New Dragon Cams from DMM

DMM have recently brought out the Dragon Cam - a nice looking piece of kit that has been designed to be lightweight, strong and have a big range. Now I'm a big fan of DMM gear - it is always very well made, well designed, looks damm good and most importantly when I'm on a big runout - trustworthy!

Check out this video clip that clearly illustrates the strength of the new Dragon Cams

WGL and Fresh Snow

I woke this morning to sound of snow avalanching off my roof! About 4 inches of snow came down last night and it has been snowing sporadically through the day; this combined with near gale force winds has made it pretty grim to be up high! The forecast is to remain cold so take care if you are out and about in the hills - my advice would be to go for a coffee insted at the moment!

For the past few days I have been instructing on a WGL - Walking Group Leader training course based at Blue Peris Mountain Centre. This is an award for those who want to lead walking groups in non mountainous but remote upland and moorland terrain. You can find out more information on the award by visiting the MLTUK website.

Navigation Refresher Day

I had a great day out today with Jo and Dean who I took up Tryfan back in February. They wanted to go over some navigation techniques and skills so we headed up to Gelli Iago to see if I could get them lost. We had a fantastic stroll up to the top of Cnict and round to Llyn yr Adar covering contour interpretation, identifying features on the ground and relating them to the map, pacing and compass work. It is a great area to do this as the paths are generally pretty vague and it is easy to get off the paths and make your own way through the wilderness. It also has the added benefit of being quite and very beautiful.

I beleive that the key to good navigation is being observant of all the features of the landscape around you and the ground under your feet. So do do this you need to get into the habit of looking around, getting all the clues from the land and then looking at the map, rather than just burying your head in the map!


Jo and Dean with Cnict in the background


Dean, Chris, Jo, Garry and myself on Tryfan

I then finished off the day with a hours bouldering at the Cromlech in the Llanberis Pass. With the clocks going forward tonight the time for evening climbing missions is now upon us - just bring on the sun!!

Spring sport climbing on the Orme

I'm typing this report up with slightly sore tips after a good days cragging at the Great Orme, Llandudno. It felt properly spring like down by the sea, with the sun out and music drifting over from the amusement pier. After a quick warm up I decided to try Mean Mother a fingery 7b, however I think my enthusiasm got the better of me and after 3 good goes I had to admit defeat for the time being. Need to get some fitness and grow some skin!


Jim post crux on Mean Mother 7b

Alone on the wall

Last night I watched 24mins of the most gob smacking, awe inspiring climbing footage ever - Alex Honnold free soloing Moonlight Buttress in Zion and the NW Face of Half Dome, Yosemite. Now if this doesn't mean much to you let me elaborate. These routes are 400m and 700m respectively and on the UK grading scale would come in at E5/E6 and to climb them free solo means no rope, no partner, no protection no second chances. Now I have done a few free solos in my time but they have been short routes and well within my grade. To have the mental capacity to solo these hard and long routes is just mind blowing.

The camera work is stunning and watching Alex climb up these shear walls really gives me the hebhejebbies. One slip and he will have plenty of time to consider his landing! This guy is really pushing the limits of climbing and this feat is probably the most impressive feat of rock climbing since Lynn Hill free climbed The Nose of El Capitan.

Follow this link for a sneaky preview!

Skiing!!

I'm just back from a week of fantastic skiing in the Three Valleys with Yorsten Lodge School. My Mum is a teacher at the school and for the past 2 years Jen and myself have joined the trip as extra staff members. Snow conditions were really good at the start of the week although it all got a bit slushy on Friday and Saturday. I've been really inspired by the off piste skiing we did and I'm going to have to start doing some ski mountaineering soon.



Showing Off!


Jen and David off-piste


About to descend to Courcheval

The Somme - best day of the winter yet?

