Snowdonia Climbing weekend away! We’ve just had a long weekend in Snowdonia climbing some classic rock climbs, the weather has been unreal and it’s been great to see Joey progress to being a competent multi-pitch trad lead climber… Combining days out with road biking, running, climbing and river swims – we had a pretty decent mini break away! I always love getting up to the hills – about the only thing Pembrokeshire is missing. Our… Continue reading
SPA training and more…. Over the weekend we ran our first SPA training course of the year here in Pembrokeshire. We had 4 keen and experienced candidates, a few of whom work for TYF, a local company I also act as Technical Advisor for, so it was fun to be out with friends! A couple of the candidates had done their SPA training almost 17 years ago, so a refresher was needed and I was… Continue reading
Spring Sunshine in Pembrokeshire It may have rained the last few days, but we’ve had more than our fair share of a Spring Sunshine here in Pembrokeshire – and we’ve made the most of it! It’s still a relatively quiet time of year work wise, and in between shifts at the local climbing wall and admin for upcoming courses, we’ve managed to get out on the rock loads! In lovely warm Spring Sunshine I took… Continue reading
Back in Pembrokeshire… Its been a fun filled winter, but now I’m back in Pembrokeshire, our season on the rock here has started! It’s been a busy start, with a fair bit of time on the computer – important stuff being a business owner, but not why I got in to the outdoors at all! Managing to work a bit at the Haverfordwest climbing wall, I’m able to do what I love and stay dry… Continue reading
Scottish Winter Skills Course My last Scottish Winter Skills Course of the season was with Sara and Charlie. They’d come all the way up from Pembrokeshire to spend a couple of days learning all the aspects of Scottish Winter Skills to keep themselves safe in the hills over the winter months. They were also kindly going to be mock clients for me for a couple of days climbing. I’m in the consolidation period working towards… Continue reading
3 Day Winter Skills Course in Glencoe We’ve just finished our latest 3 day Winter Skills Course up in Scotland. Return client Mo brought Reg along with him to learn all about Scottish Winter Mountaineering in Glencoe. Being good navigators already from their day jobs with the MOD, we put the focus on learning about snow, avalanche conditions and route choice, along with using crampons and ice axe. The guys hope to go on to… Continue reading
Winter Skills Courses Its been a challenging week weather-wise for our first Winter Skills Courses of the Scottish Winter season. We’ve had a really fun and productive week, though there were a few days when everyone was wet though to their pants! We started off with return clients Stuart and Peter for a couple of days in Glencoe. With the guys heading over from Northern Ireland to see us we were keen to get straight… Continue reading
Scottish Winter Climbing – a short story I had the absolute pleasure to show Joey around Scotland the other week and take her on her first forays Winter Climbing. She took to it like a duck to water, at least she appeared to on the outside anyway! Here’s a short strory she wrote on one of the days experiences… “The West Face” By Joey Jones. Snow stings my eyes. I squint and bow my helmet… Continue reading
Winter Climbing I’ve had a week Winter Climbing in Scotland with Joey, I’m staying up here but it was her first week Winter Climbing. The snow came right on cue, and we took the long drive from Pembrokeshire to Scotland conditions started to improve in the mountains. With a couple of weeks until we started work it was time to get the Hill legs back and have some fun! Breaking the drive up with a… Continue reading
Coming into contact with so many people looking at becoming an Outdoor Instructor, many often ask how I got into it all. Running Instructor Training and Assessments and working closely alongside many different outdoor centres and providers, I often end up giving advice on becoming an Outdoor Instructor to people, so though I’d try and get some of my thoughts down here… Becoming an Outdoor Instructor Having started climbing at the age of 16, I… Continue reading
