Category: Learn To Lead Climbing - Mountain Journeys - Guided Walks

Rock climbing course - Borrowdale

2/9/2018

#leadclimbingcourselakedistrict

Rachel leading at Wodens Face, Borrowdale

This weekend Rachel was back with us for more climbing. The progress i've seen since first meeting Rachel has been huge. From a novice indoor climber to now leading 'trad' routes, placing good protection and setting up and equalising belays at the top of crags. We're so lucky to be a part of these journeys.

Rock climbing is such a diverse activity that attracts folk from all walks of life. It is also a great leveller, a 'get away from it all' sort of activity, and something that many find very relaxing (although this often comes after the climb)! Some will only ever climb indoors (which we think is a shame), some will top rope, others will second routes without ever leading. All these are fine and much enjoyment can be taken from all these aspects.
For the absolute and undiluted experience of climbing, leading a trad route is the way to go. There is a real sense of adventure, an increased level of risk which must be properly managed, and a massive sense of achievement (along with relief) upon reaching the top!

On Saturday Rachel's aim was to lead a trad route and feel more comfortable whilst doing so. So after a few warm ups on top rope and discussion about gear placements, she set off up a Vdiff/Severe at Wodens Face, Borrowdale. Placing loads of gear, taking plenty of time over it, resting whenever possible, a safe and controlled ascent was made, a belay built at the top and a big tick. Leading a trad route isn't something to be taken lightly, and we had discussed this at length prior to the ascent. As mentioned above, it's also not for everyone, and climbing can be enjoyed without making that step. For Rachel leading is, I think, an integral part of rock climbing and that's great. What's great for us is to be a part of the journey.

Rachel was joined by her friend Anna, who is new to climbing. Anna wanted to try an Abseil so we fitted that into the morning, then set up some top rope routes for Anna to enjoy. After the leading by Rachel we finished the day with an ascent of Jackdaw Ridge on Shepherds crag. Oh and the obligatory stop for refreshments at Lodore Farm Cafe.

Big thanks to Rachel and Anna

Mark

#improversclimbingcourselakedistrict

Placing trad gear at Wodens Face

#rockclimbinginstructorlakedistrict

Anna getting into the groove at Wodens Face

#abseilingnearkeswick

Anna enjoying her first ever abseil

Rock climbing progression course - Lake District

6/6/2017

Lead climbing course - Lake District

Lead climbing course - Upper Scout crag

A warm and sunny weekend here in the Lake District, making it perfect for the rock climbing progression course we were running for Seth and Byron from London.
Seth has been out with us previously, including sport climbing trips out to Costa Blanca. Now it was time to make the move to trad climbing and what better place for it.
For Byron, this was his first ever outdoor rock climbing experience.

We began on Middlefell Buttress in Langdale. In 5 pitches wretched the top, with coaching in movement techniques for Byron and looking at anchor selection with Seth. From the top we abseiled into the gully, this gave more learning opportunities for both.
After lunch it was over to Raven crag and a slightly more difficult route - 'Evening Wall' - this brought with is more learning opportunities for both and the experience of 'tricky' crag descents.

By Sunday, Seth was very keen to lead a route and Upper Scout Crag was chosen for this. One of the very best routes of its grade in the Lakes, it offers a memorable climb and stunning views. Over the 3 pitches Seth was able to set up 3 different belay stances and manage these effectively for both leader and second. During the pitches, placing sufficient protection to stay safe, whilst making efficient progress. A very smooth climb.
To finish the weekend we took to the much steeper rock on Middle Scout crag. Madonna at E1+ 5b was climbed by both Seth & Byron, this gave the arms a good workout!
Then on the descent we stopped off at Lower Scout crag and climbed 'Cubs crack', what was left in the arms was definitely given to this route!!
This is the very first time i've visited all 3 of the Scout crags in the same day.

Thanks very much Seth and Byron, all the best.

