Ogwen valley under snow

Approaching Llyn Idwal

When we get proper winter conditions in Wales its such a luxury to potter about in the morning before wandering out to climb. So after a few last minute Christmas preparations my son Sion and I were able to drive over to Ogwen Cottage to see what the ice is looking like. A lot collapsed about a week ago but lately we've been getting dumps of snow on a fairly regular basis, with cold clear days in between. Yesterday I was committed to a coach qualification planning meeting with my colleague Jon Garside so was unable to take advantage of the clear skies, so today was our first chance in a while to get out.

Parking the car took a while as available spaces were full of snow - however some enthusistic shovelling carved out a safe niche and we were on our way. There's about half a metre of snow on either side of the path, a narrow beaten trail snaking up to Cwm Idwal. The llyn is well frozen under a mantle of a few cms of snow, although there were a couple of pools of water at the shore in a couple of places. Poor Sion hasn't been exercising much at University so he found the brisk pace hard work but we up against a tight deadline now with about four hours of daylight.



Sion in Devil's Kitchen

 Below the Idwal slabs we met Tim Neill and Nick Bullock who had been pipped to the post by a couple of teams also bound for the Devil's Appendix, which is very well-formed this year, certainly "fatter" than I've ever seem the first pitch before. Surprisingly the ice elsewhere is a bit leaner, though certainly starting to build. We bumped into Tim Jepson and his daughter who were descending from an ascent of the Screen and all scrambled up the cleft of the Devil's Kitchen to see if the ice on the back wall has formed. It hasn't. Well, if you are hungry for it I guess its possible but the ice is steep and fragile at the moment. So we beat a strategic retreat, and found the Screen now cleared of climbers so were able to race up this in the fading light.

Mini ice age arrives in Wales



Issie Inglis makes the BAIML Presidential speech 

 After the excellent AGM and annual dinner for the British Association of International Mountain Leaders - highlight of which was the after-dinner speech by ex-president Richard Villars - he heads up a first response medical team for disasters and leads a life that makes James Bond look pretty tame! - my wife Anita and I headed back to Wales and I drove up to Llanberis Pass to see if the ice had survived the mini-thaw on Saturday. Sure enough, Craig y Rhaeadr was looking plastered still. Surprisingly, nobody had tackled any of the routes yet.

Tim Jepson on Central Icefall Direct

 
Accordingly Tim Jepson and myself went up to have a look this morning. A nice leisurely start - this is practically a roadside crag so there's no need to rush - but! another team had already started and were half way up the first pitch when we left the road. Well, we hung around and enjoyed watching them, it was my friend Matt Stygall leading the middle pitch. Although they made efficient progress, there was the odd lump of ice coming down, and with the reputation of the big icicle for detaching itself we decided to wait until they had finished before embarking. All the pitches are serious so you can't afford to get knocked off. In the meantime though I was starting to have doubts as I had decided to start climbing without leashes on my axes. This is the modern way to climb ice and it is without doubt the way to do it these days -however in retrospect this probably isn't the best route on which to try out a radical change in style!


I've waited 28 years to climb Central Icefall Direct, and because, surprisingly, Cascade (it's easier neighbour) was looking less well-formed, the choice was an ignominious retreat or at least an attempt, so eventually we threw caution to the winds and launched off up the route. It was utterly brilliant, well worth the wait.





Winter arrives early

So, with so many roads blocked across the UK, what are the winter conditions like? Currently things are quite unstable due to the new snowfall and winds. However, Black Ladders is starting to look quite wintery. Closer up though it is pretty lean and although ice is starting to build it has a way to go. Llanberis Pass is looking pretty wintery and if it stays cold Cascade should be climbable pretty soon.

