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?!
