BMC Self Rescue Course and an SPA Refresher

It was a cool weekend of getting in and out of trouble on the rocks with a bunch of great folk on the BMC's sea cliff self rescue course. We covered all sorts of issues that might arise when trad climbing on serious sea cliffs, from minor problems to full blown emergencies. Well done to all on the course for getting your heads round mind bending problems and coming through wish solutions! Thanks also to Alun Richardson who helped out working on the course.

Today I was out with James and Una. James is coming up to his SPA assessment and wanted a day's refresher to put him through his paces to prepare him for the assessment. Lots of good skills covered and an opportunity to go through what to expect from an assessment.

If you are thinking about doing your SPA assessment or just want to learn rescue skills to keep yourself and others safe in committing climbing situations than get in touch. 

Snowdonia Climbing and Filming Work

Classic Rock Climbs of Snowdonia

On Sunday evening, I traveled up to Snowdonia with Phil for a day's personal climbing before three days filming work with Jerry. The weather was fantastic and the crags were in super condition. It would have been rude to not climb in the Pass! We first got on a great three pitch route on the East Wing of Dinas Mot called Gollum, then headed over to the West Wing to climb the five pitch Jubilee Climb. Jerry joined us at the hut that night and plans were formed for the three days filming. On Tuesday we headed over to Carreg Wastad and filmed an ascent of Crackstone Rib, a totally amazing Severe that goes in two pitches. The second day we ventured into the Slate Quarries and film the route Seamstress, a three star VS. On our last day, still baked in sun, we slowly carried all of the gear up to Dinas Cromlech and filmed the super classic Cemetery Gates, a two pitch E1 given to us by the legends Joe Brown and Don Whillans. Cheers Jerry and Phil for all the efforts...  

Carreg Y Barcud New Routes

Rock Climb First Ascents in North Pembroke

Yesterday I met up after work with Gavin, an old mate from my time at the Gloucester Climbing Centre. Gav' has an appetite for searching out new routes, and as he was working in Pembrokeshire for much of last year, has been putting up fresh unexplored lines. His effort have mainly been focused in North Pembs and when I got a message that he had his eye on something, we met up and headed to the crag. Gav' kicked off just left of Ethos, climbing an established route and then up left into adventurous unclimbed ground. Topping out on the new E1 5a - Woodcroft By The Sea. We then went on a bit of a wonder further left than any described routes in the guide book and came across a cool looking 15m high wall with a striking crack and flake cutting up the middle. This ended up becoming a cool HVS 4c I named Blue In The Face. Gav' then soloed a cheeky Diff to the right that he called Alex and Agne. A nice evening out... 

Three Day Adventure Skills Course

Intro to Trad, Multi Pitch and Lead Climbing

I was joined three days ago by Sammy and Luca, who were keen to get a good introduction to what trad climbing was all about. I had been out with them before on a Sport Climbing course so it was great to catch up with them again and this time get on the trad! 

The first day was spend journeying about on the largest crag in the Penally area and passing on trad seconding skills. The second day was spent on the non bird banned section of Stackpole Head and Mowingword covering belay building, stance management and bringing up seconds. Today was their lead course, which was delivered at Giltar Slabs above a wild sea! Good luck with your future trad climbing guys... 

"This Is Insane!..."

So, with more blue bird skies, I met up with my old buddy Sarah Jane at Mother Carey's a couple of days ago. SJ's has done her fair share of climbing and exploring around the Pembs sea cliffs  and this time, after having climbed for a few days, she had her sights on Inner Space. In my opinion, this is the best Hard VS in Pembroke, being unlikely, unusual and mad at the grade, but it is good at the grade. A truly great Pembrokeshire classic. If you've not done it, what are you waiting for?... Take lots of slings.