Yesterday I had picked up some sort of virus so I had a pounding headache and hacking cough. However, I didn't want to let my partner down as it was his first chance to climb in weeks, so I literally staggered up the hill with him. We climbed a line to the right of Central Gully named Gallipoli (V). It's an excellent route though the crux pitch was pretty hard due to the lean conditions. As so often with a day on the hills the virus worked its way through my body pretty quickly - you sink into survival mode - which is fine as long as you don't have an epic day, in which case the lack of reserves can be dangerous. Fortunately despite a late start we were back home before 18.00 and I was able to warm up in front of a hot fire.

Mark Walker leading the crux of Gallipoli in lean conditions

NICAS seminar at Manchester Climbing Centre

We had an excellent turnout for the latest NICAS seminar - 41 active providers. Photos from the day at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/46624718@N03/sets/72157625493023174/

Moscow UIAA meetings

The Mountaineering Commission meeting in Moscow (11-13th November 2010) was highly successful. From the MLT point of view the main event was the formation of high-powered working parties to produce a business plan and articulate operating procedures for a strategic expansion of the international Training Standards. For more details see the report on the UIAA website:  http://www.theuiaa.org/news_276_To-bolt-or-not-to-bolt-discussed-at-Mountaineering-Commission-meeting

Representatives from the former USSR meet to discuss mutual cooperation

revamp

Thanks to Neil Wills from the Scout Association for feedback on the blog format. I've changed the format to make it easier to read.

Club night at Indefatigable climbing wall

At long last, a Friday evening free! I poked my head in again at the Anglesey Adventure club which my son Sion used to frequent. As always it was great to see so many keen young climbers bouldering, top-roping and leading. All the discussions about when to let young people learn to lead and to belay lead climbers that occupied much of the NICAS seminar gained a fresh relevence when you see how seriously even the youngest climbers take their belay duties. In fact, much more attention to the job in hand than the average adult surrounded by beautiful people....

NICAS seminar at Ratho

The move

Another visit to Ratho - what a fantastic place! It's certainly the most inspiring artificial climbing wall that I've ever visited. in fact its better than some real crags...  This trip was to update NICAS providers with developments in the coaching qualifications. I travelled up to Scotland with Dave Rudkin, who volunteered to do all the driving - as do most people when they've seen me at the wheel. Dave ran a session about coaching processes and ways to "front load" long-term teaching objectives right from the start. Other interesting sessions included a discussion about young climbers peer belaying , training a squad, acting as a technical adviser and integration with the education examinations requirements. An integrated pathway for young people seems to be emerging. My overall observation of the current state of play is that we have moved from a situation where climbers feared a takeover by "educationalists" to a new order where the education world has been won over by the climbers. You can quote me on that.

Ian Dunne and disciples

Climbing at Red Rocks, las Vegas

MLT officer Steve Long and Board member Andy Boorman have been sampling the delights of Red Rocks, the magnificent desert wilderness bizarrely located only 3 miles from las Vegas. Along with 2 other Climbers Club members they have completed dozens of routes including the celebrated Rock Warrior, Risky Business and Cloud Tower (UK equivalent grades of E3, E3 and E5 respectively).

Steve returns to the office on 17th October.



Andy Boorman on Risky Business (5.10c)





 Steve on the crux of  Cloud Tower (5.11d)



UK and Ireland-wide agreement over FUNdamentals workshops programme

This week the National Councils (British Mountaineering Council, Mountaineering Council of Scotland and Mountaineering Ireland) and MLT took a quantum leap forward in the develiopment of a coaching qualifications pathway: a formal agreement to work to a shared syllabus for LTPD in UK and Ireland. (LTPD = Long Term Participant Development in case you're wondering, also known as LTAD, the A standing for Athlete - there was much fun at the meeting trying to work out which members of the group were athletes and which were participants. The best known component of the LTPD/LTAD concept is FUNdamentals, coming to a wall near you soon!)

