Lecture: Andy Kirkpatrick Special Lecture in aid of HEAT

This weekend Emily and I are staying in Northallerton visiting the family. Another reason for coming South, was to attend Andy Kirkpatrick's lecture in aid of HEAT. The event was being held this evening at Ashville College, so Emily and I spent most of the day doing some Christmas shopping in Harrogate.

On arrival at the school, it was immediately clear that the event was well supported - well over half the hall was full of folk and everyone was going mad for the refreshments, as we waited for the arrival of Andy.

We didn't have long to wait and Andy was soon in full flow; cracking one joke after another. He started by telling us a little about himself and his upbringing in Hull. Moving on, he showed a few slides of his climbing exploits from over the years and around the globe - a very impressive resume. The main focus of the story was on his recent ascent of Troll Wall in Norway.

Unfortunately, Ella was feeling a little under the weather so didn't take to the stage to give her account of climbing El Cap. Instead, Andy showed a couple of slides of the recent trip to Yosemite but we got the sense that he very much felt that it was Ella's story to tell.

A great evening for a good cause. I would encourage everyone to attend one of Andy's shows/lectures, as he is quite a character and extremely entertaining.

Film Review: Odyssey

After the huge success of The Long Hope, there has been a great deal of hype about the latest film from Hot Aches Productions. Thankfully, Odyssey - A Climbing Road Movie, more than lives up to the attention.

The film documents a group climbers at the top of their game, as they make their way around England and Wales, ticking off some of the UK's hardest trad routes. The group includes Hansjorg Auer, Hazel Findlay, Caroline Ciavaldini and James Pearson. We begin in Northumberland with some very impressive on sights of a number of E6s and E7s. James, a personal hero of mine, talks a bit about how he has progressed in his climbing career over the years and how important the history and the style of British trad climbing to him. Hazel speaks about how it is important to get over the fear of falling in order to push your grade on trad - there is plenty of footage that features her taking some particularly large falls!

As the trip heads to Llanberis, the group set their sights on some impressive goals. The highlight surely has to be their attempts to on sight Strawberries E7 6b**. So many great climbers have come unstuck by this amazing crack-line and over the years it has seen only a handful of successful on sights. Hansjorg, however, makes it look rather smooth and effortless - very impressive stuff.
James then comes into his own as he has a very successful day at Nesscliffe - E8 flash, E8 onsight and E9 headpoint... not a bad day's work!
The film is beautifully shot throughout and has a very polished feel to the final edit. All of the characters are extremely down-to-earth and very inspiring as well as being rather modest and humble. If you are looking for inspiration to visit amazing crags and attempt hard trad routes, then this is definitely it. It's a close-run thing to decide which is the best climbing film I have seen this year - The Long Hope or this masterpiece. Overall, I think I prefer this film, but only slightly. I think the main reason for this is that I can relate more to the climbers and the routes in this film, and there is not much stopping anyone from getting out there and heading to these crags if they are motivated enough to do so. A very inspiring and excellent film - hats off to Paul Diffley once more.

Benny Beg

Today the weather forecast was looking dry and still... but a little chilly! So instead of heading to the EICA, I wanted to make the most of the weather and get out on some real rock. I suggested that we head to Benny Beg - mainly because I had never been before and wanted to check it out. I had heard folk say that it was very accessible, had loads of easy routes, was a great place to take groups... and it was right next to a cafe. Sounds perfect!

Gearing up for the first easy climb of the day, Benny Beg

By the time we had set off, it was almost lunchtime - but only an hour and a half later, we were standing at the bottom of the crag. At first, we pulled into the main car park at the Benny Beg Plant Centre but we noticed the sign that directed climbers to an alternative car park about 100 yards further along the main road towards Crieff. After no more than a 30 second walk we were at the foot of the first bolts and spotting the numerous lines.

Trying to warm up my feet, Benny Beg

We spent our time ticking off most of the routes on the first sector; I lead and threaded the rope at the top and then Emily bottom roped. There was a little water trickling down the main crack lines but most of the rock was surprisingly dry and didn't feel too cold to the touch. The quality of the rock, the lines and the bolts are highly recommended and very worthwhile, even at the easy grades.

