work or guided mountain days in order to direct my preparation towards assessment – but ooooh how the bank balance is suffering now! I couldn’t refuse my return clients, or the odd day working for friends, and we did actually have some fantastic conditions. Some great hills, fun days, great knowledge passed on, and new faces already booked onto other stuff throughout the summer with me.

Mock Clients

I spent a fair bit of the winter getting out with “mock clients” ie- non paying guineapigs! We had some ace days actually, and made the most of conditions and with the lean winter, climbed routes I hadn’t done before as well as old favourites often in different conditions to the norm. This was really valuable learning for me, seeing real life how different decisions work out in different variable conditions.

Personal Winter Climbing

One of my main aims for the winter was to do as much personal winter climbing as possible! Hampered by conditions coming and going, or being totally absent, I still managed to get a fair bit done – but winter 2018 it was not! I went out on so many days when I normally wouldn’t have bothered, soloing potential client routes, or climbing soggy routes, or lean routes, or esoteric routes – all in all pretty tiring but fun none the less! I think I climbed about 40ft of ice all season, much of it was spent on snowed up rock, or frozen turf/mud… Still, by seizing every opportunity (and boy didn’t the legs know about it!) I got quite a lot of routes in!

Scottish Winter that was actually Summer!

Then came the bonus stuff! Long snow free runs up Munros, rock routes on The Ben, plenty of visits to the Ice Factor, bolted dry tooling routes outside.. But the absolute mega highlights of my winter:

Traverse of An Teallach – stunning weather and views, moving fast over perfect rock, this has to be my new favourite mountain day in the UK, and ranks amongst my best days anywhere in the world!

Ardverikie Wall – I’ve had a copy of classic rock since I started climbing, and have ticked a lot of them, but this route is possibly the best I’ve done at the grade in the UK. Beautiful location, amazing rock, every pitch long and pretty exposed for the grade – simply awesome! And warm! In winter!

Looking forward to Winter 2020…

Physically and psychologically tiring, lots of driving for the “good” conditions, BUT some amazing fun times with a great group of people as always – and they make the winter don’t they?! Cheers for the good times y’all! Here’s hoping winter 2020 will be a colder snowier one, maybe see you there?

Autumn ends…

The latter half of Autumn has been busy! With courses running in both North Wales and Pembrokeshire – personal guiding, NGB training and assessments in climbing and mountain leadership, a lead climbing course and a big wall climbing skills course, it’s ben super fun! Here’s a whistle stop tour of what we’ve been up to…

After arriving in Snowdonia to work on some ML courses, we had a day spare so managed to get the classic mountain rock route Amphitheatre Buttress done with Joey, who hadn’t done it before. Chilly conditions necessitated a swift ascent, but ace to get this done in dry conditions in late October!

The classic Amphitheater Buttress route shot…

It was on to an ML assessment for the next 4 days after that, working for Wet and High Adventures. We had a damp but fun steep ground day on Tryfan before a 3 day exped over the Snowdon range from south to north. We started in glorious conditions in Cwm Tregalan but the candidates did well in some cold and wet conditions for the remainder!

Cool clouds coming down in to Cwm Tregalan on the ML assessment

A quick whizz back home to Pembrokeshire for the weekend to run an RCI assessment, we basked in the sunshine in comparison to the last couple of days! Strong passes all round and a fun easy time for me!

RCI Assessment in Pembrokeshire

Straight back in to it with some more ML action for Wet and High Adventures after that, starting out running the first 2 days of their training course. A pleasure to spend the time with a group of experienced and keen mountaineers. Cold conditions meant snow high up so the tops avoided for the start of the week, but generally very agreeable weather! I was out for the 3 day assessment exped again with a group of well prepared candidates who all put in good performances, and with a magical sunrise for our final camp it was ace to wrap up the week with them!

ML Assessment in Snowdonia

I had the pleasure of taking Dave and son Alex for a days scrambling after that, it was a shame the weather was a bit grim, but we had an ace time on Tryfan. I used to work with Dave in Cotswolds Outdoor, so it was great to share with him what I do know as a career!

Guided Scrambling in Snowdonia

Back down in Pembrokeshire we had our final RCI training course of the year. A day inside for some climbing wall action was followed by 2 days out in the sun – good old Pembs! The candidates had all done their SPA training before, but were keen to see what else the RCI now included. It’s worth remembering if you did your old SPA training and are considering an assessment next year, all the RCI pre-requisites will be mandatory from the start of 2019 – why not book a refresher with us?

