Wednesday 28 September 2011

Another day in paradise


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Originally uploaded by SteveMLT
Finally turned up trumps with a day off as good weather arrived. After completing reports from Arco and Nepal, I joined BMC Cymru's access officer Elfyn Jones for a trip to the coast at Gogarth, and we climbed a couple of great little lines in glorious sunshine! First we followed the girdle of Smurf Zawn to a ledge on the E2 "Gnome" and finished up its lovely second pitch, then we climbed the overhanging corner in the left wall, the excellent route named "King of the Swingers(E3). A magical day despite both feeling a bit run down, so today was a real tonic.

Sunday 25 September 2011

Misty mornings


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Originally uploaded by SteveMLT
Running a trek leader course in the monsoon was always going to be challenging! Daily deluges and legions of leeches were the order of the day. However, our 16 candidates kept high spirits throughout, and were keen to learn. One of the students, Mingmar Sherpa, is an Everest veteran having summitted at least 4 times (One trekking agency says its 5 times). He says he learned masses from the course; we certainly learned plenty from him!
Our co-instructors from Nepal are both aspirant IFMGA Guides and great company. The course director was Eric Lescarcelle, an International Mountain Leader and climbing instructor from France.
My job was to co-direct but mainly to get an overview of the course which is part of a long-term project run by various French Guides in partnership with the Petzl Foundation. It was really challenging but rewarding to work with such a mixed group, and without modern teaching aids. On the last day we put everything together in an 18km trek throught the leech heartlands.
After the course we stayed for one last night at the house of our colleague, Lapke Sherpa near Bouddhanath, the famous stupa. We had various meetings with the NMA president and the local Guide and Instructor associations. They see the UIAA Training Standards as a catalyst to bring together various disparate training projects that have been undertaken throughout Nepal. We emphasised, as always, that it is for the federation to decide what training is appropriate within its country, but we would be happy to accredit Nepalese qualifications when the courses are running autonomously at the international standard. I should point out that the UIAA training standards are aimed primarily at volunteer leaders and instructors - but in a country like Nepal its only natural that many graduates of these schemes are going to be looking for paid work - indeed several of the students were already old hands in the trekking business. Check out my other photos by clicking the image; its hard to take a bad photograph in Nepal!

A friendly welcome in Kathmandu


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Originally uploaded by SteveMLT
If you're willing to stay a couple of miles away from downtown Thamel, I can thoroughly recommend the Kumari Inn (http://www.hotelkumariinn.com). It's run by a lovely family, very honest and generous. They'll pick you up from the airport and are great company.

Tuesday 6 September 2011

Astrek Climbing Wall


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Originally uploaded by SteveMLT
Who would have thought there would be a 13 metre high climbing wall right in the heart of Thamel? We made friends with the local climbers, (here we see our instructor colleague Lapke Sherpa on a 6b wall climb) and all headed over to the Ramshackle Blues Bar for some live music and refreshments. A great day full of surprises. Doctor Kulesh Thapa was a trul excellent first aid teacher; most refreshing! So far the quality of teaching provision in Nepal seems pretty good, though the outdoors component that starts tomorrow will be vital.

Saturday 3 September 2011

Kathmandu


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Originally uploaded by SteveMLT
The 2011 phase of Asian trek leader training starts tomorrow. This time its based at a small training centre set up by a French benefactor a few years ago. Its at the hill station of Kakani, where there is a memorial to the plane crash that killed some of my friends from Plas y Brenin.

We will be training Nepali trek leaders, mostly Sherpas, with one representative each from 15 trekking companies. The idea is that there will be an assessment course early next year and the best of these candidates will go on to become trainers for the Napalese Mountaineering Association. Nepal has already produced its first International Mountain Guyides, and I am hoping that these guys will be able to join the programme as trainers as well. It would be great if eventually the trek leaders course could build up to UIMLA level.

We started a similar programme last autumn in Ladakh, working with the Indian Mountaineering Foundation - we're hoping to assess last year's candidates this October, but we're well past the deadline for numbers and dates, so its looking increasingly likely that we may have to postpone the Ladakh assessments until 2012.

Here in Kathmandu the monsoon seems to be fizzling out a bit early - maybe its moved to Wales this year - it certainly felt like it at times. This afternoon I'll be meeting a representative from the Nepalese Mountaineering Assciation to confirm plans for the next fortnight. Yesterday I hitched a lift to Durbar Square in old Kathmandu - its certainly a lot busier and more built up since my last visit in 1991 - such is progress I guess.