Mark

Rock climbing course - Lake District

Enjoying the view at the top of Upper Scout crag

Rock climbing progression course

15/5/2017

Rock climbing course, Lake District

Leading 'Wall and Corner' at Wallowbarrow crag

For the first weekend in May we provided a rock climbing progression and self rescue course on behalf of our friends at Lakeland Ascents.
Dan & Becky are both regular climbers and were keen to know more, in particular Becky wanted an appraisal of her gear placements and anchor selection at belays. Both wanted to know more about self rescue, should they ever find themselves stuck on a climb with an injured partner, or simply stuck on a route. Let's hope they never need these skills, important as they are.
Day one was spent in the Langdale valley, climbing two routes at Upper Scout crags and looking at some simple rescue skills.
Day two was spent at Wallowbarrow crag in the Duddon valley. Here we also climbed two routes, with Becky doing most of the leading again. We spent more time looking at more advanced rescue skills, building on yesterdays learning.

Two very full and absorbing days spent in the Lakeland sunshine and on lovely crags, can't ask for much more.

Thanks to Si for the work and Dan & Becky for being great company for the weekend.

Me & Kate also managed a quick ascent of the classic 'Troutdale Pinnacle Superdirect' HVS 5a. This is an outstanding route with sensational moves along a high level finger traverse. So good to be out enjoying Lakeland rock.

Rope skills for rock climbers

Good anchor selection and tidy rope work on a belay ledge

Assisted hoist, self rescue for climbers

The assisted hoist set up

Rock climbing in the Duddon valley

The Duddon valley

Troutdale Pinnacle Superdirect, Lake District rock climbing

Troutdale Pinnacle Superdirect

Rock climbing courses all weekend - Lake District

12/9/2016

Lead-rock-climbing-course-Lake-District

Pitch 2 of Middlefell Buttress

It's been a busy weekend on the crags and the weather has been on our side too.
On Saturday I was working for Kendal Mountaineering Services, helping out with a 'learn to lead' trad climbing course. Rasheed & Becca who have been climbing indoors for quite a while and climbed a few sport routes outdoors, now wanted to make the transition to tradition rock climbing.
Having spent the morning with Iain at Scout crags, I then accompanied them on Middlefell Buttress, also in Langdale. They led alternately, placing good protection at frequent intervals and building belays at each stance. We finished the route with an abseil descent and headed back to the Stickle Barn to meet up with Iain and the others.

Thanks for the work Iain :-)

Becca-&-Rasheed-at-the-top-of-Middlefell-Buttress

Becca & Rasheed at the top of Middlefell Buttress, Langdale

Sunday turned out to be another rock climbing skills course. This time in the Borrowdale valley with David & Duncan. Both have been climbing indoors for a while and started leading some easy outdoor routes quite recently. The aim of today was to look at a wide variety of anchor placements, build some amazing belays, look at retreat skills & techniques, and look at some of the fine climbing venues Borrowdale has to offer.
We spent much of our time at Glaciated Slab. This super rough slab of volcanic rock is amazing to climb on, and will almost certainly increase anyones smearing capabilities with its roughness!
Having constructed a good anchor at the top, we were able to get in plenty of abseil practice. Only for the final route did we need to walk down from the top, and that was well worth it for the view (see photo below).
The afternoon was finished off with a visit to Wodens face, another fine valley crag in Borrowdale. Both crags are places the guys can easily visit again to further consolidate their rock climbing skills.

Thanks David & Duncan. Maybe see you next year for Napes Needle :-)

Rock-climbing-skills-course-Borrowdale

Equalising 3 anchors during our skills course today

Rock-climbing-Glaciated-slab-Borrowdale

Glaciated Slab, Borrowdale

Rock-climbing-course-Borrowdale

View from top of Glaciated Slab

Abseiling-in-the-Lake-District

Stacked abseil descent

Learning to lead - Rock climbing course, Lake District

1/9/2016

lead rock climbing course, Lake District

Lead climbing on Raven crag, Langdale

The date has just popped up as I started to write this blog, wow can't believe September is here already! Good news is, September usually turns out to be a great month for rock climbing here in the Lake District, let's hope this one is too.

