Beautiful fine views across the Snowdonia range. On the final approach to Snowdon.
Learning to remove gear while hanging on is important when climbing outside.
We had a great day out practicing some multi pitch climbing on Idwal Slabs. Bud wanted to do more than just easy slabs all day. So we climbed Tennis Shoe which has a short but harder crux towards the top. It’s a great route for practicing placing gear without being too far outside your comfort zone as it has good foot placements, where you need them. It is worth while taking your time over the crux on routes before you commit to making the hard moves, as it can be to difficult to reverse these if you get it wrong! If you are looking to develop your leading techniques have a look at our learning to lead climbing courses, where you will get very personal and tailored teaching. http://mountaineeringjoe.co.uk/rock-climbing-courses-snowdonia/
Just back from a night navigation
The final steps on the North Ridge of Tryfan
Ray scrambling on the real mountain in Snowdonia, Tryfan. Ray wanted to catch the end of the summer with some scrambling. We approached Tryfan from the east side walking up to Heather Terrace. We then scrambled up Nor Nor Groove (Grade 2), reaching the top of Nor Nor Gully on the North Ridge (Grade 2). We continued to the top of Tryfan scrambling on the North Ridge. The weather was great and we got some excellent photos. After summiting on Tryfan we decided to descend Tryfan via North and Little gullies (Grade 2) back down to Heather Terrace. Little Gully is an excellent Grade 2 scramble. So we ended up with 2 good scrambles up Tryfan and a good scramble back down. For more information on what scrambling you can do, click on http://mountaineeringjoe.co.uk/rock-scrambling-courses/
Alan had to take a bearing in bad visibility and walk on it with no helping features!
Alan enjoyed his 2 days of Navigation / map reading instruction on the south side of Snowdon. He often walks in the mountain with friends but wanted to be able to navigate safely on his own. During his 2 day, 1 to 1 course he was pushed to his limits having to navigate in some low visibility conditions at times during the day. He built up a good process to consistently hit his destinations. including pacing, timings, taking and walking on bearings, attack points, tick off features, hand railing and using a strategy where he built processes to be followed for each leg, reducing the likelyhood of error and catching it early where it occurs. Click here for more information http://mountaineeringjoe.co.uk/mountaineering/navigation-courses-snowdonia/
Scrambling up the upper part of the North Ridge of Tryfan
” Hi Joe, Just to say, a huge thank you again for a great day out, I learned lots and it has certainly given me the confidence to try out some more adventurous routes than I would have done before. And the Marmolada!
Cheers Ruth”
We climbed on Tryfan scrambling up the North, down the south ridge of Tryfan and across to Bristly Ridge then up onto the Glyders sitting the Cantilever stone, then came down the grade 1 Y Gribin Ridge. A Glyders horseshoe. Click here for more information on Scrambling courses
Duncan on the first pitch of Crackstone Rib in Llanberis Pass
Sarah and Duncan wanted to extend climbing knowledge having been climbing indoors and having done some outdoor bouldering. They were familiar with indoor top roping. They wanted to develop the skills needed to go off safely on their own and undertake single pitch trad climbing. They had booked 3 days with Mountaineering Joe on a 2:1 bases. They soon got to grips with the rope work and gear placements and made such good progress that by the end of the 3 days they lead comfortably a multi-pitch route in Llanberis pass.
If you would like to extend your skills set to multi-pitch climbing have a look here
Kyle on the summit of Mont Blanc
An email from Kyle:
Hi Joe, Just thought I’d drop you an email/pic of me on the summit of Mont Blanc. Spent a week in Chamonix last month, culminating in this summit and several other training peaks! Was a great week, thanks for the winter skills training I was a lot more confident over the ground and found it all pretty comfortable! Looking forward to getting out and doing some more next summer, hopefully we have another cold winter I will be keen to do some ice climb training in Snowdon? Hope your well Regards, Kyle
Don’t go to the Alps with friends unprepared. Make sure you know what you are doing! See our Winter Courses
Ben is preparing for his Mountain Leader Award (ML) and wanted to check out his current navigation against the award requirements and bring it up to that standard. We walked around Moel Siabol and on the Snowdon Massive. We focused main on 1.25 and 1.50 scales but also discussed the 1.40 scale. He developed a systematic approach to Navigation and good contour interpretation. He was well up to standard by the end of the 2 days. He left feeling confident that he had everything under control! We even added in a bit of rope work to break things up a bit. If you need help with preparation for your ML give me a call or visit http://mountaineeringjoe.co.uk/mountaineering/navigation-courses-snowdonia/
Ben building a story for his next leg …good procedure for navigation
Look at that smile!
Nick and his son Luca wanted to try something different so they contacted me about an adventure day. So I arranged some climbing on real rock. I set up a top rope so Luca could play safely around on the rock trying out rock climbing for the first time. Nick got a chance to learn how to look after his son on the rock too. Once Luca started climbing we couldn’t stop him. He had such good time we had to tell him the park was closing in order to get him to stop! See what MountaineeringJoe can do for you ….http://mountaineeringjoe.co.uk/rock-climbing-courses-snowdonia/