Before heading to Costa Blanca I’d heard really only of the Bernia Ridge, as it seems to be the one all Brits have done. Everyone speaks very highly of it – they clearly haven’t done any of the others!! I didn’t realise there were so many beautiful ridge lines here, with amazing natural sweeps of limestone forming great knife-edge ridges many hundreds of meters (or kilometres!) long. The first one we did was totally by… Continue reading
After running a massive amount of RCI and RCDI training and assessments this last year, I thought I’d put some thoughts down on how best to prepare and consolidate to answer the question – how to pass you RCI…? Go Climbing!! First things first – the minimum requirements are ABSOLUTE minimum, and shouldn’t be the target – aim for well above. This is the case for the RCI training course too, we’re seeing people coming… Continue reading
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… Continue reading
The blog has been neglected recently, but now finding extra time on my hands, here’s a whistle stop tour of what we got up to this winter after our Nepal trip in the Autumn… The Alps We drove out to the Ecrin on Boxing Day, with the hope of some skiing and ice climbing, lots of good food and time in the hills not working. The ice conditions in the Ecrin and the low level… Continue reading
This Autumn I was in Nepal again, guiding on Mera Peak for Jagged Globe. The full team assembled in Kathmandu ready for their climb of Mera Peak after a smooth journey from various start points. We had a short space of time to check kit and make final preparations before an early departure to Ramechhap for the much anticipated flight to Lukla. Shiv welcomed the team and gave them a rundown of the trip, while… Continue reading
This summer I spent a month in Nepal for World Challenge, leading my team through the usual treks, community projects and adventure travel. We had a fantastic time at a school in the foothills of the Himalaya, did some ace white water rafting on the Trisuli, visited the incredible ancient Bhaktapur and had a 2 day warm up trek in the Helambu region. Our main trek was a 2 week adventure in the Rolwaling, up… Continue reading
The rest of spring has flown by and we’re into summer – the weather in Pembrokeshire has treated us well! We’ve been bathed in sunshine with only a few damper days here and there, and all our courses and freelance work has been ace! Coaching lead climbing First up I had Julian and Abs back for more sea cliff fun, with the aim of the game to get young Abs leading trickier routes. She smashed… Continue reading
Technical Advice As seems to be the trend, the weather this Spring has treated us well, enabling lots of fun work and personal adventures to be had! I was in at TYF training their RCI qualified staff in the skills needed to safely work at simple top access sea cliffs such as Porth Clais. This is a venue they use a lot but it’s outside the remit of their award. Showing them some new skills… Continue reading
Heading towards you ML assessment and needing some top tips? I work on a lot of ML training and assessment courses for a range of different providers, and the same things are highlighted on every assessment as to weaker areas of the syllabus with many candidates. The role of the Mountain Leader is obvious, but so varied even within this, and the ML assessment syllabus is pretty vast to reflect it! The ML training courses… Continue reading
The RCDI course is the award for teaching the skills for trad and sport climbing and leading in a single pitch environment. We’re super proud to be one of the 4 providers in Wales for it! Whilst the venue remit of the award will be the same as the RCI, it will fill a gap between that and the MCI. The fact you need to be a committed hillwalker, mountaineer and ML holder for the… Continue reading
