Gwilym's Adventure Blog

 Reasonable Weather on Tuesday Aquaduct near Black Tor  The Campsite at 7am Me and some buried tents Yesterday I headed off to Dartmoor with 23 students and 3 other staff for a multi day expedition. The weather forecast was for some precipitation over the 3 days and there was a small suggestion of "wintery" showers on Thursday afternoon. Tuesday afternoon went well with all 4 groups nevigating around the moor just south of Princetown and the evening was spent preparing for the trip onto the North Moor the following day. All was well when I went to bed shortly after 11pm but I woke at 4.30am to the sound of howling wind. Andy and I decided to get up and check the students tents and found ourselves in the middle of a blizzard with 2 - 3 inches of snow on the ground. After pegging a few tents back down we noticed the snowfall getting heavier and I had to dig over a foot of snow away from the doors of some of the tents. Unfortunately so much snow fell that we had no choice...

Today was a day off apart from conducting an assessment for the RLSS National Rescue Award for Swimming Teaches and Coaches . Unfortunately (for the candidates) the test was held in an Outdoor Pool so wetsuits were the order of the day. All 8 candidates performed well in the baltic conditions and passed the assessment which included CPR and First Aid as well as the pool stuff. For the next 3 days I will be on Dartmoor with a group of Bridgwater College Public Emergency Services students teaching navigation and wild camping so I may be unable to update the blog until Thursday

 Gliders waiting to take off Today I was with the same group as yesterday and we headed out on a low level walk from Talgarth to continue with the navigation training. The weather held out for us and our route went past The Black Mountains Glider Centre where we saw a number of gliders preparing to fly and being towed up.

 Heading up Mynydd Troed Today I was working with students from a Reading Secondary School who were in The Black Mountains for some basic navigation and expedition training. During the day we looked at navigation skills including map orientation, locating points and recognising features. The weather held out for us and we were able to take in the summit of Mynydd Troed at 609m. In the evening I delivered basic First Aid Training to prepare them for when they go out on expedition.

After a 6am 4 mile run, I took a group of students to The Outdoor Show at the NEC in Birmingham. To be honest I thought the show was pretty poor and not worth the 2 hour drive up. There were a number of key outdoor businesses not present and it was definately much smaller than previous years. The Triathlon section of the show was by far the best section (I managed to collect a few freebies) but in the main show hall itself there was not much going on.

Today I was again working for Bridgwater College teaching basic cycle maintainance. We covered front and rear wheel removal, changing a tube and a tyre, dealing with loose or stiff headsets, basic gear problem solving, puncture repair and brake pad adjustment and alignment. Of the12 students only one managed to get an inner tube to explode (accidently I hope) and at the end of the day all the bikes were in a fit state to be ridden. Tomorrow I am off to The Outdoor Show at the NEC.

Today started with a 6am 4mile run before I headed off to Bridgwater College for the first day of the Foundation Degree Public Services Outdoor Education Module. We spent the morning looking at climbing equipment, climbing terminology and a number of knots. After lunch we headed down to Bridgwater YMCA to spend a couple of hours on their indoor wall where we looked at climbing skills and belaying.

The last couple of days have seen me going through all the admin involved with being an Outdoor Instructor. This included Risk Assessments, Insurance, updating bookings and arranging courses as well as repairing some mountain bikes and moving equipment between stores. Boring as this may be it is essential and on both days I managed to find time for a 6am outing with a 4mile run on Monday and 10mile road ride today. Tomorrow I start teaching on the Foundation Degree Course in Public Services and Outdoor Education at Bridgwater College with and introduction to the course and a visit to the climbing wall.

Alex at Wills Neck 384m Alex trying not to fall off Alex showing his bike control This weekend I was suppsed to be teacxhing a White Water Kayak course but this was cancelled for various reasons and although I spent Saturday doing boring domestic and paperwork tasks, today I managed to persuade my housemate Alex to come up onto the Quantocks for a quick blast. Todays route was Crowcombe to Trsicombe, uponto Wills Neck at 384m, down into Ramscombe via some technical single track routes and then back upto the car at Crowcombe.

Taking a rest Today I started back at Bridgwater College with a Mountain Bike trip up onto the Quantock Hills. I had two groups today and each group had a 2.5 hour cycle ride both up (though some thought it would be easier to walk) and down hills. We started at Crowcombe Park Gate and headed along to Triscombe Stone, down into Ramscombe and back up to CPG. The route was a mixture of forestry tracks and a few sections of single track in between. The weather held out and the rain only started in the last 30 mins of the afternoon session. I am out kayaking at the weekend so hoping this rain keeps on going and fills up the rivers for me.

 Bowleaze Cove Today I have been down in Dorset assessing candidates for the Royal Lifesaving Society National Beach Lifeguard Award . The day started in the pool with timed swims (400m in 8 mins) and this was followed by some theroy and CPR exercises. We then headed off to Bowleaze Cove for the practical beach part of the asseessment. Sea conditions were calm but it was very cold both in the water and on the beach. The candidates did well sticking it out to the end as the temperature seemed to get colder by the minute. In fact, this is the coldest I have been for 3 months which considering all the snow and ice I have been on it pretty amazing. Maybe it was not the best idea to wear shorts!

