Sunny Sport Climbing Portland

This weekend I’ve been down in Dorset, working on a “learn to sport climb” course for Freeborn Climbing. We had 5 fantastic people who had varying levels of experience, all progressed massively over the two days. It makes a nice change for me, as we have virtually no sport climbing in Pembrokeshire, so it was great to clip some bolts in the sunshine!

Sport Climbing in Portland

Sport Climbing in Portland

Over the course of the weekend we climbed loads of great routes, initially looking at a focus on belaying, climbing movement and efficient technique, alongside the art of clipping quick-draws!

Teaching threading lower-offs at The Cuttings

Teaching threading lower-offs at The Cuttings

Once the team all had the skills to thread lower offs and felt confidant to lead, we climbed loads of routes to reinforce the skills…

Coaching leading on the sharp end whilst sport climbing

Coaching leading on the sharp end whilst sport climbing

We rounded up the weekend with some problem solving and avoidance. Hopefully everyone will be confidant to get out themselves now and get on the sharp end! Awesome effort in hot weather!\

How to protect an abseil

How to protect an abseil

Tying-off the belay plate

Tying-off the belay plate

 

Multi Adventure in Pembrokeshire this week…

It’s been a very busy week here in Pembrokeshire! I’ve been running a schools multi adventure week on behalf of TYF. I had the pleasure of the company of some great instructors throughout the week which always makes things much easier.. The weather was on our side and the school left with glowing faces despite copious amounts of sun-cream.

Massive thanks to Edgeborough School for being amazing students and a couple of great teachers, making my week easy.

Climbing at Porth Clais

Climbing at Porth Clais

We had a great day rock climbing at Porth Clais, a couple of awesome Coasteers and a some sunny kayaking and surfing. I was asked to deliver a presentation one evening and talked about climbing in Yosemite – I think it went down well, the students asked so many great and unexpected questions. Hopefully they left inspired to go and have some adventures of their own!

Group climbing at Porth Clais

Group climbing at Porth Clais

Clip from the Yosemite slideshow

Clip from the Yosemite slideshow

TFY Adventure climbing…

This week (and the next few weeks), I’ve been working for TYF Adventure with their schools that are visiting Pembrokeshire for an activity adventure week. We’ve been blessed with an unreal week of warm sunshine, and I’ve been lucky to work alongside some great Instructors in some beautiful locations…

A day climbing at Porth Clais was followed by 3 days climbing at St David’s Head. I’ve just been climbing this week but the schools do a bit of kayaking, coasteering and surfing. It’s a busy time in Pembrokeshire – yesterday there were 5 different groups at St David’s Head, luckily the area can accommodate that amount, but it seems the secret about how great Pembrokeshire is, it out…

Abseiling at St David's Head

Abseiling at St David’s Head

View walking into St David's Head

View walking into St David’s Head

Sunny Sea Cliff Climbing in Pembrokeshire

Sunny Sea Cliff Climbing in Pembrokeshire

Climbing at Porth Clais

Climbing at Porth Clais

Walking to St David's Head

Walking to St David’s Head

Now for an afternoon and weekend Coasteering… Lets hope the sea is as warm as the rock was this week!

 

Awesome week Climbing and Surfing in Pembrokeshire!

It’s been one of those weeks that just makes you super happy and content. Some great work with great people, in one of the Worlds best locations for Rock Climbing and Surfing, plus plenty of time off to get out Bouldering, Climbing and Exploring for myself!

A blustery week made for some challenging conditions on Tuesday for the group from GRIP that we were climbing with at Wolfs Rocks with Coastal Adventures, a really top group who challenged themselves and pushed their comfort zones in difficult conditions, and so many of them achieved so much more  than they believed they could – a great satisfying and rewarding day…

Climbing with GRIP at Wolfs Rocks, Pembrokeshire

Climbing with GRIP at Wolfs Rocks, Pembrokeshire

The following day the merciless winds had thankfully died down and we spent the day at the incredible Whitesands Beach, Surfing with Dragon Activity Guides, with a group of super keen school kids, who having all been surfing before, were competent enough to get loads done and really be able to enjoy the properly amazing weather! The waters warming up and with a view like this I could spend all day everyday on the beach!

