Hill House School Day 1
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The Ben – Compression Crack
Back up to The Ben for another day with Paul, the weather looked like this was the last chance to get out this week, with 100mph winds forecast for the afternoon on Thursday and tropical and even faster winds for the Friday.
Paul was keen to try out his newly discovered leash less skills on some steep ice. Due to the immanent weather and high avalanche conditions we headed safely over to Compression Crack V,5.
A huge Avalanche released drown South Castle Gully, one of the biggest I have seen in a while, a healthy reminder to take extreme care when route planing.
Into the after noon with temperatures rising, visibility reducing and wind increasing we abseiled down the route teaching Paul how to create a Double Abalakov (v thread).
After crawling and navigating our way back to the CIC hut we had the privilege of access to a quick brew before packing up and heading out before to conditions got worse!
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CWA Training
Each year Mike and I run a CWA training course for Telford College in Edinburgh for the students on the outdoor course.
Day 1 was a Alien Rock
Day 2 was at Ratho Climbing Centre
The course was allot of fun and left 12 people really keen to get back to the wall and practice their personal skills and to find groups to try out their new found teaching skills.
Comb Gully – Ben Nevis
Today Paul and headed up to the Ben to see what was in condition and climbable. The temperature were a little high so we headed to the higher routes. Weaving our way carefully around the patches of wind slab from island of safety to island of safety we managed to reach the base of Comb Gully. Paul had not climbed on true “Nevis Neve” before, what a delight.
We navigated over to the top of No. 4 Gully and inspected it, on inspection we decided it was safe to descend.
Back to the CIC hut to drop kit and then back to the Van.
Paul and his mountaineering club where staying at the CIC hut for the week. I’ll be back out on the hill with Paul on Thursdays after running a Climbing Wall Award (CWA) course for Telford College in Edinburgh.
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Association of Mountaineering Instructors AGM and CPD weekend
Each year at the AMI’s AGM there is a chance to update our knowledge, share experiences and have a good catch up with friends and likeminded professionals. The workshops included; Transceiver use and Companion Rescue, MIC Trainee, GPS, Avalanche & Snow Safety, MLT provider Workshop, Dry Tooling, Short Roping, BMC FUNdamentals, MWIS weather forecasting, MIC Refresher, Winter ML update/trainee workshop, BMC Learn to Train, Technical Advisor Workshop, Business & Tax Advice and Climbing With Stu McAleese ( IFAGM/MIC) and Andy Turner (MIC) both with the support from DMM and Mountain Equipment, our main sponsors.
A Talk by top UK climber Nick Bullock (supported by DMM) followed dinner.
The weekend was well attended.
Kendal College Winter Skills Course
This week Kendal College have been on a Real Adventure in the Cairngorms learning about snow and ice and winter mountaineering. Neil Mathews and Sally Ozanne, 2 of our instructors, ran the course out of Ardenbeg Bunk House. The week was catered for by Real Adventure, Ronnie Dunn a local chef cooked in the evenings and the team ate well.
The week’s weather couldn’t have provided a better selection of what the hills can throw at you from high winds and snow to still & clear to even a brocken spectre.
Enjoy the video….
BMC Technical Committee Meeting
This committee meets 4 times a year on a monday evening at the BMC offices in Manchester.
The widely recognized BMC belay device poster is due for a fresh look and re print. This is a request to have a look at the poster and report back if you have any ideas on anything you think needs to be added or changed.
Neville McMillan has now stepped down from the UIAA Safety Commission and has handed over to Rob Foster. Neville has been helping devise standards on climbing and mountaineering equipment for over 17 years. A huge thanks needs to go out to him for his commitment and dedication to improving standards and safety within climbing.
Neville’s final efforts have been in the area of rope diameter the new rope standards will state that the diameter will have to be marked and must be within + or – 0.3mm of what is stated at point of sale. This change will help ensure users have the ability to match their belay device with their rope.
Crampon standards will be published in May this year now they have finished debating the co efficient of friction with relative angles that the points can be used at on UIAA standard ice.
Energy absorption standards for via ferrata equipment is to be revised so that the strength of the stitching will withstand a user error and will not blow if pulled in the wrong direction. Also the use of these fall arrest devices with regards to the use for children and small adults. Part of this research is to look into the issues by minors taking dynamic falls in a harness and what internal damage can be created.
The BMC‘s Technical Committee is an accumulation of experts from the climbing world. Members consist of Metallurgists, Engineers, Manufacturers, and the likes. I stand on the committee as a technical expert from an instructional / user point of view. The committee is a vital part of testing faulty equipment and creating and enhancing the UIAA and EN standards on equipment for climbing.
This gathering of experts also use their knowledge for the various BMC technical publications, and provide independent advice on equipment.
I have voluntary represented the Association of Mountaineering Instructors (AMI) on this committee for the past 4 years.
GCSE PE
As a little change from the school wall and to give us a little more time outside of the school time table we headed to Awesome Walls with the GCSE Climbing PE team. Rich and I went down with 2 teams, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Looking at the Fundamentals of climbing movement; centre of balance, weight transfer and rotation. The team responded well and increased their personal grades. Towards the end we looked at momentum and focus.
Rich will be back at the School for a few more weeks training the team before their assessment in Feb.
Parents Evening
During the summer we are running Flookburgh Primary School’s Residential. Tonight was a chance to meet the young people, parents and other staff on the trip and show them a little taste of what they will be up to and answer any burning questions.
During their week we will be heading up to the top of one of the peaks in the Lakes. When asked what a mountain was we got a couple of great replies…
“A hill and a rock mixed together” – Reece
“A stunning antique rock” – Kelsey
“A massive, pointy rock” – Jimmy
We are all now really looking forwards to it.
Boot Failure
Today we headed over East where it is a little colder and more snow. We skinned into the Corrie’s to climb Aladdin’s Mirror Direct, head out over the top and back down the ski runs. The plan was scuppered when Andrews boot fell apart, one of the bolts that hold the thing together fell out rendering his progression disabled so we limped back to the van and out to the Cafe.
Lets see what tomorrow brings.
A couple of friends reported the Corie to be busy and wet, they climbed a couple of lines including Red Gully and reported damp conditions and as expected falling rock that happens when there is a melt on.
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