Mountain Leader Training Association
Launches We've finally launched the Mountain Leader Training Association.
You can join MLTA for £15 now. Visit the site on www.mlta.co.uk
Developments in Single Pitch and Mountain Leader Awards Reviews are now complete for the Mountain Leader (ML) and Single Pitch Award (SPA) resulting in very few changes to the basic syllabus but a range of developments in the guidance notes.
13-14th September: UIAA Mountaineering Commission meeting in Bodrum, Turkey.
6-7th September: The Mountaineening Council of Scotland annual gathering and Mountaineering Co-ordination Group (MCG) meeting at Glenmore Lodge. The MCG meeting was in many ways an historic development, as the National Source Group paper was presented and discussed prior to recommendations being made, with full support from all the National Councils. After many years of debate, there is now a clear mandate to create a qualifications pathway for coaches in all aspects of mountaineering. Within this broad scope there is an urgent need to develop a coaching structure to equip climbing coaches with the skills needed to work more effectively with all levels of participants from novice through to elite performance. A formal request for MLTUK to manage the project will be presented at the next Board meeting on 27th Septembe, and the National Source Group has been tasked to begin collating the costs required to develop a coaching structure that could work in harmony with the existing scheme: to quote the chairman "an evolution not revolution" . Attending the evening's AGM was also very interesting and gave me an opportunity to compare the issues and procedures with the BMC's AGM in April.
After the AGM the MCofS hosted a very interesting discussion about the Alladale Estate project, with the charismatic general manager, New Zealander Hugh Fullerton-Smith
defending the property's fencing policies against universal condemnation. As I pointed out to him, the only animal that will always find a way through any fence is the human being, so this is far less effective than a combination of education and engagement. You can follow the discussion further at Chris Townsend's blog and www.walkhands.co.uk
On the way home Mike Raine (BMC Cymru chair) and I stopped off to climb the excellent but serious Wayfairin' (E2) and Rat Race Direct (E4). We climbed the latter in a single pitch with a single rope, requiring long extenders that made the crux traverse very exciting. It also seemed very hard for 5b: it was only when I looked at the photo in "Extreme Rock" that I realised that we had done the much harder original finish by mistake!
August 2008
28th August: Took a much-needed day off. Sion and I climbed 10 pitches at the secret crag on the A55. It's about time that somebody published the route details now as there are about 40 completed routes.
23rd August: The National Source Group for coaching in Mountaineering finally completed its report for sumbmission to the Mountaineering Co-ordinating Group (comprising the UK and Ireland National Councils). This is the culmination of a series of meetings over two years and in the wake of a successful Olympics offers timely advice for developing the coaches of the future.
24th August: Alan George's Ball. This was the party of the year - have a look at the guest list! Mark Reeves and I acted as photographers for the event and we've posted a large selection of great shots on the internet here. The George twins have done stirling work for MLT over the years and are among my oldest friends in the climbing community - I first met them in the early 1980's in Snell's Field.I am filled with admiration for Alan in the way that he has coped with cancer, which has kept creeping back into his life.
18th August: Arrived back after a week in Hong Kong. While there we visited Day 2 of the Olympic three-day event, an insight into an adventure sport that has become part of the Olympic portfolio.
Have you ever seen so much rain? Fortunately the slate dries almost immediately. Here are two nice new little pitches at Fr 6a. The right hand shot was climbed on 29th August as part of a brilliant journey down a series of rusting old ladders down to the base of "Mordor" through a cave into the "Lost World" and then up the amazing crackline of "Dinorwig Unconquerable (E3 5c or 5.10b more like!) Take plenty for cams from 1.5 to 2.5 for this gorgeous climb.
July 2008
30th July: Today I received the following link request : http://www.azizcorp.com "Presentation Skills Training - Executive Coaching and Media Training The Aziz Corporation provides training courses.
