Autumn Gold

Crystal clear skies for courses in the Wye Valley this week, with the Autumn colours creating a magical light. The rock has been pretty cold on the hands in the shade, but warm to the touch in the sunshine, and with the cliffs predominately west facing, this has meant cool mornings and climbs in the sun at a premium.
There have been quite a few teams out taking advantage of the weather -  getting some good climbing  done, despite the daylight hours slipping away, courses too have enjoyed some good conditions,  and some warming hot chocolate at the cafe !
The Autumn sunshine, the  crisp limestone, the smell of woodsmoke and cider apples have all conjoured up memories of the Picos De Europa mountains in Northern Spain - a lovely place to visit at this time of year, and reminded me that I've not visited for over a year - too long !

Thanks to Rachael, Ben, Justine, Phil, Amy and Emily for their company on the courses this week, I hope you all enjoyed the days out as much as I did.

Snowdonia mountaineering

Mountaineering course in Snowdonia this weekend - lucky again with the weather ! with dry, sunny conditions allowing us to enjoy the rugged scrambling in the Ogwen Valley, getting the rope out now and again to practice the simple and fluid ropework skills needed for some of the steeper sections. We stayed at the Idwal Cottage YHA, with walking access to the routes within a few minutes - it's been a long time since I visited this hostel ( the first YHA in the UK ) and I had forgotten how good it is - excellent facilities in a fantastic location, no wonder they are completely full up for next week's half term break !

Cuillin Ridge Isle of Skye

Just got back from an incredible trip to the Cuillin Ridge on Skye, with perfect weather and conditions giving us a fantastic experience on these spectacular mountains. I was accompanying Jon Lipsey from Mens Fitness Magazine - who are running a series of articles on adventurous challenges - the Cuillin traverse being one of them.
As Jon hadn't done anything like this before, I was pleased he experienced the ridge at its best, and hopefully the article will enhance the reputation of Skye as being of one of the world's beautiful places.
We travelled to Skye on Monday and used the afternoon and evening to take food and water up to the ridge and introduce Jon to the terrain.
An early start Tuesday saw us at Ghars Bhein by dawn and an impressive sun rise and beautiful views - easy walking in warm sunshine took us to the start of the difficulties at the Thearlaich Dhu Gap - but the warm rock and good friction allowed us to progress without too much stress, onto the sharp ridge of Sgurr Thearlaich, followed by a short abseil and scramble to the start of the King's chimney on Sgurr Mhic Choinnich - a delightful climb in the perfect conditions, more scrambling to An Stac, where we skirted the loose rock and headed up to the Inaccessible Pinnacle - surrounded by incredible views, with only a handful of teams out making the most of the weather - we even had the InPin to ourselves - a rare thing nowadays. An abseil to Sgurr Dearg and descent to our water stash ended the day's climbing - replaced by a night under the stars.

We awoke to a spectacular sunrise above low lying mist - impossible to convey in any photograph.
Banacich and  Thormaid followed , but things were beginning to change, and by the time we reached  Greadaidh a cold wind had blown up, bringing with it a thick wetting mist and chances of completing the traverse slipping away. We decided not to push our luck and descended to Coire An Dorus and a return to civilisation. A huge experience for Jon and a memorable trip for both of us.
Video of thetrip on  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfdZH-aCY2s

Busy week

It is usually a fairly quiet time of year for courses - with the change over in seasons marking a change over in courses - but for some reason it has turned into one of the busiest periods I've had for while, with climbing courses in the Wye valley for the past 11 days with the next 5 days planned for a traverse of the Cuillin on Skye, then its back to Snowdonia for a mountaineering course at the weekend  - thankfully the weather is looking favourable ! ( last year's traverse was cancelled with 100 mph winds and horizontal rain ). Thanks to everyone on the last few courses for putting up with the unsettled weather and the unseasonal midges this weekend - I hope they aren't a sign that the dreaded Cuillin Midges are still out !

Autumn climbing courses

Back to climbing courses in the Wye Valley this week - with the unsettled weather requiring a flexible approach to make the most of the conditions, with an emphasis on  the technical aspects of ropework and gear placements for wet days and climbing movement on dry days - eventually heading indoors on Sunday for further coaching.
We paid particular attention to belaying where the belayer is lighter than the climber - a re-occuring theme this year ( see http://guidedmountain-articles.blogspot.com/ ) . It would seem that indoor walls are failing to make provision for this ! with belayers having a very scary experience.
The changing season suggest a change in courses, with more emphasis on quiet days in the mountains away from the crowds, with airy summits in crisp autumn air taking the place of quick top outs on the smaller rock climbing crags - we are lucky in this country to have such variety despite having to put up with the occassional deluge.