RCI Training in Pembrokeshire

We then had a 3 day learn to lead climb course running with Ranulf and Alexander. The guys learnt loads over the few days, climbing some ace routes, and it was mega to hear they were putting their new skills in to practice the very next day with some leads all on their own! That’s what it’s all about!

Learn to lead climb course in Pembrokeshire

The next few days we were delivering a big wall aid climbing skills course. Rob and Jeffrey had driven over from the Netherlands to learn how to hopefully get themselves and their kit up some big walls! We had a day inside cementing all the basics and developing their skills in the warm and dry, then it was outside using it all for real. We were blessed with some warm sunshine, first at Carreg y Barcud, then at Caerfai the next day. The chaps were very keen and competent, so we looked at the process of aid climbing, different ways of seconding the routes, specialized gear suck as sky hooks, hauling and portaledge skills – and as it was so nice I couldn’t not get them to lead some classic north Pembrokeshire trad climbs too!

Big Wall Aid Climbing Course in Pembrokeshire

Now our Autumn courses are over, its full steam ahead training and getting kit ready for the winter in Scotland! Join us on a Winter Skills Course!

Winter Skills Courses

Things usually slow down a bit for us this time of year, but it has been a pretty busy Autumn really! We started off with a couple of weeks work for Wet and High Adventures, working with MOD engineering apprentices from Bridgwater College. This time our venue was Exmoor, an area I’d never been to before, so it was great to explore a new place and work with some lovely groups… We walked, mountain  biked and kayaked, concentrating on team building and personal development, all very enjoyable!

Walking exped in Exmoor…

I’ve been spending a fair bit of time working at the Haverfordwest climbing wall too, handy to escape the rain! It’s been a fun mix of route setting, utilising my RSA level 2, and also coaching the youth team as well as some introductory courses…

Route setting at the Haverfordwest climbing wall

We had an RCI Assessment running, and the weather played ball big time! We had a day in the sun at Wolfs Rocks on day 1, then a morning inside avoiding the rain at the Llanion Cove Climbing Wall on day 2. After it had cleared we spent the afternoon at Newton Head. The candidates were strong so I had an easy weekend!

Lead climbing in Pembrokeshire during an RCI Assessment Course

This time of year thoughts often turn to going on courses myself, to further my own knowledge and keep a strong ethos of Continual Professional Development in my own practise. Working a lot with groups of youngsters in remote locations across the globe, it made total sense to upskill myself from a Mental Health point of view. Spending a month away with people, different issues can arise, and course that Stu Skinner from Changing Horizons delivered for World Challenge has definitely given me a greater knowledge on how to deal with possible situations…

Mental Health first aid course

I then had the pleasure to spend a few days in Snowdonia with my World Challenge team for next year, we’re heading to Rolwaling, so it was ace to get them in the hills and teach them some skills ahead of the trip… We had amazing weather for a tour of the Glyderau and the team all coped well with some physical days!

Snowdonia views for miles….

More indoor work and some coasteering rounded up the last month, now getting excited for more Mountain fun and getting training for the coming winter!

Climbing Stok Kangri

This summer I led a trip for World Challenge to Ladakh, far northern India, where we planned to climb Stok Kangri, the highest peak in the range there at a whopping 20,187ft… My team were a group of 16-18 year olds from a boys school in Rugby, none of whom had done anything like this before! Below is a quick write up of what we got up to, hopefully it might be of some use if you’re planning on climbing Stok Kangri…

None of the group had been to altitude before, so landing at 3500m in Leh after a hectic schedule of flights changing in Mumbai and Delhi, we planned to take it fairly easy. Drinking lots of honey, lemon and ginger tea in the excellent Oriental Guesthouse was my plan! Run by Dawa, World Challenges long standing in-country agent for the area, The Oriental Guesthouse is a beautiful oasis of green in an otherwise very arid area. The flight and landing in Leh in itself is spectacular, with views in to the Karakoram and some fairly close proximity flying near massive mountains! The team all seemed to take the initial altitude in their stride, so rather than sit idle we ventured out in the afternoon for a walk up the steep steps to Shanti Stupa, and their first acquaintance with the Buddhist culture of the area. Excellent views over the valley and of our objective in the distance, and a good chance to get the acclimatisation process started!