Leadership skills, presentation skills and media skills training are amongst some of our courses - all of which are designed to improve leadership skills by coaching executives the art of spoken communication". Normally I don't post up links unless they are from our partner organisations but I was so flattered that they had described this site as having impressive content, structure and accessibility and specifically cited "very good content" on this blog that I couldn't help but include their link here! You may wish to check out their free tutorials on presentation skills. (To tell the truth I was starting to wonder if anybody other than my family ever reads this stuff!) Meanwhile, I'm sure that you will be relieved to read that my mysterious back pain has all but gone, though today I woke up with extreme cramp in my leg; so maybe something similar caused it. This proves that sleeping can damage your health, so Sion and I snuck out before the deluges set in to climb a couple of short but enjoyable slate routes high up in the Bus Stop Quarry on Monday night.
28th July: A strange weekend! Spent Saturday night propped up in a chair as lying down brought extreme back pains. Can't think of what I've done to bring it on but I seem to have trapped a nerve or pulled back muscles. Perhaps it was caused by the sustained bridging of Joe Brown's "Far From the Madding Throng" (E2 Llanberis Pass) climbed on Thursday, or more likely the uncomfortable seats at the Theatre Gwynedd, where my son Sion appeared in the last ever production to be staged before demolition - looks like he literally brought the house down!
22nd July: I should be unpacking really, but it was a cool dry evening and local activist Chris Parkin was looking for a partner so we called in at Clogwyn y Grochan. Chris led Mural (E3) and I joined the cruxes of Corruption and Puss in Boots with the top pitch of Spectrum to give a sustained eliminate that I have unofficially christened "Shrek2". According to the individual pitch gradings its E3, but it feels pretty good value for that (I've done easier E5's!)
05-18th July: MCI Alpine meet in the Bregaglia. I've wanted to get involved with this for years so it was great to join this as one of the coaches. Despite some "unsettled" weather that included some remarkably consistent downpours lasting days at a time, we enjoyed several consecutive dry days for each of the courses, allowing us to make ascents of snowy peaks such as Cima di Rossa, Cima Sissone and Cima di Castella as well as some great rock routes on Pic Casnil, Punta del Abigna and Spazzacaledeira as well as some shorter "cragging routes". The Bregaglia Alps is a fantastic unspoilt region with great climbs at all standards (except hard ice) and I can thouroughly recommend the area in general and the Vicosoprano campsite in particular. The Chef de Guides, Mick Tighe presided over guiding matters in his inimitable style, Stuart Garland and his partner Catherine organised the event, Eric Pirie Guided and played first fiddle, while Declan O'Keeffe provided lyrics and vocals as well as helping to ferry groups around the region!
June 2008
End of June: Various MTT meetings dominated the end of the month as well as a trip to Mancheter for a BMC officers and AMI meeting. In the evenings I was able to get out a few times, and with Sion belaying managed to lead a couple more E5's cleanly: Chain Gang and Central Sadness, plus various sports routes.
16-19th June: British Mountain Guides summer training course. This year Plas y Brenin took on the organisational and "bridging facilitator" role and I just headed up a couple of sessions. It was an exceptionally well-received course; Martin Chester and Tim Neill did a great job on coaching processes and we were joined by an all-star cast including psychology lecturer and Guide Lew Hardy, marketing guru Dave Cheetham, professional standards officer and author Pete Cliff, and other Guides from Plas y Brenin including Martin Doyle and Rob Spencer. The course included two sessions with real students: some of the pictures below show members of the Anglesey outdoor adventure club enjoying the evening climbing session in Ogwen.
15th June: I'm developing a new time management strategy after some illuminating meetings with my management mentor, Keith Robertson. His metaphor of sharpening the axe rather than forever chopping, persuaded me to take some time out to develop smarter ways of working. Early days yet but it has been quite a relief to replace my job list with a set of time blocks for specific tasks. Slipped out various evenings for some climbing (The Bloods, Axle Attack, Contusion, Stroll on, Quasar, Leftover) I finished editing the National Source Group for coaching in mountaineering report just in time to distribute to the other group members before the BMC National Council meetings. On Father's Day, Sion and I visited the slate quarries and climbed 9 pitches, including several recent additions (Steps of Esher, Tomb Raider, Obsession, Kubla Khan, 362.) Launched up "Never Never Land" as well, but didn't fancy leaving the metal spike runner behind as it is the only runner in the first 50 feet of climbing and if it snaps in a fall the result will be hospital or mortuary. Discretion won; a shame really as I had done the crux, but was unwilling to risk a proper fall onto the spike.