Me Miranda Great Views  Still heading uphill Today Miranda and I headed headed up to Glencoe with some XC Skis to see what snow was left. Lola (the Jack Russell) came with us as we headed up part of the West Highland Way. It was my first time on thin skis with soft flexible boots but it wasn't to hard. We headed up hill for a couple of hours before having a coffee break and heading back down. The snow cover was patchy in places but we were able to pick our way safely through the rock and heather. My time in Scotland is coming to an end as I need to be back down in Somerset on Monday. The weather has also started to change for the worse. I may get out tomorrow if the weather is not as bad as forecast.

Abseiling into Easy Gully Me about to start the route Geoff on Pitch 2 Some BIG Cornices After avoiding the East Face of Aonach Mor all season due to massive cornices and with less than a week left in Scotland I decided to give it a go and headed for it with Geoff. We got the Gondola and Quad chair up and abseiled down Easy Gully which in hindsight we could have easily down climbed, but Geoff hadn't abseiled from a Snow Bollard before so it was good for us to do it. The plan was flexible but was basically to find a route that didn't have a massive cornice above it. We headed for the bottom of Morwind IV 4 and I started to lead up this, however it soon became apparent that protection would be hard won and there was a distinct lack of ice in the short chinmey. I traversed out right onto Turf Walk III 4 and we continued up this route. Overall I though the quality of the snow was poor and fragile. We didn't have time for a second route as Geoff had to head off home so we...

The CIC Cascades Me on Pitch 1 Geoff on Pitch 2 Looking to the summit of Ben Nevis Today Geoff and I headed up to the north face of Ben Nevis to climb the CIC Ice Falls. I have been looking at these all season from my lounge window and finally got round to it. We went for a late start and didn't start walking until 11:30am. We intended to climb both the falls but after doing the first one in two pitches at about IV 4 and abseiling back down, a team had started on  the V 5 next door. As it was now 15:45, we decided not to wait and climbed the same one again but just swapped leads. After two ascents we had both led both pitches. It was a nice route in a nice setting and I was very warm in minimal clothing.

  Looking along Fiacaill Ridge     Me on the Cairngorm Plateau     Rescue Helicopter     Nick   My Shadow Today Nick and I headed to The Cairngorms to see what we could get up to. As I was driving up the ski road I could see how much snow was on the butresses so we ditched all of our climbing gear and went for a lightweight single axe approach to Fiacaill Ridge I/II before heading ono the plateau and up onto Cairngorm itself. The SAR helicopter was in the corrie dealing with what appeared to be a serious incident though I did not know what it was. I later heard that a climber had fallen off Fingers Ridge. I hope they make a full recovery. The weather was absolutely stunning and I think I may have overdosed on Sun. The day ended with Coffee and Cake in the Cainrgomr Mountain Sports Cafe.

  Me on the Button Tow     Craig     Drop into the back corries     Today Craig and I headed up onto Nevis Range for some sliding action. Craig is a snow boarder and I was on Skis. We tore up the mountain both on and off piste during the morning and made the most of the fact that the mountain was fairly quiet. After lunch we headed up for some more sliding and heard the back corries and braveheart chair had been opened so we headed outback for some steep drops ins and virgin snow. What a great day

  Blocking the Glen Nevis road    Giving me an evil stare Today and yesterday have been unsucessful with partners cancelling at the last minute due to illness. I tried to rescue the day by heading down into Glen Nevis with the intention of taking on The North East ridge of Stoban. However it soon became clear that it had very little snow on it and we aborted the day.

  A heavily snowed up East Sector      Doctors Dilema   Looking up White Caterpillar III Today Campbell and I headed to Beinn Udlaidh for some more ice action. On arrival in the car park at 08.30 there was already15 vehicles so we were not surprised by the number of people in the corrie. We headed to the bottom of Doctors Dilema but as we were waiting at the bottom, the team ahead continued to shower us in brittle ice and after I got hit in the mouth by a block we decided to move on elsewhere. Also waiting near us for this route was Baggy and his clients. We headed round into West Gully and managed to sqeeze past a couple of teams from Jagged Globe and get to the bottom of a route called White Caterpillar III. We climbed this in 2 pitches but not before I took 3 more hits from falling ice. Finally we climbed an unnamed route at the far right of the West Face and this had the best ice we had encountered all day. The route seemed to be at about III 4 and my ...

   Stunning Views    Looking into Glen Nevis   Me heading towards Aonach Beag (courtesy of www.westimages.co.uk)  Today Campbell and I were going to climbing but decided on an "easy rest day" by going skiing. We took the tows up to the top and then put on skins (sticky pad on bottom of ski for going up hill) and headed up to the summit of Aonach Mor 1221m, removed the skins and skied down to the col just before Aonach Beag. Here I ditched the skis, put crampons on my ski boots and walked to the summit of Aonach Beag 1234m. The sun was shining and it was seriously hot. By the time I returned to the col and got my skis back I was down to a T-shirt. With the skins back on we headed back over Aonach Mor to the ski tows to start the long ski back. First we dropped into the back corries via Winger Wall before taking a descending traverse back round to the Gondola. But no, this was not good enough so we continued on down under the Gondola and onto the Mount...

  Blue Skies and white snow, what more could you want? Craig in his "Bucket Seat"     Today I took Jim and Craig up to Aonach Mor for the first day of their Winter Mountaineering course. We covered movement with and without crampons, ice axe arrest, bucket seats and buried axe, body belays, avalanche awareness and general snow craft. The weather was stunning and sunglasses were the order of the day. We found a few pockets of windslab around the Nid Ridge area but these could be easily avoided with careful route choice. The west face of Aonach Mor is looking very loaded with snow and a cornice has formed in places. Jim and Craig will be out with Kenny Grant for the rest of the week and the weather looks good for them.