After the meeting Kevin Howett, the Development Officer for MCofS issued the following statement: "We are developing a coaching pathway in Scotland with the support and advice of sportscotland. The first step in this is a FUNdamentals of Climbing course, a syllabus for which we have been developing with their help. At the meeting of the National Source Group led by MLT on the 29th September we were pleased to gain agreement across Britain and Ireland to amalgamate our respective syllabuses, refining the successful workshops already delivered by BMC in England to produce a UK standard course. We hope to start delivering the new course in Scotland in the New Year, and use it to start the training and endorsement of an expanded number of Scottish climbing coaches, who will then help in developing and delivering the follow-on level courses of learning to Train and Elite Training."


In addition to agreeing to merge the draft syllabi, we also agreed on a principle of "team training" throughout the UK, as part of an ongoing move towards harmonisation and external valuation throughout the UK. This helps pave the way for these workshops to eventually be integrated into the coaching qualifications pathway that MLT is developing and implementing over the next two years. This means that canny coaches will be able to keep "a step ahead of the game" by following the LTPD workshops as they are introduced: LTPD is already being piloted under  the working title of "Learning to Train" (though "FUNdamentals II", or "conSOLIDation" may be a more suitable title for this interpretation of this phase for climbers)

Chief Officer working on UIAA/petzl Foundation project in India

My first update for a while, as there were no phone communications in Ley and very limited access to the internet. Ley was hit by a freak cloudburst in August which wiped out a segment of the town during the night, causing considerable devastation. However, as so often in India, the inhabitants have rallied round and business continues as usual for the survivors. Most of the city is unchanged; it is a beautiful place.

For the last 3 weeks I've been working in Ladakh with 2 colleagues from the UIAA Training Standards working group. We've run 2 courses back-to-back with the long term intention of producing a basic trek leader's course for local residents to work towards. This will eventually be managed by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, but the set-up logistics have been financed by the Petzl Foundation, a charity introduced by Paul Petzl to organise cultural and environmental projects in India.

The first course was delivered to a group of very keen young trek leaders working for a large private company called Rimo Expeditions. This was based in Ley in Ladakh, sometimes known as little Tibet. Indeed we were privileged to attend a ceremony presided over by the Dalai Lama, an unforgettable experience. The course was tiring but highly successful, including various short practical outings including a snow skills day at over 5,500 metres! The 2-day journey from Ley to Manali for our second course was bumpy but exciting, especially as the following day the road shut down for the long winter! Here in Manali, the second course was for mountaineering instructors from 3 national centres, with widely differing backgrounds. The course content and presentation was therefore very different, involving a lot of replanning "off the cuff". However, it was also successful, and now we are about to start packing for our return journey to Delhi, which is currently largely under-water by all accounts, so this may be quite eventful as well!

Autumn photos

Here is a slideshow of Steve's best photos from the autumn of 2010. Watch this space - autumn has only just begun!




http://www.flickr.com/photos/46624718@N03/sets/72157624759836675/show/

Open Season at Gogarth

In case it has escaped your notice, the summer bird ban for climbing on the Red Walls at Gogarth is over. The Red Walls are an acquired taste but for those who are smitten they provide real adventure in an other-worldy location. Pride of place goes to Mousetrap as a British sea cliff classic. The crux pitch is actually well protected where it matters, with a wire at your feet and cam by your waist as you stretch rightwards to reach a series of corrugated chimneys. The rock is weird and disconcerting, but basically the red walls consist of underlying "cheese" with  baked coatings of relatively hard sandstone. The problem comes in the areas where the coating is missing. The chimneys are one such area, but they are studded with fins and spikes of a largely quartzite nature. You can drape slings over spikes and place nuts and wires between flutings, but its hard to be sure whether this would hold a fall, so the whole experience is heart in mouth from beginning to end. Like all good horror movies there's someething particularly uplifting about topping out from these committing adventures.

Saturday 28th August was reasonably dry so Sion and I set off up Mousetrap then for some reason that I no longer understand we continued rightwards on the relatively obscure line of "Bedlam". This was descibed in the guidebook as bold, which it probably was before the pitons snapped. Now its better described as "character-building". The photo shows Sion aproaching the belay of Bedlam; you can see the easy slab of Mousetrap behind him. Next time I'm going up the slab.