2 visits to Westminster and I didn't get any photos! Here's my official visitor pass - I did at least keep t6hat as a souvenir! Martin Doyle and I traveled down to the National Skills Academy celebration where we met a number of skillsactive representatives and ministers. The Sports Leader UK event included an electronic treadmill so I worked off a few calories: ironically, the first time I have worn a suit this year and I ended up running!
7th June: The BMG open day was a very successful event with almost 30 prospective candidates arriving on the day. After discussing the training scheme we departed for Llanberis Pass. Despite being such a big group we somehow managed to spread reasonably thinly over a couple of crags. I was most impressed by a "flashed" on sight ascent of Cockblock (hard E5 6b) from Tony Stone, so much so that I went back the following week and led it myself, though not in the same immaculate style as Tony.
There are some interesting events lined up over the next fortnight. A reception for the successful bid for the new National Skills Academy (NW region) at Millbank on the 4th, and on the 9th I have been invited to an exhibition in the House of Commons by Sports Leader UK. This marks what appears to be a satisfactory conclusion to our discussions about an appropriate quality control ("moderation") system for the Award in Basic Exhibition Leadership. With this matter settled I am hoping that we can generate closer links between this award and the WGL and ML awards. I will also be working on the British Mountain Guides summer rock course II for a few sessions, as well as helping at the Guides open day on 7th June.
End of May
This period was mainly taken up with writing reports and catching up on some jobs that I had to postpone for the UIAA seminar. I also had a few days off during the school holiday. Sion and I couldn't get our much as he is revising for his exams, but we did get to Tremadog to climb Fingerlicker clean at hard E4 and swung leads on Scratch Arete (HVS). We also climbed Brant Direct. Early in the week I also visited "crag X" on the A55 again and climbed a bunch of routes from 6b to 7a+.
May 2008
Whitsun weekend
Inspired by the style and commitment demonstrated on the BMC International Meet I have decided to up my game this year. So it was a good start with the Whitsun weekend! Climbing with Mike Pyecroft and Andy Boorman I led the crux pitches of 2 brilliant E5's at Gogarth: the aptly named "Run Fast, Run Free" and the classic main wall feast: "Hunger". We enjoyed a warm day in the sun, with a drying breze, and watched a team from Plas y Brenin cruising Positron (E5) next door. There's nowehere better in the world than Gogarth Main cliff and that's a fact.
BMC International climbing meet
18/5/08:The second half of the international meet went just as well: the perfect weather lasted until the last day. We swapped partners around for a day and I climbed with Corne Brouwer from the Netherlands. A cool breeze was blowing so we chased the sun into North Stack for ascents of Blue Peter and South Sea Bubble, followed by an asent of a very damp T.Rex, armed with a very large cam that Jack Geldard kindly lent us. The following day saw another tour de force from Rolando, with on-sight ascents of Warpath, Dreams and Screams and the Jub Jub Bird. Click here to check out my photo gallery: or click here to watch the web-hosted film that was made of the international meet "Global Gathering"
14/5/08: My sixth summer meet, and yet another week of beautiful weather! I was teamed up with Rolando Larcher from Italy, and was lucky to be assigned a partner who not only climbs brilliantly but clearly has masses of experience in all kinds of climbing. During the first three days we climbed Left Wall, Memory Lane, Resurrection and King Wad in Llanberis Pass, West Buttress Eliminate and the Axe on Cloggy, and Weaver, Atomic Finger Flake and Strawberries at Tremadog. Rolando looked set to make a coverted on sight "flash" of the latter, but got the exit sequence out of the crack wrong and tok a fall.