Surfing at WHitesands

Surfing at Whitesands

We managed to get a load of climbing in over the next few days, first up was a quick afternoon hit at Caerfai, one of the best Sandstone slabs in the St Davids area, offering some great routes, especially in the hs-vs category, with some harder test pieces too. A short walk in and a wicked view too!

Climbing at Caerfai

Climbing at Caerfai

Next up we headed South to climb on the Limestone of South Pembrokeshire. I hadn’t been here in ages so it was ace to get to the wonderful Becks Point and Fishermans Ledge, for some relaxing easy angled, non serious slab climbing. One of the best aspects of climbing in Pembrokeshire (apart from the 5 guidebooks worth of climbing within half an hour of my house!!) is the great variety of rock, we have such a diverse range giving us all sorts of climbing…

Climbing at Becks Point

Climbing at Becks Point

We spent Sunday again around the Sandstone of the St Davids area, climbing at Porth Y Fynnon and Porth Clais. With some really great single pitch sea cliffs this is one of the best venues to make your first steps sea cliff climbing. Some of the areas best routes in the v diff-hs grade range are here, with plenty of trickier ones. Get the tides right and you can get so many wonderful routes done in a day… A great week with great weather, always leaves me psyched for the summer ahead!

Climbing at Porth Y Fynnon

Climbing at Porth Y Fynnon

Team ascent of Red Wall, Porth Clais, Pembrokeshire

Team ascent of Red Wall, Porth Clais, Pembrokeshire

 

Second week in Dartmoor

Our second week in Dartmoor followed the same format as previous. Working alongside some great instructors we put the MOD apprentices through their paces with a day Rock Climbing at Hound Tor, a 2 day exped over Dartmoor and a days Mountain biking at Haldon Forest..

As well as the days working we managed a quick evening hit to Hound Tor to solo some of the routes there, and a great evening in the sun Bouldering at Bone Hill – I had not been there before but the area is awesome! Well worth a visit… Glad to be back in Pembrokeshire now after a couple of weeks away, and looking forward to getting some routes done on our stunning coastline!

Climbing at Hound Tor

Climbing at Hound Tor

Walking on Dartmoor

Walking on Dartmoor

Climbing at Hound Tor

Climbing at Hound Tor

Mountain Biking at Haldon Forest

Mountain Biking at Haldon Forest

MOD apprentice week in Dartmoor

This week I’ve been working on behalf of “Wet and High Adventures” with a group of engineering apprentices from the MOD for Bridgwater College. A busy week aimed to develop their problem solving and team-work and to provide a bit of bonding for them! We climbed, mountain biked and hiked throughout Dartmoor from out base at the brilliant “Dartmoor Expedition Centre”.

Our first day of climbing coincided with the only bit of rain for the week, so we headed indoors to the Dart-Rock Climbing Centre. An excellent place for the guys to take their first steps. We spent the morning looking at good climbing technique on the bouldering wall, before learning to belay and get on some routes. A few of the guys even managed some lead climbs – on their very first day climbing – great effort! We finished the day with an awesome inter-team bouldering comp…

bouldering at dart rock

learning to belay

Our 2 day hike over some fantastic scenery was couple with amazing weather – a real treat, and the guys coped well with the navigation and physical nature of the long miles – we did have a fair few stops in the sun by the river though to soak up the rays!

2 day hike on dartmoor

River hopping on Dartmoor

Our final day mountain biking on the excellent Haldon Forest Trails was a brilliant end to the week. Starting on the skills track with the burms, drop-offs and other obstacles, we developed their personal biking enough to finish the day on one of the tricky red trails. A fun week at work with some great people – really nice to be working with a bunch of super highly experienced instructors – and another week of it starting tomorrow!

Mountain Biking at Haldon Forest Trails