Thursday 30 July 2009

Evening Cragging



The heavy early showers gave away to brighter weather so I nipped out for short a late evening cragging session with Pete Duggan. We went to Scimitar Buttress and climbed the traditional weirdness of Nutcracker Chimney before the steep honest Diagonal and I made a quick solo of Wanderlust.

Wednesday 29 July 2009

Outside and in


Another showery morning but I cycled to Polldubh and soloed Pinnacle Ridge, Styx Buttress RH and The Gutter all of which dry very quickly and did a little bouldering too. This afternoon it was back to The Ice Factor for some more staff training. This time on the High ropes course looking at equipment and problem-solving.

Tuesday 28 July 2009

Day indoors

Today I was doing some staff training at The Ice Factor for junior instructors. We were talking about working with groups of mixed ages and ability, peer belaying, supervising bouldering activities and designing the correct session for the needs of the group. Before anyone comments yes the boulderer in the photo would be better not wearing a harness and belay plate but that was one of the lessons I was trying to draw out!

Monday 27 July 2009

Wet and windy

Not the best weather in Lochaber today but I braved the weather for a quick run up Ledge Route and down the pony track. There has been a huge amount of work done on the zig-zags and by the end of the summer the worst of the rough bouldery sections should be replaced with friendly cobbled steps or smooth gravel track.

Sunday 26 July 2009

I'm back!




Back home after a superb month in Gaaseland, Eastern Greenland with 12 pupils from The Glasgow Acaemy and fellow leader, Neal, Nigel and Sally. The winter has lasted well into the summer months in Greenland with usual landing spots still under snow when we arrived and the summer supply ship not yet having made it to an icebound Ittoqqortoormiit. We experienced some snow for the first week and used the time load carrying for when the weather cleared. This and our snowshoes enalbed us to climb three probable first ascents all around 1800m high. Top team, top time and back in time for Sandy's first birthday today!