Today I was working in Glen Nevis with 29 students from the new intake of UHIs BA in Adventure Tourism Management. After I'd given a presentation on the local industry and possible career paths Matt, Dan and I took the group for a little climbing and abseiling at Polldubh. I'm off north for some climbing of my own tonight for two days. 
Another damp morning as we set to for the second day of our SPA Assessment in Lochaber. Today we were at Polldubh in Glen Nevis looking at a variety of group climbing and abseiling options on Upper Pinnacle crag, the side of Pinnacle Ridge and Sw Buttress. The damp conditions prevailed until a dry spell in the early afternoon and the candidates were all good at looking after themselves on slippery wet top outs whilst rigging. All 3 passed - well done. Advanced forecasts are still hinting of a possible change later in the week.... yes please!
Another SPA Assessment and with an early drive east we managed a dry-ish route route for each candidate before the rain set in at Kingussie Crag. The 3 candidates each lead several routes up to 4b in the rain (keen chaps) before we moved on to look at some ropework setups for groups. Finally we finished the day with an evening at The Ice Factor.
Day 2 dawned wet and we went to Neilston quarry. After a damp start and with Glasgow catching heavy showers we actually had some dry rock to climb! Well done to Vicki and Graham who both passed their Assessment today- you can see that Vicki was knackered by the experience! Tomorrow its back to Lochaber for another Assessment for me.
....And it was raining. We were based at Glasgow Climbing Centre and after a session there we headed out to Craigmore Crag to look at some group management and rigging. Well done to the guys for performing well in awful weather.
Day 2 of our SPA training saw us at Neilston Quarry. As well as looking at group management at a different venue we covered group abseils, more toproping problem solving and – in some finally dry weather after a morning of heavy downpours- personal rock climbing. The guys left buzzing with heads full of new tools to work with and a good idea of what they need to do to prepare for Assessment.