The next few days were spent exploring, relaxing and eating far too much excellent food. We had a whole days walking up to Leh Palace and Namgyal Hill for more incredible views and culture, but perhaps the highlight this day was strolling through the random assortment of cobbled streets in beautiful Leh and stumbling across two bulls fighting! Never a dull moment and a hasty retreat made… I was keen for the guys to get some exercise over 4000m before we started our climb, so we got taxis a little way up the Kardung La (claims to the highest motorable road in the world title) and found an area to play some football and run around before a beautiful hike back to town. With a day to prepare kit and finalise plans all the team had taken to the altitude really well, so I was starting to feel fairly confidant in their chances of climbing Stok Kangri!

Looking down on to Leh old town from the Palace…

We started out trek in from Chilling, a slightly longer than usual route, that would take in two high passes before we reached base camp, to give us the best chance of success. This also meant a cool approach to the start, over the Zanskar river…  They’re building a bridge but it wasn’t quite finished when we were there, it probably will be by the time you read this. Make sure you click the link below to see the video:

Crossing the Zanskar river

Over the coming days we hiked along fairly gentle trails through occasional beautiful small settlements, where life seemed set back several hundred years from our normal ways. Usually camping in the settlements or near the river so we had access to water in this arid desert landscape, several of the team remarked at times how it looked lunar… We had a couple of longer days, ascending the Ganda La and Stok La passes, both just about touching 5000m, and still the team we’re going well despite the thinner air.

Camping on the approach to Stok Kangri

As we crossed the Stok La and approached base camp the weather took a turn for the worse. Cold, wet and windy – it all felt very British! We weren’t really expecting prolonged poor weather, supposedly in the Ladakhi rain shadow and away from the monsoon.. Fortunately we looked forward to our meals, always a big bonus on trips, and having been on dozens of overseas Expeds all over the world, I can honestly say that Gumbo and his cook team were by far the best I’ve ever seen. I can’t cook pizza out of a packet that well in my oven at home let alone from scratch on a single gas burner at altitude!

We arrived in base camp on a dreary day, passing teams on the way down who had little or no summit success due to the weather. The team were all in good spirits and fit and healthy, but certainly a little deflated with the inclement weather and the realisation of its impact on our summit plans. All we could do was carry on with our acclimatisation programme and hope for the best. Pretty cool at base camp to bump in to Charlie who was one of the original founders of World Challenge years ago, he was there for a second time with all his kids, not a bad family holiday! He was really excited that we were there with our team and a very interesting chap with fascinating future plans to get more youngsters involved with the outdoors…

We had a day walking above basecamp so the team could practise walking in crampons, with ice axes and moving together roped up. Great to see the team take to it well and still going strong, despite the first signs of tiredness above 5300m. I was glued to the different weather forecasts and local guides opinions, desperate for a good window of weather, knowing that our team had an amazing chance if all the variables played ball… We had 2 days for possible summit attempts, so all we could do was rest, relax, sleep and hope!

Stok Kangri base camp and some rare sunshine

Sat that night in my tent listening to the the thunder storm rage on the surrounding peaks, I was definitely more than a little subdued, desperate for my team to have decent weather to give it their best shot. Woken with the usual delicious bed tea (how did that even become a thing?!), the sky looked grey and somber like my mood! The basic weather forecast we were able to attain was fairly similar for the coming days, so we decided that we may as well attempt at the first opportunity after a rest day, as it wasn’t going to get any better. Having a hard talk with the team about how conditions were less than ideal and how there was a big question mark on whether we’d actually get to the top, and that my main aim was to keep them all safe, and so no matter what, if I said we had to go down that was what we’d do, no discussion.  They saw deflated teams heading back in to base camp from their failed summit attempts and I think grasped the situation. There were some successes though, but as some of the lads pointed out, they were all from proper mountaineers not a bunch of school pupils!

Our team were actually pretty fast walkers, and we decided on a slightly later than usual 1am get up for a 2am start. Some slow teams had left at 9pm!!! Bags were packed and what sleep was possible was had, and I was super impressed with the team all being there and with it so early in the morning… A slow steady pace, all keeping together, had been our strong point throughout our approach, and that’s what would give us the best chance of keeping it going for the long day ahead. A quiet but determined team left basecamp and walked together into the night… The teams first steps on a glacier at 3am in the morning at 5500m was an eye opening experience for them, with me working hard at the front cutting steps so we could avoid putting crampons on, fortunately the steeper section was short lived!

On the glacier on Stok Kangri

The long slog to what the locals call ‘The Shoulder’ was perhaps the longest and toughest section of the whole climb, but with dawn coming part way up, and the the team catching up with and passing many parties, motivation levels were high, and despite the toughness of the day, I never heard a single grumble or negative word, they just kept on plodding up… And most importantly, despite the cloud coming and going and a bit of wind – the weather was holding.