UIAA mountaineering Commission meetings and Training Standards Seminar
3-4/5/08: This is going to be a busy month, so hang on to your hat! The month started in fine style with MLTUK hosting the UIAA Mountaineering Commission annual meeting. This was a great success, and after having concluded business the whole group visited the notorious Lockwood's Chimney resulting in the obligatory epic struggle and late dinner! If you've never climbed Lockwood's you have a gap in your CV! Incidentally it was where I took my wife on our very first date...
6-7/5/08: The International Training Standard seminar followed immediately after the commission meetings. This was also a great success, but you don't have to take my word for it: have a look at these action shots from the practical sessions. I will be publishing a report for the UIAA website very soon and will post links here. To see photos from the seminar, follow this link.
19/4/08: BMC AGM. I can't remember what the British Mountaineering Council called this weekend, but it was the most enjoyable mixture of fun in the sun combined with business meetings that you could possibly imagine. Hosted by the friendly Northumberland Mountaineering Club we sampled acres of immaculate sandstone with not a single "sandbag" delivered! The climbs can take care of themselves though; they are fierce little numbers that pack a real punch for their size. I certainly came away with a clearer understanding of why this region breeds such strong climbers.
The month started in great style with a family holiday in Antalya, Turkey. As well as visiting fascinating ancient ruins at Olympos and Perge, Sion and I drove several miles inland to the tufa paradise of
Geyikbayiri for a few days of world-class climbing. The highlights of the trip for me were soaking up the atmosphere of the enormous stadium at Perge (shades of Ozymandias) and on-sighting the superlative tufa climb "Ja-ja City" (7a+). You can stay in wooden chalets at the foot of the crags, but for a change we stayed in a luxury hotel by the sea. Highly recommended!
March 2008
23/3/08: Just back from helping on the first IML winter assessment, based at Sixt in France: all eleven candidates passed with flying colours. Now we will be able to make any final improvements in the course handbook and send it to the printers after the next Board meeting.
14/3/08: Phill Thomas and I joined the BMC and MLTE staff at the Ordnance Survey OutdoorShow at Birmingham NEC. We were able to meet representatives from many different organisations as well as plenty of our award holders. The highlight of the event for me was being allowed to have a go in the qualifying stage of the climbing competition and completing the whole climb. Apparently I was the oldest and slowest climber to reach the far end successfully: so that's 2 records set...!
4/3/08: It just keeps getting better! Today Toby Keep joined us as observation practice for his Guides' training and we watched two teams climbing on the West Face of Aonach Mor. Bathed in sunshine and full winter conditions throughout this was about as good as mountaineering gets. We watched Golden Oldie Simon Hale in action with his team Martyn Frost and Rafael Salazar and discovered a natural cave out on the flanks to the North. In the evening the staff piled into a jacuzzi for a team debrief. Plas y Brenin wasn't this comfy in my day!
Geeks Corner: Here are some of my favourite bits of software. I thought this might make a change from all these climbing accounts. No. 1: Roboform. If you hate remembering passwords for all your web links, this is an absolute must! No.2: ACDSee. Brilliant for keeping track of your photo collection if you back up photos offline. Pretty good for basic photo retouching (Photoshop for the tricky ones). No.3: Xobni. Free software that integrates with Outlook, amzzingly good search and analysis tool for all contacts and emails. No.4: Outlook Duplicate Remover 5. Does what it says on the tin. Find it with a web search ("prayerware")
Other interesting recent events included the MLTUK Board meeting at Glenmore Lodge (1/3/08) I'll post a link here as soon as I've written a summary. The following day Allen Fyffe, Neil Johnson and I ran another workshop for prospective providers of the new Climbing Wall Award. Over 200 people have already successfully registered for the scheme.
3/3/08: I'm up in Scotland this week and have been enjoying perfect conditions on Stob Coire nan Lochan, Glencoe with a Mountaineering Instructor (MIC) training course. Today I watched a small team of candidates (Cath Wilson and Bryn Williams) with Tim Neill, a really inspiring day. We climbed a classic line on excellent snow ice named Langsam. Contrary to the name, we moved pretty fast!
