Busy times for Snowdonia Mountaineering!

I'm currently enjoying my first day off after 10 days of instructing and guiding in the mountains and on the crags of Snowdonia and North Wales. Unfortunately I dont have my camera-pc lead at the moments so you'll have to wait a few day for some pics.


Monday 12th - Tuesday 13th
Intro rock climbing course with Matt and Jon - see previous blog post.

Wednesday 14th
My regular Wednesday work with a local group of adults with special needs. We went for a nice stroll over Conwy Mountain.

Thursday 15th - Friday 16th
I worked on an SPA training course for Phill George Mountaineering. The SPA is the entry level outdoor climbing qualification for those who want to take groups to climb on single pitch crags. The trainees did really well and are looking to return in December for assessment.

Saturday 17th - Sunday 18th
I took new clients Liz and Austen out for two days of navigation and scrambling. More on this to come... plus top tips from Liz on how to use a she wee and advice from Austen on using Jedi mind tricks....


Monday 19th - Tuesday 20th
Returning client Tony wanted 2 days of rock climbing but unfortunately on Monday the weather Gods weren't kind so we postponed the day. Thankfully on Tuesday we found sunshine at Holyhead mountain and ticked off 5 routes - 2 v diffs and 3 severes! A great day. Tony is hoping to return in October to tackle some longer routes. Outside Edge route a Cwm Silyn is top of the list!

Wednesday 21st
My regular Wednesday work with a local group of adults with special needs.We enjoyed some Autumnal sunshine on the walk up to Aber Falls

Intro Rock Climbing Course

On Monday I was joined by new clients Matt and Jon for a 2 day intro to rock climbing course. Both Matt and Jon had done a small amount of indoor climbing before but had never climbed on real rock before. Looking at the weather forecast on Sunday I was starting to worry that we might have to spend a good portion of the 2 days inside! Thankfully in Snowdonia we have Tremadog and whilst the Mountains were getting battered by hurricane Katia, Tremadog remained dry and (relatively) sheltered! After spending some time buying new rock shoes at V12 Outdoors in Llanberis we drove down to Tremadog and the boys enjoyed Boo Boo (diff), Yogi (severe) and the first pitch of Oberon. We also looked at abseiling with a prussik.


The weather on Tuesday was even better at Tremadog and we climbed the classic Poor Man's Peuterey (severe) on Pant Ifan. The boys built their own anchors and belayed each other up the 3 pitches.
We finished the day with a quick ascent of the brilliant Micah Finish of Christmas Curry (hard severe), which provide a thrilling and challenging test for the boys and a great way to end the course!

Matt on the Last Pitch of Poor Man's Peuterey

Jon and Matt enjoying the view from the top

Jon on the arete of the Micah Eliminate of Christmas Curry

Scrambling and Rock Climbing Skills

Today I was joined by new client Tony who contacted me as he wanted to get back into climbing and mountaineering after a bit of break. He has done some good and hard climbing in the past but after spending a lot of time sailing and recovering from injuries he felt he wanted some one to help him back into the hills. The weather has been appalling for the past few days in Snowdonia so I was pleased when the morning dawned dry(ish) and the wind had dropped to 30mph!
We drove round into the Ogwen valley and enjoyed the grade 3 scramble on Tryfan Bach. With the weather forecast to get worse in the afternoon we decided to drive to Lion Rock to look at some crag skills and get rock shoes on! Tony is back in 10 days time with aspirations for Cneifion Arete and a traverse of the Glyders!