Earlier this week I was running a climbing course on behalf of Highpoint Mountain Guides. Guy, who is a keen sport and indoor climbing, has been seconding trad climbing routes for a while now and was ready to begin the transition to lead climbing, a big step.

We began at Long Scar on Pike O'Blisco. This wonderful crag has loads of routes throughout the grade range and an emphasis on easier routes under 20m long, so an ideal place to start. Guy led 4 routes today, with Anna seconding, thanks Anna. We finished the day with a slightly more difficult route, then headed for home, making plans for tomorrow.

Tuesday morning brought with it light drizzle, we had been spoilt by yesterdays glorious sunshine! Undeterred, we headed into Langdale and to Raven crags. A light breeze was helping keep the rock dry-ish as we set off up Middlefell Buttress which Guy & Anna took alternate leads on throughout the 5 pitches. Once on the huge ledge at the top, we discussed our options for descent before setting up an abseil. As Guy hadn't done this before, we took time to go through the process so Guy could set this up himself. About 26m lower down we arrived in the bed of the gully, retrieved our ropes and continued down to the base of the climb. Lunch time had most definitely arrived!

To finish the day, Guy took the lead once more for an ascent of Original Route on the main crag. This is more difficult and certainly made Guy more cautious with his moves. Anna led us off the crag via an easy escape route and back to base once more. The day ended much brighter and drier, thankfully.

Over the 2 days we covered a lot, including:
Placing traditional climbing protection;
Anchor selection;
Equalising 2 & 3 anchors;
Belay stance management;
Setting up an abseil;
Guidebook interpretation;
The leaders rack;
And lots of rock climbing

Big thanks to Anna for helping us out with this. And to Joe at Highpoint for the work :-)

Mark

Lead climbing course, Lake District

Placing protection at Long Scar

Rock climbing anchors

3 equalised anchors

Equalising belay anchors at Raven crag, Langdale

Equalising 3 anchors

Lake District rock climbing course

Long scar, Pike O'Blisco

Setting up an abseil, Middlefell Buttress, Langdale

Setting up our abseil from Middlefell Buttress, Langdale

Lead rock climbing course

7/8/2016

Lead rock climbing course, Shepherds crag, Lake District

Top of Brown Slabs, Shepherds crag, Borrowdale

Out on the Borrowdale crags with a couple of local friends today. We had in mind to climb a few classics with me leading, but this changed after a chat on the journey North. Erja would get back on the sharp end of the rope and take the lead whilst I helped out as and when needed by being on a fixed rope nearby.

Our chosen route, 'Brown Slabs' is a 'diff' but due to the amount of traffic it's quite worn and a bit slippery, making it feel more difficult than the grade suggests.

The aim of this session was to improve gear placements to help keep the lead climber safe. Erja placed plenty of protection and with a little advice every piece became excellent, as Jen will testify (much of it was difficult to remove)!

With rain imminent we decided against another route, this turned out to be a good call, the heavens opened in a big way soon after leaving the crag!!

Fantastic leading Erja, well done.

And thanks to both Jen & Erja, a grand afternoon.

Mark

Lead climbing course, Lake District

Erja clipping another 'bomber' gear placement at Shepherds crag

Ridges, Sea Cliffs, & Lead climbing on the Costa Blanca

24/12/2014

Abseiling

Setting up an abseil

Sea cliff climbing - Magical mystery tour

More absolutely fabulous days have been enjoyed here in Spain. Rest days were shunned in search of more adventure and how much could be crammed into a few short days. Never enough time.

On Sunday everyone completed a full traverse of the Toix ridge. Our variation on this includes a multi-pitch climb of around 250m starting from Toix Este. So this is a very big extension to the day, and well worth it. The climbing is mostly straightforward, but the whole time the atmosphere builds as we climb higher and higher above the sea.

After lunch at the Mirador, we continued our journey by venturing onto the main Toix ridge. This begins with more straightforward climbing, leading to a scrambling section which is extremely memorable. Narrow and space below your feet come to mind. Everyone did really well on this mentally and physically challenging day. Photos of this day are below.