Emily trying to get some feeling back into her feet, Benny Beg

Before the first sector, the height of the crag is much lower and looked like the perfect spot for a group warm up with some 'hang on' or some 'follow the leader' traversing. It also looked like there were more lines possible between the bolted ones and plenty of good anchors at the top of the outcrop that would enable the use of further bottom-ropes. An excellent group venue for sure.

The view from the crag in the fading afternoon light, Benny Beg

Soon, the afternoon sun vanished and the temperature dropped. As the light started to fade, the cafe and a hot chocolate were calling. A great afternoon climbing and I can't wait to go back and tick off the remaining routes.

The excellent DMM Alpha Sport Quickdraw, Benny Beg

Civil Liability - Instructor Insurance

Today I managed to sort out some Civil Liability Insurance using my Mountain Training Associations (MTA) membership. I found a form to download from the MTA website so I filled it in and emailed it in to them. However, I was told that this was the older style form and the process can now be done through their website so I was advised to take out my policy here with Perkins Slade.

Just out of curiosity, I filled out the form for a quote as if I wasn't a member of MTA and was quoted £350! However, with MTA membership, insurance was only £169 - quite a saving, I think you'll agree and well-worth the £29 annual membership. With insurance now sorted out, I should be able to get cracking with my climbing coaching - watch this space!

Mountain Training Association (MTA) Membership

After successfully passing my Single Pitch Award (SPA) on Friday, I took the plunge and signed up for Mountain Training Association (MTA) membership. If you have ever registered for any of the NGB outdoor awards, you should have a record with them. They recently launched a new Candidate Management System so all you need to do is register and then you can login to view your awards and your training/assessment history. You can also see your profile and allow others to see it to verify that you have the qualifications you say you have: here's a link to mine.

It cost £29 to join and I would recommend any instructors to join. Membership gets you listed on the searchable database of instructors (here) as well many other benefits and discounts. The main reason I am joining is to take advantage of their discounted Civil Liability Insurance for Instructors, which I hope to have sorted out in the next few days.

Single Pitch Award (SPA) Assessment - Day 2

We met at Rosyth Quarry at 9am and geared up in the rain. After a lovely fresh autumn day yesterday at Traprain, the weather couldn't have been more different; it felt like a winter storm was coming. We headed into the quarry and we were each given our first tasks - mine was to rig a releasable abseil anywhere on the crag. I grabbed my gear and headed around the path to the top, trying not to slip and fall in the mud and the autumn leaves.
I soon had my rig ready to go and David was to be my client. Euan had asked him to undo the thread-back buckle of the waist belt of his harness, which I spotted almost immediately. It was an amusing moment, as David when pink and immediately apologised, as he felt bad about being involved in such trickery! David and Chris then ran their rigs of an abseil and bottom-rope respectively.
I was then asked to rig a bottom-rope using a ground anchor. At the bottom of Drizzle S, there was a conveniently positioned large boulder and a thread at the back of it - perfect. I then ran my bottom-rope with bell-ringing using the ground anchor and an italian hitch as the belay. By this time, the rain had turned into quite a heavy shower so Euan gave the word for us to pack everything up asap and make our escape.
We headed back to the EICA for a quick coffee before re-grouping down in the main arena. David was the first to play instructor and took Chris and I through a great 15-minute warm up. Then I took over and treated David and Chris as my two clients who were here for a one-off climbing session. I tied Chris in and gave a quick demo of belaying (up-down-slide-slide) before David took over while I backed up and coached along the way. After practicing lowering down, Euan instructed Chris to pretend to be stuck just over halfway up the wall. I then performed a bottom-rope rescue using my Gri-gri. Then Chris took over and took us through tying in using a figure-of-eight etc.
Euan than said that he was happy with everything that he was seeing from us so he said he wanted to 'workshop' bottom-rope rescues. When I performed my rescue, I tied off my Gri-gri as an 'extra' safety, but Euan told me that I didn't need to and showed us how to do it to avoid slack in the system. He said that what I had done was totally safe but he just wanted to show us how it could be done in fewer steps - very useful indeed and I could see how it was a much simpler method. He then showed us how to self belay on an adjacent climb with a separate bottom-rope. He said that this could be useful on a steep wall when it is difficult to avoid putting weight on the rope when climbing up to the stuck client. Again, very useful.
Euan said that the assessment was now at an end but it would take him a wee while to sort out all of the necessary paperwork so he asked us if we wouldn't mind waiting upstairs in the cafe. After a coffee and a scone, it wasn't long before Euan emerged and told us there and then that we had all passed. It was big smiles all round and after congratulating each other, Euan called me over for my individual debrief.
The feedback was very positive indeed and I was very pleased with how the two days of assessment had gone. He said that I shouldn't stop climbing, as this would make me a better coach and instructor. I told him that I really wanted to get more involved in coaching climbing and he gave some advice about what my next steps should be and what courses to avoid. I was told that now I had my SPA that I would be able to get insurance through MTA and I would then be able to coach at the EICA. Euan also recommended that I should try to attend the BMC's FUNdamentals of climbing workshops and also think about aiming for the Climbing Wall Leading Award (CWLA).
It was a great feeling to get this award done so that I can now move forward with my coaching goals and gain further experience and focus on progressing to the next stage (level). Many thanks to Nic Crawshaw and Euan Whittaker for yet another excellent course. More on Euan's blog.

