Aonach Eagach

After a sociable evening last night we had a late start today and didn't leave the van at the foot of the Aonach Eagach until almost 2 o'clock. Neal had his fast (if short) legs on and Lee and I kept up and we were at the Clachaig less than 3 and a half hours later! Its been great just to be out on the mountains in fine weather after a month of rain, snow and gales!

Observatory Ridge

Today Lee and I went to Observatory Ridge for a great mountaineering day. The forecast was for good morning weather deteriorating to poor weather in the afternoon. So we got a reasonable start and were leaving the van at 0830. The ridge was a touch damp and there was a half inch of hail/snow on most of the ledges but not enough to impact badly on the climbing. We pitched the first 4 rope lengths and then moved together up the rest of the ridge and the weather stayed dry and clear all until we had summited at lunchtime and beyond. So after we got to the top it seemed sensible to continue Lee's acquaintance with the North Face with a descent of Ledge Route. We had the odd spit of rain on the way down but nothing serious as we wandered down the ridge to finish a good day out.

Sunshine, soloing and Sandy time

Sunshine at last. Felt like a cool spring day today but at least it was dry. Sandy was trying out his new bike (this one has pedals) and then led Jane and his grandpa up to Steall Meadows to cross the wire bridge whilst I went for a cheeky wee solo at Polldubh (inspired by this video of Steve House soloing) . I climbed the ever polished Pinnacle Ridge, Pine Wall and the excellent Secretaries Direct (the best severe in the Glen and well worth the walk up. It felt good to have rock shoes on and to be out moving on real rock again.

Pedal power

'Tigers'

Hold on tight

Improvised rescue workshop

On the second day of the MLTA Skills weekend at Glenmore Lodge I was running a workshop based around improvised rescue.
Wendell has completed his MIA training and was looking for a refresher whilst Mike is a much less experienced climber. So I gave Wendell the opportunity to do some teaching of basic building blocks for Mike who in turn acted as a casualty so that we could revise some scenarios and problem solving. Another dry day where groups were out revising ML Ropework, looking at GPS based navigation, the teaching of navigation to novices and the environment of the Cairngorms. Another busy but successful day.

Coaching climbing movement workshop.

I was working for MLTA at Glenmore Lodge running a workshop on introducing basic climbing movement to beginners. After working through the components of a healthy and relevant warmup we looked at fundamental concepts such as the climbers centre of gravity and how to move it and rotation. We examined how to introduce these concepts to different client groups and exercises and games to improve their understanding and execution of these climbing skills on a variety of angles of climbing surface. The inclusion of a little bit of Coaching Processes (How to coach as well as What to coach) gave us a good full day of training.

A summer's day (at last!)

Woke to a gentle inversion below my house and blue skies above. So I hopped on my bike out to Torlundy and sweated my way up to the CIC Hut. The ridges seem largely clear of snow but there is a great deal in the gullies for June. No.2 looks like it might give a good day out in next weeks forecast cooler temperatures! Then it was up Tower Ridge.... a route I struggle to tire of overtaking a fast party of 4 just at the through route after the Eastern Traverse. There was a tiny bit of avoidable snow on the Traverse and an insignificant amount of ice in the chimney- other than that dry rock all the way. Topping out I worked my way down through the hordes (most of whom seem to walk head down in a somnambulistic trance- either that or they are fascinated by their own footwear) and back to my bike- where I broke my chain... and only being out to Torlundy and back did I have any tools on me? Nope. Fortunately it is the MTB World Cup this weekend and a lovely lady soon came to my rescue with a chain tool :-)
Sorry about the blurry photos- the camera was down the front of my t-shirt and I was perspiring somewhat!

The head game...

Today I was out with Emma and Ross. Th brief for the day was to help Emma (who was out with me in Rjukan on the MCofS Meet this February) with her nerves when leading. With a drizzly start at Fort William this morning we headed east to Kingussie (I'm there so often I'm beginning to feel I should buy a house). Here we began to work our way up through the grades from VDiff through her usual grade of Severe and onto here regular upper grade of HS. We examined her gear, her ability to plan a route and spot rests and protection in advance and to risk assess her position. We also worked on her distrust of camming devices! After a brief bouldering session where we examined her breathing and some relaxation techniques Emma went on to lead a short VS- the first time she has climbed a route of this grade clean and with absolutely no input from me. We spent a little more time talking about managing anxiety whilst climbing and accessing and anchoring positive climbing experiences before she geared up at the foot of the steep and pumpy HVS at the left end of the crag. This route is always quite tough and punishes any lapse in technique with a serious pump! emma did well placing a large amount of gear and overcoming her concerns to take rests on it before topping out. We finished up by reviewing the day and giving her some exercises to work on. not bad progress for one day.