The Coaching National Source Group met again on 29th February to begin working on its report to be submitted to the Mountaineering Councils in April. Excellent progress has been made on a consensus basis. Watch this space for further developments!
February 2008
Half term: We finished the week off with "A Dream of White Horses" but a biting wind made for cold conditions.
16/2/08: We had heard rumours of a new "crag X" in North Wales, so Sion and I went to investigate. Sure enough we found a small but exquisite crag and met the man who has been cleaning and equiping the lines. We were sworn to secrecy so I can't tell you who he is or where the crag is, but as you can see it gets plenty of sunshine and has several lines in the 5-6c grade range. Don't worry, it's whereabouts is bound to become public before long!
14/2/08: I'll fill this in this evening.It's warmed up now and I'm off to Gogarth!
Well, I'm home, and what an adventure. Sion and I climbed Positron, perhaps the best E5 in the world! We topped out as dusk descended. 3 pitches of sheer magic - I cheated slightly by using the Rat Race crux to bypass the awkward traverse on pitch 2: I think it makes for a better combination of pitches. I doubt if it's had many ascents in mid February, certainly not by a 15 year old! As a bonus I was able to get loads of great photos as well. Click here if you would like to see some.
Yesterday Sion led Icarus (HVS) at Rhoscolyn. It would have been a warm day if it was summer! As it is this week has been nothing short of outstanding. We also did some great routes on slate earlier in the week.
January 2008
26/1/08:Fresh back from Grenoble I joined Chris Parkin travelling to Horseshoe quarry for a meeting organised by the BMC for sport climbing activists from across England and Wales to discuss findings and standardise bolt placement and testing methods. A historic meeting that would probably have been impossible 5 years ago (without ending in a punch up!)
Gary Repents! Gary Gibson practices using a hydralulic bolt remover. Bolts placed in batches at Horseshoe Quarry will be tested over various years to see how long they pass accepted pull-gauge tests.
20/1/08:The chairs of the home nation boards met at Plas y Brenin today to discuss ways that we can pool resources to maximise efficiency while retaining autonomy. The results will be distributed for the next Board meeting on March 1st, 2008.
25/1/08:Pierre Humblet (the chair of the UIAA Mountaineering Commission) and I will meet Petzl head office to discuss strengthening the relationship between industry and mountain training.
18/1/08: The Climbing Wall Award is now a reality, and all the home nation boards have successfully inducted a number of providers. Registrations have been flooding in, and the Handbook has now been published. Our database has seen phase 1 of a major overhaul completed in order to manage the new award and also the significant changes to the International Mountain Leader scheme that were introduced last year. As always there were a couple of teething problems (not helped by some extreme weather and power cuts in Snowdonia!) but I think we've got those sorted now.
MLTUK is a member of the NW Regional Management Committee for the National Skills Academy. This is a major initiative that seeks to provide suitable training for industry needs and we are helping advise on the "outdoor sector". I am delighted that MLTUK has been involved in the consultation process, but naturally it is vital that we protect our awards, which have built a great reputation by serving the needs of both volunteer and professional leaders and instructors.
December 2007
Where did December go? Is the whole world getting faster or is it just my imagination? The month was filled by meetings and workshops plus the completion of the final draft of the Climbing Wall Award handbook for publication. (You can read it online at: www.mltuk.org/docs/documents/CWAHandbook-Dec19.pdf)
8-9/12/07: Working alongside Allen Fyffe, Jon Garside from MLTE/BMC and myself co-delivered some workshops at Glenmore Lodge and Extreme Dream for MLTS.
On Boxing Day my son Sion and I found dry conditions at Vivian Quarry and climbed "Last Tango in Paris" (E1 5b). On the walk in we met Joe Brown, an auspicious end of the year for me. Joe is of course one of the finest climbers of all time and was certainly one of my great inspirations when I took up mountaineering. His book "The Hard Years" was one of my favourite teenage reads. The belay station is set too far back to retrieve ropes so I abseiled down "Comes the Dervish". Before we could use the toprope opportunity the rain set in.
