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 out a load of HS’s with me along side her, which made her (and dad Julian!) confidant enough to get in a great lead of the VS Amorican! Amazing effort Abs and great progression through our days together…
A week with TYF followed, taking their visiting schools pupils to Wolfs Rocks and St Davids Head, always a pleasure to get so many youngsters enthused about climbing outside! Beautiful Pembrokeshire makes our job easy though!
Guiding mountain multi pitch climbs
Up in North Wales then I was with Danny, who had a weekend with me last year too. Our aim was to get some good hill miles under our legs and get a bit of exposure and some long rocky terrain under his belt. With a damp first day we traversed the Carneddau before warming up with tea and cake at Café Siabod. The next day was a stunner so we linked some multipitch routes on Milestone Buttress into the North Ridge of Tryfan to make for an ace day! Super fun weekend as always with Dan!
Learn to lead climb course
With me for the week then was Ellie and Alice, who were keen to learn to lead climb. We started out with loads of top roping, building belays and abseils, working o technique and ropework skills, and after a couple of days they were on the lead and smashing out the routes! We were able to put loads of time into their development and even have a day indoors to really refine their lead belaying and work on their head games of lead climbing. We visited a host of beautiful crags in both North and South Pembs. Such a great week with a couple of keen climbers!
Another week with TYF and their schools groups, with a quick day personal climbing out at St Davids Head with Alex. It’s so important at this busy time of year to still get out for some personal adventures! Such a beautiful day too and as usual the crag to ourselves!
Guided days in Pembrokeshire
With me for a long day of climbing then was Linda and team. Already experienced climbers, they wanted someone with local knowledge to maximise their time on the sea cliffs. I even managed to find the opportunity to coach them up a lead climb for the full experience!
Next up was a few days with the Real Adventure Company and their visiting school group. We bouldered, climbed and abseiled on various North Pembrokeshire cliffs, the weather was sublime and the lads put in loads of effort!
Guided Pembrokeshire rock climbs
Greg was wit me for a few days guiding then. He had been on one of our Winter Skills Courses, and was keen to experience some sea cliff loveliness! We were blessed with the best weather, amazing crags and finished everyday with delicious local ice creams! The way work should be! We started out on some easier single pitch routes and popped up a few trickier lines – but Greg experienced his first multi pitch climbs at the amazing as always St Davids Head.
In amongst that there was some personal bouldering at the small but perfectly formed Plumstone and then a quick afternoon of personal climbing with Joey, who I have mentored through her RCI award. She has been working up to climbing an E1 for ages, and she finally did 2 in one day – ace effort and great to see her pushing her comfort zone!
CCF Adventurous Training
A couple of weeks then working for the CCF units based with Adventurous Training camp at Penally. We had a huge amount of youngsters trying bouldering, climbing and abseiling outside as part of their week doing other things.. Great to get so many young people experiencing outdoor adventure in this ace playground of ours!
Technical Advice sign offs
A day of Technical Advice followed for my last bit of work before heading to Nepal guiding for a month. The Rock Climbing Instructor staff at Dragon Activity Guides who work outside the remit of their qualifications undergo a yearly site specific sign off with me. This is vital to ensure they are current and competent and can safely work on simple top access single pitch sea cliffs. We climbed, managed and rescued clients at an empty and beautiful Caerfai..
It’s been super busy here in Pembrokeshire and now I’ll be away until mid August guiding treks in Nepal – should be fun! Shall miss Pembrokeshire but can’t wait to get to the mountains!
If you need to get in touch with us in the mean time drop me an email and I’ll get back to you when I can!
stu@climbingcompany.co.uk