Moderation visit to an MIA training course

Today I accompanied an MIA training course into the Ogwen valley for Day 7 of an MIA training course - these courses are 9 days long, providing an intensive week by anybody's standards! The candidates were bearing up well and all of them stated a preference for a single long installment of this nature rather than dividing the course into seperate weeks.

Three of the teams tackled scrambles on Glyder Fach, so I followed a team part way up Main Gully Ridge and then traversed across to Shark Buttress before taking a downward traverse back to Llyn Bochlwyd and back down to the A5 for an afternoon of paper work.

This weekend has a good forecast: see you at Gogarth?

 

Last week was the National Eisteddfod for Wales down in Ebbw Vale in South Wales. The Eisteddfod is still the largest festival of competitive music and poetry in Europe and lasts for 8 days, and is believed to date back to the 12th Century.

All events and activities are done through the medium of Welsh, so we joined Clwb Mynydda Cymru (an all Welsh mountaineering club), BMC Cymru (Access & Conservation Officer, Elfyn Jones) and the North Wales Outdoor Partnership to jointly run a stall under the banner of Mynydda (Mountaineering).

It was a good opportunity to build links between the different organizations and look closely about ways we can work together. Clwb Mynydda Cymru was successful in gaining more club members and also we discussed running leadership awards through the medium of Welsh in the future.

I had a few days of in the middle of the week and rather than drive home and back, it made sense to visit one of the best sea cliff climbing venues in Europe for some cragging.

Bryn Williams
MLT Wales/Cymru

UK's Mountaineering Associations meet at Glenmore Lodge

Representatives from the Mountain Leader Training Association, British Mountain Guides, Association of Mountaineering Instructors and British Association of International Mountain Leaders met at Glenmore Lodge on 2nd August to explore ways of working in collaboration and to provide Mountain Leader Training with information about the way that its qualifications are used by their members.

It is hoped that in the long term this collaboration may also bring benefits in articulating to the public a more unified message about the scope and remit of the UK's range of qualifications for leaders, instructors and guides of mountaineering activities.

 

THE ASSOCIATIONS COLLABORATION WORKING GROUP

 

 This new group, gathered as a working group of the main MLT (UK) board, and is made up of representatives from the:

 

 British Mountain Guides - Mark Diggins

• British Association of International Mountain Leaders – Issie Inglis
• Association of Mountaineering Instructors - Tony Halliwell
• Mountain Leader Training Association

 Through discussion it became immediately apparent that there are many ways in which this forum could enable all the Associations to work more closely together.

 

The group is chaired by Steve Long, Chief Officer with MLT and, during the first meeting, the following Role and Objectives of the group are being proposed:

Role of the Group

 

To support MLT by providing information which will:

•  enable better understanding of how Award holders are currently using their qualifications,
• how the Awards could interrelate more effectively
• how the Awards might be more easily understood

Objectives

 

To create: 

• Opportunities to share ideas
• Clear and unambiguous information about the awards and assoications to the public
• Mutually beneficial co-operation between Associations

Some Discussion Topics

 

 1.  To develop a full mutual understanding of all the current award processes

           a. Training and assessment

           b. How and where the Awards are used

2.   Professionalism, accountability and standards

3.   Effective ways of presenting the award structure to the public

4.   Ongoing development after gaining a qualification

5.   Collaborative communication and marketing

 

MLT making progress with coaching qualification pathway

Mountain Leader Training was formally tasked by the Mountaineering Councils with developing a coaching system over the next two years to complement the existing leader and instructor schemes. To date a lot of information gathering has taken place and this article summarises the work done so far and also what is
involved in the UK Coaching Certificate.

This spring and summer we held several meetings with staff from sports coach UK including our coach development advisor, Dr. Gillian Mara (The UK Coaching Framework is explained here http://www.sportscoachuk.org/index.php?PageID=2&sc=5&uid=)
This research was contextualised by the annual coaching summit in Cardiff (June 29-30th) and provided sufficient background information to allow a tentative mapping exercise of the Climbing Wall Award syllabus and assessment methodology against the National Standard recommended for Level 1 (assistant coach) and level 2 (coach) in the UKCC framework.