The Somme is one of those routes with a bit of a reputation! So when friends Jamie and Jamie suggested getting on it I thought OK - but your lead guys! We walked in early to find great conditions and amazing weather. I fired off the first ice pitch a gentle grade 3 and a good warm up for what was to come. The Jamies had a hard pitch each - the first of these was steep and technical using a variety of techniques on ice, turf and rock. The second gives the meat of the route - 40 m of sustained but steady thin ice which is very bold - I was nervous just watching Jamie climb it. He definitely deserved his beer that evening. It was a good route to break in my new Black Diamond Cyborg crampons on! Topping out we were greeted with warm sunshine and amazing views across North Wales and beyond. We really have been spoiled this winter... lets hope next year is just as good.


Rory on the initial grade 3 ice pitch


Jamie high on the bold 3rd pitch - amazing ice but scarily bold!


Fully psyched after seconding the 3rd pitch


The Glyders and Snowdon from the top


Walking off over Carnedd Dafydd

Crib Goch - another amazing day

With a lot of fresh snow lying around I thought I would head onto Crib Goch instead of wading up a powder filled gully. I parked in the Llanberis pass and enjoyed blissful solitude as I stomped up to Cwm Glas and the start of the north ridge. This gave a good airy stroll with a couple of exciting steps to reach the east ridge - which was busy. My late start meant that a nice trail had been made along the crest to the pinnacles so it all felt pretty straight forward today - just a tricky and exposed move or two to gain the last pinnacle. From there I carried on along Crib y Ddysgyl to the top of Carnedd Ugain, all on amazing snow. After rescuing someone from the top of Parsley fern gully I ran and bumslid my way down it in a couple of minutes before ambling back to the van.

I cant believe how many amazing winter days out I have had this year is North Wales - its just been stunning - and there's no end in sight at the moment!

A great week of work and play

I've had a brilliant last week of work and play and sitting at home with a brew in hand I have that slightly smug feeling of knowing that I'm lucky to live in such an awesome place. This winter keeps rolling on and long may it continue! Bryn and I made an ascent of the classic Sinister Gully III, 4 in upper Cwm Glas today. Its a good route although the difficulties are a little short lived. The crux icefall was in great shape but care was needed on some of the snow slopes. (More fresh snow falling now so watch out for avalanches!)







On Tuesday I took out Rob, Rowen, Ian and Luke for a Mountain Leader refresher day to prepare them for an upcoming assessment. We spent the morning near Nant Peris looking at ropework before spending the afternoon in the Moelwyns brushing up on navigation strategies and techniques. There was 3 - 4 inches of fresh snow and when the sun came out it was simply stunning!
Good luck for the assessment boys!





At the weekend I had two days at Tremdog rock climbing in the sun (apart from Sunday afternoon) with Davie and Rob - we manage to climb Boo Boo, Oberon, Poor Mans Peutery, Rio and Yogi - not bad for a first weekend of multipitch climbing - we even had time to do a few abseils as well.

Friday - had a great day out up the North ridge of Tryfan with Dean and co. on his 40th Birthday (he doesn't look it so dont tell anyone how old he really is). It was an exciting ascent with a few wintery sections at the top.

Thursday - see photos below

Why? This is why......

The best place on earth...

Well maybe a bit of an exaggeration... but Snowdonia showed its best form this weekend. I went up in to Cwm Cneifion on Saturday where winter still holds sway. I went up with friend Helen and we soloed up Tower Gully, down Easy Route, up Hidden Guly - all on perfect neve - and then had a play on some ice. All under blue skies and sunshine. There was even a cloud inversion to the south. I had friends rock climbing at Tremadog - just 30min drive - in T-Shirts and others surfing on Anglesey.



After a few beers last night (celebrating a great victory) I had a lazy start then headed to the slate quarries for some rock climbing - my first in over 2 months! We had a great session in the sun ticking a few E2's and E3's. Its good to try and keep you hand and more importantly your head in gear this time of year so that you can hit the ground running when spring comes!