Sunrise over India from Stok Kangri

Once at the shoulder we rested a little while, then roped up for the final climb up the ridge. With the group in 4 roped parties, me leading one and three local guides on the others, the team took to it really well and looked after each other as they went, with some easy but exposed sections that could have fazed a less able team of youngsters. It was awesome to pass Charlie as he and his kids were on their way down after a successful ascent, and I think it was only then that it dawned on our team that they were really going to do it!

As we came up to the final rise and saw the prayer flags on the summit, the team had the top of Stok Kangri to themselves and with occasional glimpses into Pakistan and Tibet, hugs and photos all round… Most of them were too tired to feel any emotion but I was super proud of the guys and the effort they had put in, not just today but on the approach in general. We were the only group from World Challenge to have 100% team success on the mountain this season, and it was all down to the lads efforts…  Below is a short summit video:

After a climb back along the summit ridge, down the steep slope from the shoulder, back over the glacier and finally down to base camp, the guys just managed to stay awake long enough for a delicious late lunch prepared by Gumbo, well deserved after a 14 hour summit day…. A good nights sleep and waking with a sense of tired euphoria, we flew down the trail and back to Stok Village and some well deserved (and much needed) showers at Oriental Guesthouse…

Our time in Leh was wrapped up with lots of shopping and eating, but the final highlight was getting the opportunity to go and see a teaching by the Dalia Lama… Always a pleasure working for World Challenge and the experiences and opportunities it gives not only the youngsters – but myself also! Very very lucky to call all this “work”…

My selfie game needs work… On the summit of Stok Kangri.

Another few decent weeks of weather since the last blog, and a pretty busy time in the run up to heading off to India working for a month.. To start off with I was running a Rock Climbing Instructor Assessment, with a one day refresher for a couple of the candidates beforehand. We had lovely weather and the guys and girls all did splendidly! Always a pleasure to run Mountaim Training assesment courses for lovely people!

Zach cruising his way through his Rock Climbing Instructor Assessment in Pembrokeshire

I was back with some school groups after that for 4 days, for the Real Adventure Company first, then Dragon Activity Guides. We ventured to Pen y Cwfwry each day for some seaside adventures in the sun…

Pen y Cwfwry in the sun with some visiting school groups in Pembrokeshire

Then we had a quick evening hit out for some personal climbing at a beautiful and deserted Porth y Fynnon, where we led some routes we hadn’t done in years, always nice to be able to find new or unfamiliar ground on home turf!

Joey following me up on of the HVSs’ at Porth y Fynnon…

Next was a day out with some strong students that were doing activities with TYF, really impressive to see some of the girls cruising all the routes at Porth Clais with ease!

Walking up Dreamboat Annie…

I then had a few days working with the Princes Trust group that were staying with The Real Adventure Company, we did a whole heap of activities and personal development, including a whole day climbing and abseiling at a Wolfs Rocks – the team did fantastic with everyone achieving great things!

The Princes Trust team climbing at Wolfs Rocks, Pembrokeshire

As part of my role as Technical Advisor to several of the Outdoor Activity providers in Pembrokeshire, I run yearly coastal crag endorsements for their Rock Climbing Instructors, so they can work on certain easy access single pitch sea cliffs that fall outside the remit of their award. After some training a few weeks ago I spent the evening out with Pete, Martin and Ben making sure their skills were still current and slick….

Martin heading back up the rope after sorting out an “unconscious” Pete…

A nice day then with Liz and Rich, who were trying outside climbing for the first time. Some great routes climbed and comfort zones definitely pushed!

Rich experiencing seacliff climbing for the first time at Porth Clais.

Instead of rock it was high ropes next, acting in my role as Technical a Advisor for Newgale Lodge, I was training so,e of their staff to be able to assist on sessions at their facility. Good basic skills practised and an ethos of avoidance cultured!

Staff training at Newgale Lodge high ropes course.

After a few days coasteering work I was over at Newgale Lodge again to run their high ropes course sign offs. Its great to see Mike and his team grow year on year at this fantastic facility – get in touch with them if you’re in Pembrokeshire and fancy a high ropes adventure!

Leap of faith on to the trapeze at Newgale Lodge High ropes course…away for a 

Im away for a month now guiding in the Indian Himalaya, hopefully summiting Stok Kangri with my team from World Challenge, it should be a pretty big challenge for the students at 20,187ft high!

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