Inspiration and aspiration

Over the past month I've been getting back into rock climbing. Now that doesn't mean that previously I've not been out on the rock, it means I'm starting to feel the psyche building again - I'm reading through guide books, searching out routes I've yet to do. I've been putting in some quick hits to the Cromlech boulders to get the fingers working, evening visits to the slate to remember how to move and use the feet, and even the odd wall session. It feels good. It feels like I'm becoming a proper climber again.  A lot of things have changed over the past few years. After finding out I was going to need a hip operation in 2012, I decided to become a student again and get stuck in to a PhD for a few years. So I have been running Snowdonia Mountaineering very much on a part time basis. Rock climbing was put on the back burner as I got into road biking during my hip rehab and my focus for trips switched to ski mountaineering. Over the past month I have started to remember why I love rock climbing so much. Its that addictive combination of technical movement, physical exertion and mental challenge mixed with the spice and excitement of danger.

Enjoying an after work climb in the slate quarries - Seams the same E1

A climber needs to have inspiration and aspirations, and the lack of both over the past couple of years is probably the main reason why I haven't done much rock climbing. I was chatting to some good friends a couple of months a go about rock climbs we would like to do, both in the UK and abroad. I started to realise that there were some routes that I really wanted to do and that a lot of them would require me to be a proper climber again - not just a part time one. So I thought I would start compiling  a list of routes I want to do over the next few years to provide me with the motivation to get out there and do it!