More Scottish Fun

I'm back in Wales now after another awesome week up in Scotland. The highlight of the week was an ascent of the Forcan Ridge on the Saddle. This is a fantastic grade I/II winter scramble with a short abseil to pass a tricky step at half way. We had fine weather and good snow from the base of the ridge. Photos below:







Unfortunately the weather turned bad the next day so that put on hold plans for the classic 'five sisters of kintail'. The lowlight of the week was having to wake up at 3am to dig out our snowhole entrance to prevent asphyxiation in a snowy grave!

I got the train back from Fort William, which turned out to be an excellent choice - as well as being environmentally friendly the section between Fort William and Glasgow has to be one of the most scenic journeys in the world. I was blessed with fine weather, blue skies and snow down to 100m. The views across Rannoch Mor were breath taking.

All this time spent in Scotland recently has got me thinking about Munro bagging. For those that don't know a Munro is essentially a Scottish peak over 3000ft. There are 284 of them and many a mountaineer has a desire to 'bag' them all. This has always seemed pretty geeky to me - the whole idea of climbing a mountain just to it tick off the list has never really appealed to me, especially as there are many amazing mountains below 3000ft. However having climbed a fair few now I am starting to harbour a small ambition of doing them all over my life time. What really appeals to me is that many of the Munros are very remote and require an expedition mentality to climb - walking into a bothy or wild camping is required for some, others are best accessed by boat and they will all take you to some amazing mountain environments.

A couple of ice climbing pics

Lou seconding me up the first pitch Devils Pasture in Cwm Idwal - a sustained 60m pitch of awesome ice!



Jim McCormack climbing the Screen a fanastic, steep route which I climbed later in the day.

The Thaw Begins...

It was awesome while it lasted but I woke this morning to driving rain and a gale force southerly. With a warm and wet forecast for the next few days it looks like winter is Wales is over for a while. I made the most of yesterday and climbed in Cwm Idwal (along with the rest of the world) on beautiful ice under a blue sky - it doesn't get much better. We climbed the Devils Pasture and the awesome Screen.

There have also been a few avalanches around Snowdonia and with the warm and wet weather today I would expect a few more so watch out if you are heading out into the hills!

I have also been to the lakes and Scotland over the past few weeks and enjoyed some excellent mountaineering days out - culminating with the Aonach Eagach ridge in Glencoe. Heres some photos.


Derwent Water from Catbells


Buachille Etive Mor at Sunset


Lou on the summit ridge


Me on the start of Curved Ridge


The Aonach Eagach Ridge

A Grand Day Out on Glyder Fawr

Yesterday was one of those special days in the mountains. Snowdonia is well covered in snow and ice at the moment and with a good forecast I decided to bail from my mums and drive back to the mountains. After a couple of days of thaw followed by a heavy frost I thought that the ice in Idwal might be in good nick. So we hiked up to the Devils Kitchen only to find that most of the lines were not complete, very wet and thin. Time for plan B - Cwm Cniefion, which is probably the most reliable spot for winter conditions. So we walked up over the top of Glyder Fawr on perfect hard snow and in bright sunshine. The views were just stunning.


Snowdon from Glyder Fawr

We then climbed down into Cwm Cneifion and decided on Hidden Gully - a great little grade 2 with a couple of icy steps. It was in great condition and a real joy to climb. We finished the day off by descending the Gribin Ridge - a summer grade 1 scramble.

Take care out there folks - the rescue teams have been very busy and the paths are very icy! In fact the most dangerous part of yesterday was walking down from Llyn Bochlywd. The weather here now is properly grim - windy with sleet, and snow supposed to be arriving soon.

Merry Xmas to you all

Merry Christmas!!!
Hope Santa brought you everything you needed - I got a stack load of warm socks... not complaining though, I can never have enough socks!
I'm back at my Mums in Cheshire eating a lot but looking at the forecast for more cold weather I think I will be heading back to Snowdonia soon for some more winter walking and climbing.

Enjoy the rest of the holidays!!

