Chocolate Brownies and SPA Training

Yesterday Sandy and I had a cook off. We made chocolate brownies.... only he ate his mixture before cooking it! Last night I was at the wall beginning an SPA Training and today for the first full day of it Ben and I took the team to Kingussie Crag. It was gloomy but dry and the group dispatched a variety of routes from Diff to HVS in grade. More SPAing tomorrow but I fear it may be a bit damper!!

Training for routesetting, teaching indoor leading and Navigation...... and I've got a cold :-(

In the last few days I've done 2 day's training as part of my role as Technical Advisor for The Ice Factor. The first was some site specific training towards staff being able to teach indoor lead climbing. Interestingly but like many staff at large commercial walls they chose this route rather than the CWLA. I think this is because these staff often work at only one wall and therefore don't feel it is worthwhile paying the extra money to register for an NGB.
Day 2 involved some Routesetting training and procedure checking. This is quite different from much of the work I do and the systems involved need to meet the needs of the Work at Height Regulations in a different way. But besides the technical side there is a lot of training to be done on the creative side of setting routes too.
Finally today I was working with 3 students from UHI's Adventure Studies Department on their navigation. We tried a new venue that several of the staff have been curious about near Glen Loy. Ruddy 'dendrons' paths marked purely for historical value and large new roads were a them of the day. I wont hurry back but at least it stayed dry.

Damp on Buachaille Etive Mor

Alistair and 4 of his pupils from Williamwood High went with Tristan and I to Curved Ridge today. Any snow from the last 2 days had melted in the mild drizzle which was never heavy but ever present today. Nonetheless we had an atmospheric time ascending up past Rannoch Wall (tat on the block on January Jigsaw a mute splash of colour... testament to some climbers' mini epic this damp summer) and the guys made good enough time that we skirted north around Crowberry Tower to climb to it's small summit platform. From there it was a short step to the top of the mountain where we felt a light but chilly breeze for the first time all day. Well done to the team for many of whom it was a first munro.

More climbing movement

Not like that............................more like that!

Another workshop for students from UHI's School of Adventure Studies on climbing movement. We were at the Ice Factor where Tristan and I took 12 students through some drills to ensure their understanding of the importance of moving their centre of gravity both across and in and out from the wall.

Good luck to all of those attending the STS round at the Ice Factor tomorrow. I'll be on Curved Ridge with some young mountaineers.

The white stuff...

Ben Nevis and the Aonachs

White Corries

Buachaille Etive Mor
You've probably heard by now but we have snow in Lochaber. There has been the odd bit of snow over in the east in the last couple of months but the arrival of the white stuff on the west is always a special occasion as it marks the day when its time to go and dig out the winter kit in preparation for the scratching season. Its only a dusting but it bears the promise of winter to come!

MIA last day and today

Sunday was the last day of the MIA training course at Glenmore Lodge.... I don't know if the students were tired but I certainly was! We spent the final day looking at models for training and assessing so that they would have a good basis for working on MLT NGB courses in the future. The guys got the opportunity to train and assess each other on a variety of finite skills with a set standard before sitting down with George and I to go through their action plans on how they plan to prepare for assessment. A good end to a busy 9 days.... as ever I seemed to learn as much as I taught!

Yesterday was a day of laundry and catching up but today I went out onto Ben Nevis for a quick leg stretch. Bill and Colin did Castle Ridge and I tore up Ledge Route before a rapid descent to the half way lochan. The short video clip gives a good idea of the conditions.... no sign of the snow yet but it was certainly cold up there. I rode the bike into Fort William for a quick meeting with a client looking for some long term climbing development and then home to dry out and warm up. Now..... how many emails do I have to answer??? Too many!

Nearly there

Day 8 of the Glenmore Lodge MIA Training and it was raining. Today was about teaching climbing so the weather was not helpful.... fortunately we've been drip feeding the message for most of the last week so we didn't have an insurmountable task today. We looked at some mechanics on the towers before heading to Huntly's cave again to rig some routes for self lining. Then back to the Lodge for a last bit of ropework, some scenarios involving planning sessions for clients and a big review.