The UKCC is not a qualification but rather a standard. If we develop coaching qualifications that match or exceed the UKCC standard it makes sense to consider seeking endorsement of them as UKCC qualifications. This is because the UKCC is a recognised national standard that can be used by coaches to clearly demonstrate their coaching competencies. Also, those working within the outdoor industry often coach other sports, such as orienteering, mountain biking, paddlesport and sailing. Therefore, if the various awarding bodies follow common standards it can be easier for prior learning to be recognized.
This can allow a coach in one sport to move more easily into another sport, as they will hopefully not have to repeat generic coach training that they already possess. UKCC awards can attract funding, which is an obvious benefit for coaches wishing to become qualified.

A UKCC ‘qualification’ is an endorsement process, whereby a qualification meets set criteria, and is then endorsed. The preliminary mapping process demonstrated how our existing schemes meet many of the risk management criteria, but are lacking in common coaching skills. Regardless of whether or not our coaching qualifications pathway fulfils the UKCC framework, an audit of the existing coaching workforce and employers’ needs is desirable; this is something that Mountain Leader Training has always done before introducing any new awards. The difference here is that participant needs should also be assessed. This will enable us to gauge the level of demand for coaches at various levels, including assistant coach. It will provide a snapshot of where we are now, so provide a benchmark for monitoring the success of future coaching qualifications supporting both participant and coach pathways.

News integrated into main MLT website

Over the next few weeks you will find progressively less news about MLT workshops and developments in this blog, as we are making more use of the live news bar that runs throughout the MLT website. Be sure to visit the MLT website for up to the minute news about developments in Mountain Leader Training.

Moel Famau, WGL Training

This week I joined a Walking Group Leader Training Course in the Clwydian Range of North East Wales.
We had a nice stroll up th track to the summit of Moel Famau and I was able to chat with the Course Director and candidates about the WGL scheme and gaine feedback over its suitability for them. The candidates were from North Wales and thought that the area was a bit limiting for the remit of the WGL, which echoed some comments from providers at the last workshop.

Maybe we should add paved paths, and way marked trails to the remit in the syllabus?

I'm now getting ready for the National Eisteddfod at the end of the month in South Wales, where we will be joining a stand with Clwb Mynydda Cymru and the BMC.

Bryn
MLTW National Development Officer

Coaching summit and reality

Another hectic week, starting with a couple of days in Cardiff at the sportscoach UK annual summit in Cardiff. With representation from many sports as well as representatives from all the home nation sports councils, this was a great opportunity to catch up with the mindset of the policy makers in the new political era. Thanks to Lottery funding, sports coaching is pretty safe financially, but there are potential areas of controversy that we need to be aware of. At MLT our primary aim for a coaching qualification pathway is to create a system that works for our sport/pastime. So if the UKCC model doesn't work for us, so be it. However all my research so far suggests that for at least levels 1 and 2 there is no reason why we shouldn't work within the UKCC model as long as our assessment methodology is acceptable to UKCC. If it looks like it will create mounds of pointless paperwork we'll step sideways but certainly at the moment there is no reason not to stick with it. On Thursday I presented a mapping of the Climbing Wall Award against UKCC Level 1 and level 2 criteria to our designated sportscoach UK rep, Dr. Gillian Mara. Jon Garside and myself were gratified to find that the CWA needs little other than some background understanding on team working and reflective practice/formal evaluation methods to fulfil the criteria for level 1 at least, so I will begin consulting over a proposed syllabus for this over the next few weeks.