Winter fun in Scotland

Just back to a very wintry Snowdonia after 4 days up in Scotland. With a large Siberian air mass over the country I knew that it was a good time up North. So I drove up to the Cairngorms with my good friend Jamie on Thursday evening. After a cosy night in the van at the Cairngorm Ski Area car park we made our way into Corrie an t'Sneachda as it was getting light. The cliffs looked amazing and the weather was pretty calm. We climbed Crotched Gully and The Runnel - both covered in amazing snow/ice. Then to finish the day off we marched over the top of Cairngorm in a white out.





The next day we attempted to get up Creag Meghaidh but we got caught out in a fierce blizzard so retreated only to find the road completely covered - which made for an interesting drive to Fort William (especially as one of the rear brakes had seized!). We chilled out the next day as we were without transport and snowed in!

On Monday we made it half way up Aonach Mor on the Gondola then traversed round through very deep snow to its west face and climbed a very alpine style route in blissful solitude. It was quite hard work as the deep snow covered ice, frozen turf and cracks for gear. We topped out in the dark and navved down to the Gondola, where to our great fortune we managed to blag a ride down with staff, despite missing the last public Gondola by 2 hours. We earned our beers that night!



I'm really pleased with how my new La Sportiva Nepal Evo's performed - really comfy straight out of the box and they kept my feet toasty in spite of some pretty cold conditions. Money well spent!

Inspiration

Check out these guys' videos - they know how to climb hard and have fun... if you need some inspiration on these cold, wet and dark days look no futher!

Inspirational Videos

A weekend with Rob Jones and Co.

One month ago I got a call from a Mr Rob Jones. He had a plan - to climb up Mt Blanc with a few off his mates then paraglide off the top! He also told me that none of his crew had done much in the way of mountaineering or rock climbing and he was the only one who could paraglide - he wanted me to help out.
Now I always like someone with a bit of ambition so I booked him and his team on a weekend to introduce them to the scrambling and the mountaineering skills they would need to ascend Mt. Blanc - I'm leaving the paragliding to them though!
So they arrived in Snowdonia late Friday night/Saturday morning and pitched up in the campsite despite torrential rain and gale force winds. Thankfully the weather had relented by the morning and we made our way the North Ridge of Tryfan, practicing various rope techniques as we went. As we summitted the weather came in a way so we bailed down western gully and got back to the car park by 4pm.


Rob posing on the Cannon, Tryfan North Ridge

With another poor forecast for the next day and another wild nights camping for Rob and the team (they could not be persuaded to stay in a bunkhouse!) we headed to Lion Rock at the end of Llyn Padarn. This is a great little venues for teaching rope skills and we covered abseiling, gear placement, building belays and then they all had a go a leading and ascending to the top of Lion Rock using a variety of climbing and scrambling techniques.


Daz on his first lead

We finished off, as all good days should do, with a pint of Guinness in the local. It was an excellent weekend and it is always a pleasure to teach and coach an enthusiastic and quick learning group. Rob and his team have booked on to a winter skills course and I will see them again in the Spring for more climbing and scrambling action - lets get some more rubber on the rock team!

El Chorro - Spainish Sport Climbing and Sun!!!

Just arrived back in a still damp and now even colder North Wales after a fantastic 2 weeks in El Chorro. This awesome sport climbing location is just 1 hour from Malaga airport and at this time of year the temperatures are just perfect for climbing. I went out with friends Rhys and Lucy and stayed at a guest house called the Olive Branch, run by ex-pats Mel and Gary. We had a fantastic time there. It has a friendly and sociable atmosphere, great facilities - including a pool table and a swimming pool and is situated less than 5 minutes walk from the nearest climbing area. To visit their website follow this link: The Olive Branch.



The climbing is all on magnificent limestone, with harder routes taking steep overhanging faces with good holds, tufas and stalactites. I manage to climb my first 7c climb on my third try so it was a successful trip for me. It was even better to come back with a tan and find out that it has rained nearly everyday in the UK!