The star of these days for me was without any doubt the 'Magical Mystery Tour' on the Toix sea cliffs, Calpe.

Only 1 of the team had abseiled before, so we engineered a practice session into the day. This was essential as access to the sea cliff is by a 40 metre free-hanging abseil!!! So a warm up to this was needed. The practice session and the real deal all went without hitch, with everyone arriving in the big caves at the bottom of the abseil looking and probably feeling a little awe-struck.
The temperature on the cliff was high, with no wind, full sun, and reflection from the sea, everyone was soon feeling hot and bothered.
No worries though, for this is an awesome place with plenty to occupy one's thoughts!

Straightforward scrambling soon leads to the climbing, but the transition isn't at all gentle, suddenly there's a 30 metre drop straight into the sea and you need to step over the void to make the move, spicy it certainly is.
From now on the climbing is continually interesting and the crux is fittingly near the top. Everyone emerged triumphantly at the top of the cliff, relieved, elated, inspired, refreshed.
A wonderful experience.

Photos from the sea cliffs are above.

Rock climbing Costa Blanca

Ridge scrambling - Costa Blanca

Rock climbing Costa Blanca

And the final day of the course had to come, sad times indeed.

We spent it well, with a visit to Toix TV for some quality single pitch cragging with beautiful views over the coast and to the mountains.
Routes in the 6's were being cruised by all, and some very smily faces as a result (and aching muscles). Some sensational leads by both Edd & Lauren on 'Gufelwufel' (5). This is at the top of the grade and both cruised this on lead. Really pleased with this and the smoothness of transition from indoor to outdoor leading for both, well done.

Photos below show Genevieve on Gufelwufel, and below again is the view from the crag.

What a place to climb. What a week has been had. All in the company of such lovely people.

Thanks to: Edd, Nicola, Genevieve, Lauren, Jules, Chris, Kate, and Kim. You made it a fantastic week.

Rock climbing Costa Blanca

Guided walking - Costa Blanca

Lead climb coaching: Snowdonia - 4th & 5th October 2014

7/10/2014

Lead climbing course - Snowdonia

Leading on Tryfan Bach

With a wet forecast in store for the weekend we prepared to get very wet. How wrong were we :-)

Saturday began damp but drying and the sun soon shone for us. We started the day with a play in the Llanberis slate quarries, following a route known as the 'snakes and ladders'. This is an adventurous trip through the old quarries and involves some scrambling, climbing wobbly ladders, and walking through tunnels (we didn't do the tunnel bits).

It soon became evident the rock was going to be mostly dry today, so we abandoned the quarries and headed into the Ogwen valley to the big slab of Tryfan Bach. Here we revised gear placements and belay set ups including equalising anchors.

It was then time for Sue to set off up 'Crack 4' a diff route and her first lead for a while.

All went well, and to make the belay set up more straightforward, Sue found a convenient flake of rock to use. Simple and safe, nice one.
The top pitch was a breeze too, with Sue leading confidently and again choosing an efficient belay spike at the top. The wind was really strong at the top of the crag so we made a hasty retreat back to base!

On Sunday we had an extra pair of hands to belay which left me free to coach Sue whilst leading.

Ordinary Route on Idwal slabs was to be our route today. Around 4 long pitches of climbing, split with comfortable belay ledges.
As well as placing gear, we took plenty time to consider a variety of methods for making and connecting anchors as a belay stance.

Once at the top of the route, we were then faced with the very long scramble / walk back down. It's a very involved descent route from Idwal Slabs and care needed, especially so if new to the venue.
We stayed roped up until safely on the actual descent path. I think by this time we were all a little tired!

The gentle walk back to Ogwen cottage provided time for us to recap all that had been covered over the weekend.

Thanks to Sue & Colin for a fab weekend and good company.

Mark

Leading the final pitch of Ordinary Route, Idwal Slabs

Multi-pitch climbing course - Snowdonia