I spent a long weekend in the Peak District with my son Sion Idwal and Chris Parkin's family for a coaching induction into gritstone climbing. This was an interesting challenge as we wanted them to sample some mid-grade classics as well as gain some leading experience in preparation for university life in Yorkshire if they get their "A" level grades. I think we pulled it off reasonably well, with various team switches enabling everybody to climb something at an appropriate grade throughout the trip. Routes climbed included Flying Buttress, Flying Buttress Direct, Hollybush Crack, Queersville, Leaning Buttress Direct, Tippler, Dangler, Goliath's Groove, Wall End Flake Crack, Right and Left Unconquerables at Stanage, Embankment Routes 1 and 4, Portland Street, Great North Road, Lyon's Corner House, Knightsbridge and the Mall at Millstone, and Tody's Wall plus Valkyrie at Froggat.

Workshop and Moderation

Last week I joined one of the MLTW Providers down in South Snowdonia for a Mountain Leader Training course. I joined the course on the second day and they were learning about micro navigation skills in complex terrain. The group were enthusiastic and enjoying their course.

Last weekend I was working on the join workshop which is mentioned in Mal's post below. The afternoon session I attended was with Chris Rowlands from DMM. The climbing kit DMM makes is all done on their site in Llanberis as part of their quality control process and Chris gave a very good talk on the process of how carabiners are made.

We then spent the rest of the session looking at how equipment might fail and also how to check and care for the equipment.

Bryn
MLTW

Joint Workshop

On Saturday 26th June 22 people and 5 MLT staff attended a joint MLTE/W workshop at Ogwen Cottage. After an introduction from the Head of Centre, Stan, never a man to miss the opportunity to offer a couple of amusing anecdotes, we got on with matters relating to the delivery of the awards. Updates, News from the Boards and the BMC and a quick look at some of the 'not so perfect' course reports it was time for a look in to the future to canvas opinion as to what folk think might be required 10 - 15 years time. After lunch it was either breaking karibiners and snappping slings with Chris Rowlands from DMM or out in to Idwal for a session on conservation, access and land management issues with BMC Cymru Officer Elfyn Jones and Jim Langley of http://www.natureswork.co.uk/ The pictures here prove that it does not always rain in Idwal with staff mambers Cath, Jon Garside and John Cousins sporting the latest in high mountain footwear...in the other picture Elfyn explains some of the finer points of land management to Bob, Mick and Clare.

Mal

News from the Welsh Officer

Its been a while since I have posted on here - must be a sign of busy times!

The last few weeks has been great in terms of work and play. I have made several Moderation visits to Providers and Course Directors and had a chance to talk with staff and candidates on how we might look to improve our services for the future. Some candidates suggesting the idea of an online logbook, and also clarity in the organisation structor too as they have found it a bit confusing with the current setup, so hopefully the plans for a single website which directs people into the different Home Nation Board area may help this.

My spare time I have used well with some good climbing days on Slate, Tremadog, Ogwen, Llanberis Pass and also several sport climbing evenings down the coast. The new A55 Sport Guidebook is now out and if very useful for evening bolt clipping ideas.

Bryn

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

P1010637
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.

Weekend play

During the Bank Holiday weekend Rory and I went to the slate quarries, and I was excited about climbing on one of my favorite rock types, unfortunately the part I had underestimated was that my toes would not be use to it as I have been mainly in ski boots of fully rigid boots since October last year.

We started with Fresh Air (f6a and really nice - a route I helped with bolting a while ago), then moved onto my own route called 362 (named after the number of quarry men who died working there. Graded at f5c).
Following this we strolled up to the Zippy Level of Australia and Rory led the pumpy and sustained Ziplock (f7b) - I could give many reasons for not completing this route, but that would be boring!

On the Monday, Alun came over and we only had a few hours and climbed at the Gorbals Level, and started on Harri Back Llanrug (graded f6a), then put a rope on Toe be or not Toe be (graded f7b). Once again failed to do the last move, and managed to blame the pain in my toes.
We then headed over to finish off on Clash of the Titan (a 40m f6a).

