Another day in paradise

Today I made up a foursome on the main cliff of Gograth. Our team consisted of a military trainer, a development trainer, the vice chair of MLTW and myself, the chief officer. A slice through part of the leader training world! Pete and Andy dispatched Citadel (E5 6b) in good style and Rob and myself fought our way up Hunger (E5 6a). It shouldn't feel too hard as I've climbed it so many times before, but it was really damp and I had to fight every pinch grip to stay on. A fun and safe tussle though and I enjoyed the fight. We lounged about in the sun for a while afterwards before a leisurely stroll back over the heath and home. There is nowhere finer in the world than Gogarth.

Back to the promised land today. I love that place. As I'm working at the weekend I took a day off to climb with some friends from the Climber's Club. We romped up the lovely classic "Big Groove" (E3 5c) and followed this in the afternoon sun with "Fail Safe" (E2 5b). Although early in the season I felt that I was going well, so threw myself at the pumpy testpiece "Energy Crisis" (E5 6a). After running it our rather alarmingly above reasonable protection I was able to throw in some knee-bars and piano hands until a final rock-over negotiated an in-balance solution to the final bulge. Hauling myself onto the belay ledge I was almost sick with exertion! Further proof however though that sports climbing mileage helps to kick start the "trad" climbing year.










Pete Sterling leading the first pitch of Big Groove

Lecture tour of Japan

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Originally uploaded by SteveMLT

Right now I'm engaged in a series of meetings and lectures as the guest of the JWAF. I've lectured in Tokyo, Sapporo and Osaka about the work of Mountain Leader Training and also the work of the UIAA Training Standards Working Group. The meetings have included an advisory consultancy meeting today with the Osaka branch of JWAF as well as the Search and Rescue Committee. I've also been interviewed by TV and met the presidents of various Asian federations and the Nepalese Ambassador as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations. The Japanese are very interested in learning from the lessons learned in standardising qualifications across the UK and are investigating the possibility of working towards UIAA accredition, though these are early days, with a politically complex background.


We managed to slip in a day's hill walking in Japan's Northern Alps and I had a brief play this afternoon on the ex-competition wall at Kobe University, Osaka. After the lectures I stayed on for a few days and joined the JWAF's General Secretary Mr Takashi and translator Ms Owada for some climbing at Mitsutoge, a stunning location with Mount Fuji as a backdrop.

You can see a report from the lecture at Sapporo at: http://hkdrenmei.exblog.jp/i14/

You can see my other photos on Flickr.

UK SAR

On Tuesday I attended a meeting of the UK SAR Operators Group. There was a wide ranging agenda incorporating just about all types of Search and Rescue in the UK from nland water to mountain, cave and coastal. We had an update from the RAF SAR on the proposed changes the helicopter service and how it might affect rescue teams in the future and apart from bigger, better, (noisier?) machines that will be black and orange it would appear that things will carry on much as they do now. The meeting was based in the depths of the Lancashire Countryside in the forest of Bowland and very pretty it was too. The next meting is at the end of November so more updates then.
Mal

Munro-ing...

Well I've just returned from a weeks holiday in Scotland where my other 'arf Caroline has recently (within the last couple of years) got in to ticking off a few Munro's. Over the years I've got quite a few, probably over a hundred and mostly in winter through work but I am not a ticker of lists so quite frankly I havn't a clue how many. Well we got seven in the week mostly around Glen Sheil and I must admit it was quite novel having to get my head in the map and really navigate! I must say the new BMC Mountain map was great and when the going gets a little more technical the Harvey Superwalker makes life sooooo easy......specially with the 'ole mince pies not as sharp as they used to be 'cos it saves you reaching for the specs every 5 minutes. The weather was great for the first few days but then as the heat wave kicked in down south we got a warm muggy south westerly coming in of the coast so it was back to what you normally expect in the north west....Still, there were some good views as the picture taken on the South Clunie ridge above demostrates. However, the other picture could be anywhere in Scotland, and a prize for anyone who can recognise the cairn...

Mal

British Mountain Guides Open Day

Mountain Leader Training works in close partnership with the British Mountain Guides - closer than many people imagine, as our training schemes are largely seperate. However, the reality is that MIA and MIC holders can attend shorter training programmes for the UK sections of the British Mountain Guides' scheme on account of "recognised prior learning". The British Mountain Guides sit on the MLT Board in a non-voting capacity, and MLT has a place on the BMG Training Committee in return. All of the Associations; BMG, AMI, BAIML and MLTA are currently working towards closer working relationships through a collaboration group set up last year.

This weekend I attended the Management Committee meeting in my observational capacity as Chief Officer, but the day before was a lot more fun. This involved showing up in my capacity as a keen climber to meet up with a group of young hopefuls on a Guides' Open Day. The afternoon involved divinding up into climbing teams and blitzing Llanberis Pass, followed by a bouldering session at the RAC boulders.

Saturday evening was also great fun. I was a guest at the launch party for the fantastic new Ogwen guidebook from the Climbers Club. This was also a celebration for the work of long-serving editor-in-chief Bob Moulton, after 35 years of service. So the forthcoming Tremadog guide will be the first book to be published by the next generation. During the ceremony I was lucky enough to meet the legendary John Disley, athlete extraordinaire and orienteering advocate. Now in his 80's, he was the man who persuaded the CCPR to purchase the Royal Hotel, now Plas y Brenin. (which sort of means the same thing - King's House)

Another busy week.

Well, the past week has been pretty hectic to say the least, with travel to Portugal, Spain and Ireland. The European travel was an accreditation visit to a climbing club based in Lisbon, with a fantastic training and instructor training programme. Instructors on this scheme progress to senior status based on 9 years' experience of teaching within the club programme, as well as regular "trad" and "sport" climbing within this period. If they don't regularly attend club events and continue to climb at trad VS+ and Sport 6a they start moving back down the ladder of instructor status. The scheme was organised to a very high standard and I was most impressed by the energy and commitment of all involved: I watched people teaching on multi-pitch trad and Sports routes as well as delivering teaching sessions and lecturettes, all of which was subject to extensive but supportive peer review.  After the accreditation visit I was shown some of the Lisbon area's best new crags by two young club members, both of whom have been involved in the development of new climbs in the area up to 8a+ in standard. I was lucky enough to be in a position to bag the first British leads of a number of fantastic sports climbs in th 6c-7b region.

The Board meeting in Ireland was very interesting. We were hosted by the fantastic new national centre at Tollymore and apart from some fairly serious travel disruption due to flight cancellations and the knock-on effect on ferry services we had a highly successful series of meetings, resulting in some positive agreements and progress on various projects. On Sunday however I have to admit that I was too drained by the previous week to contemplate climbing in the damp and showery conditions so just tried out the new training panels at Tollymore then endulged in watching a "Welsh Connections" DVD - rather ironic, on reflection.