We had a great family holiday in Chamonix over New Year. It was great to get back on skis again, and my wife Anita finally got a pair of boots customised to fit her fused ankle so we were all able to ski together.
28th August: 
15th June: I'm developing a new time management strategy after some illuminating meetings with my management mentor, Keith Robertson. His metaphor of sharpening the axe rather than forever chopping, persuaded me to take some time out to develop smarter ways of working. Early days yet but it has been quite a relief to replace my job list with a set of time blocks for specific tasks. Slipped out various evenings for some climbing (The Bloods, Axle Attack, Contusion, Stroll on, Quasar, Leftover) I finished editing the National Source Group for coaching in mountaineering report just in time to distribute to the other group members before the BMC National Council meetings. On Father's Day, Sion and I visited the slate quarries and climbed 9 pitches, including several recent additions (Steps of Esher, Tomb Raider, Obsession, Kubla Khan, 362.) Launched up "Never Never Land" as well, but didn't fancy leaving the metal spike runner behind as it is the only runner in the first 50 feet of climbing and if it snaps in a fall the result will be hospital or mortuary. Discretion won; a shame really as I had done the crux, but was unwilling to risk a proper fall onto the spike.
2 visits to Westminster and I didn't get any photos! Here's my official visitor pass - I did at least keep t6hat as a souvenir! Martin Doyle and I traveled down to the National Skills Academy celebration where we met a number of skillsactive representatives and ministers. The Sports Leader UK event included an electronic treadmill so I worked off a few calories: ironically, the first time I have worn a suit this year and I ended up running! 
Inspired by the style and commitment demonstrated on the BMC International Meet I have decided to up my game this year. So it was a good start with the Whitsun weekend! Climbing with Mike Pyecroft and Andy Boorman I led the crux pitches of 2 brilliant E5's at Gogarth: the aptly named "Run Fast, Run Free" and the classic main wall feast: "Hunger". We enjoyed a warm day in the sun, with a drying breze, and watched a team from Plas y Brenin cruising Positron (E5) next door. There's nowehere better in the world than Gogarth Main cliff and that's a fact. 
The month started in great style with a family holiday in Antalya, Turkey. As well as visiting fascinating ancient ruins at Olympos and Perge, Sion and I drove several miles inland to the tufa paradise of
Geyikbayiri for a few days of world-class climbing. The highlights of the trip for me were soaking up the atmosphere of the enormous stadium at Perge (shades of Ozymandias) and on-sighting the superlative tufa climb "Ja-ja City" (7a+). You can stay in wooden chalets at the foot of the crags, but for a change we stayed in a luxury hotel by the sea. Highly recommended!
23/3/08:
Other interesting recent events included the MLTUK Board meeting at Glenmore Lodge (1/3/08) I'll post a link here as soon as I've written a summary. The following day Allen Fyffe, Neil Johnson and I ran another workshop for prospective providers of the new Climbing Wall Award. Over 200 people have already successfully registered for the scheme. 
Well, I'm home, and what an adventure. Sion and I climbed Positron, perhaps the best E5 in the world! We topped out as dusk descended. 3 pitches of sheer magic - I cheated slightly by using the Rat Race crux to bypass the awkward traverse on pitch 2: I think it makes for a better combination of pitches. I doubt if it's had many ascents in mid February, certainly not by a 15 year old! As a bonus I was able to get loads of great photos as well. 
Yesterday Sion led Icarus (HVS) at Rhoscolyn. It would have been a warm day if it was summer! As it is this week has been nothing short of outstanding. We also did some great routes on slate earlier in the week.
On Boxing Day my son Sion and I found dry conditions at Vivian Quarry and climbed "Last Tango in Paris" (E1 5b). On the walk in we met Joe Brown, an auspicious end of the year for me. Joe is of course one of the finest climbers of all time and was certainly one of my great inspirations when I took up mountaineering. His book "The Hard Years" was one of my favourite teenage reads. The belay station is set too far back to retrieve ropes so I abseiled down "Comes the Dervish". Before we could use the toprope opportunity the rain set in.