This week I went out with Rich, and had a blast at Stand Up Paddle-boarding, and took a journey around the Little Orme. I was interested to see the Diamond area, and we took a lunch break on the boulders below and viewed the crag - its very impressive. That afternoon Tanya and I went up to Castle-Inn quarry do a couple of quick routes in the evening sun before heading home.

Bryn
National Development Officer MLTW

Workshop and moderation visit

Last week I travelled down to Mid Wales to Moderate a new MLT Wales Provider on his first Single Pitch Award training course. Discussions took place in the morning, then the group headed out to Craig yr Ogof, in Trawsfynydd. A nice little crag in a stunning location (well apart form the nuclear power station - but thats been decommissioned back in 1991, and should be safe for demolishing by 2098. Makes you question if the 26 years it was there producing power was worth it!).

Following the Moderation visit I went on to South Wales for a meeting with the MLTW Chair, to discuss the objectives for the future. That evening I met up with Mal Creasey from MLTE to discuss and plan the following days workshop.

On the Friday we ran a joint MLTW / MLTE Provider and staff workshop, based from the Storey Arms outdoor centre. We had a good turn out and discussed various issues throughout the morning and the afternoon was spent with Sunita Welch from the Brecon Beacons National Park.


A good few days.
Bryn

April news round up from the Chief Officer

As we prepare the papers for the AGM and Board meeting to be held at Tollymore in mid-May, a whole series of threads are gradually coming together. As always the day-to-day running of the office is a full-time job in its own right and I can only say that it will be a huge relief when the new Executive Officer starts in post in June. For those of you who are wondering who this is, I can reveal that it is John Cousins, who was my predecessor at MLT so it is fair to say that he already has a good understanding of the various organisations that constitute MLT! Currently our executive are so busy dealing with many issues as well as getting on with their own lives that there hasn't been a statement forthcoming about the appointment, but this appointment will make an enormous difference and will enable me to focus on core issues such as quality assurance at national and international levels, the design and implementation of the coaching scheme and the publishing house, which is after all our main income strand. In any other business these 3 areas would be regarded as a pretty ambitious work plan, so it's not as if I will now be putting my feet up!

The CWLA has been well received, MLTE and MLTW ran a joint providers' workshop on Friday, and registrations levels are very healthy. There are a lot of success stories to celebrate but we also face some real challenges as the reality is that we are still several different organisations all working towards a shared vision but with different infra-structures, largely built on out-dated technology. One example of recent development is the new website, which is database driven. The first indication of the power of this system is the searchable list of courses, which will be a great service for providers and students alike, but until all the home nations join into this database it will not achieve its full potential. I have every confidence that we will bring all this information together during 2010. However the biggest frustration is the cumbersome process involved in registrations; I spend an average of an hour per day dealing with registration enquiries! I can't even begin to express how much I would like to see a simple one-stop shop for all the home nation boards; there are undestandable reservations about a possible loss of autonomy but we need to resolve these and make the registration process work properly. Right now we can be sure that anybody who gets as far as completing the registration process is really committed - this probably adds to the kudos of the ML schemes but it doesn't make good business sense.

I'm currently recovering from an inflamed elbow; it's not the dreaded golfer's or tennis elbow but it was pretty bad by the end of last week, when I could neither bend nor straighten the arm. This was caused entirely by pulling too hard on small holds every evening and weekend! I saw the warning signs, but with a bunch of new routes to squeeze into the Tremadog guide, as well as photo shoots and a couple of days climbing at Montserrat, there were too many goodies around so I decided to pay the price later, when the rains arrived.

Early last week I took a morning out to join the BMC/RSPB crag inspection of Cilan Head on the Lleyn peninsular. This resulted in a new access agreement, and a good chance to document the whole coastline photographically (perhaps a future guide book project?) We were accompanied by a pod of dolphins, who proved very difficult to photograph.

Ski touring holiday

After a few hectic weeks of work, Tanya and I were en-route to Chamonix in the French Alps for a 2 week break. We were to meet Rob out there and the plan was for some ski touring action.

The first few days were spent on great powder conditions on the Grand Montets and then Rob and I skinned up to the Col des Dards on the Aiguille Rouge and had excellent powder for the descent back to Lac Blanc.

The following day we drove around to Italy and skinned up to the Emanuele Hut (2732m) in the Grand Paradiso National Park.

We woke at 5.30am to fresh snow outside and clearing skies so after some coffee and bread we started the long skin uphill towards the Grand Paradiso (4026m). After over five hours of slogging uphill against altitude and freezing temperatures we arrived at the rock ridge, which led to the summit. We took skis off and made the last scramble to the summit on foot.


The fun them began with the ski down – in an hour we were back at the hut for a coke and some food, then another hour got us back to the car in the valley (1960m), very sweaty and stinky and looking forward to a shower and a beer.

Rest rest of the trip included another trip up the Aig Rouge for some touring and also some late season resort skiing and gentle touring.


Back in the office now and looking forward to some rock climbing action.

Bryn

Gadding about

Lots of activity on the moderating scene at the moment with three visits over last week. On the first visit it was good to see father and son team operating with Andy and Ian Boorman delivering an excellent SPA training course in the sunshine. Three days later it was off in the sunshine again with day 1 of the Llanrug ML training course, again a great day out before finally, and with the sun still shining it was off on the early train to visit Jack Griffiths running a CWA training course at the Castle in London. Another excellent course so well done all! Picture on the left is Ian Boorman enjoying the sunshine above Betws y Coed.
Mal

New routing at Tremadog

A great weekend in the UK - I feel sorry for the people stranded in Spain! Climbed with Jon Garside, the BMC/MLTE Technical Officer this weekend. On Saturday evening we climbed Zangorilla on Carreg Wastad, and on Sunday we had a fulfilling but tiring day, with a new route up the centre of the Castle at Craig y Gesail, weighing in at about E4 6a, followed by a successful tussle with Vulture on Bwlch y Moch (hard E4 6a). A good start to the trad climbing season, and the Tremadog guidebook is now almost finished. We want to get more action shots at the Tremadog climbing festival next weekend.

Business as usual

As indicated in my "Twitter" report, the recent UIAA meeting was very successful. The UIAA will be launching full support for the Training Standard label, which is set to take off in much the same way that the Equipment label has over the last few years. The UIAA is the only organisation with the history, representation and kudos to take on a project of this scope and ambition. The UK quality assessment team are in an excellent position to help service the anticipated demand, because we have several decade's experience of guilding and ensuring that 4 home nations work to the same standards.

This week 2 of the MLT Board members joined a group piloting a proposed RLSS water safety management course at Plas y Brenin.

It's been a great week for in-depth discussions with several organisations, including BAIML, AMI, SLUK, skillsactive, BOS and the Scout Association. But one more day in Spain and I would have missed the whole thing as I would have been stranded on the wrong side of the volcanic ash.

Apart from that it's been a pretty active week in my own time, including several towers at Montserrat, SS Special and Brant Direct yesterday evening and a solo ascent of the esoteric Canyon Rib this evening as research for the Tremadog guidebook.

Back to the Office....

Just returned to the Office after a week in Scotland working the the Diploma of Mountain Medicine group. although the snow is going rapidly from the lower levels there is still plenty high up. weatherwise it was pretty good with wet starts to the first three days but drying up as the morning progressed on each occasion. Thursday was a little grim but that didn't really matter as we were only assesssing navigation that day. Friday was the Avalanche Scenario day and that was really wild so we had to be a little inventive as to where we went and the debris left behind below the railway line just above Tyndrum were just about perfect. A great week and nice to be out of the office for a few days mixing with a really great group of BMG's and MIC's.

Mal

Climbing Wall Leading Award launch

Today we launched the Climbing Wall Leading Award to a group representing several of our stakeholder organisations, timed to coincide with an induction workshop for prospective providers. The launch event was held at Leicester leisure centre "The Towers" Climbing Wall, a fitting venue for the event.