Single Pitch Award (SPA) Assessment - Day 1

I couldn't put it off any longer: it was time for my SPA assessment. The summer had been quite a busy one but I had still managed to fit in lots of climbing, had practice lots of rigging and and Emily had been my 'client' to practice my rescues.

We met at the EICA at 8am for a few introductions. I knew David Walker from the SPA training course in June and Chris Ravey seemed like an interesting and splendid chap. With the formalities out of the way, Euan Whittaker talked us through the plan for the next two days. He told us that we had all performed well on the SPA training and he expected us all to do well on this assessment... no pressure then!

Euan Whittaker at the top of Overhang Wall, Traprain Law

We jumped into the Land Rover and headed to Traprain Law. When we arrived, we found that the right-of-way through the field to the crags seemed to have been ploughed over but there were no signs. Not wanting to aggravate a potential access issue, we jumped back in the 4x4 and parked round at the quarry on the North side of The Law. After some difficulty finding the correct path, we were finally at the foot of the crag gearing up. Nic Crawshaw met us there and it was decided that Euan would climb with me, while Nic would oversee David and Chris climbing together. I set my sights on Left Edge S** - I figured I might as well get the Severe climb out of the way for the day. The rock was drier than I was expecting and the going was good until I reached the prominent crack; that was dripping wet. Despite this, the climbing was actually quite nice. I placed plenty of decent wires and found a huge block at the top for the belay but I wanted an additional anchor, as it was an assessment after all! After some hunting around, I found a good cam placement high up the slope and then brought Euan up. After inspecting my belay and giving me some feedback, we headed back down and I started up Deception VD. To my surprise it was a very enjoyable climb, if a little damp. I continued up to the higher grassy rocks and used a single huge block for the belay. Euan came up soon after and told me that he had left a couple of pieces of gear in on the climb and asked me to abseil down and get them. I quickly rigged a personal abseil using the big block (and a secondary block) and headed down to get the gear. I stopped at each of the runners and used body wraps for safety. I was soon on the ground and sorting out my rack.

Chris running his bottom-rope with David and Nic as his clients, Overhang Wall, Traprain Law

Euan then dismantled my rig and joined my at the bottom of the crag again. Next, he asked my to rig a top-rope on Wheech's Overhang VS 5a*. I grabbed my rigging rope and headed up and around the right side of the crag. I found a huge block and a decent flake to use as anchors and I had soon rigged the semi-static line to these. Next was the dynamic rope which was made a little tricky by the awkward stance on the complex and steep terrain. Nevertheless I was soon ready to go and so was Euan, who was now being treated as my client. He tried to get up and over the overhang but the rock was soaking so he detoured around the side to get above the overhang. Then he became disgruntled, upset with me and refused to to lowered down (acting of course!) - so I quickly set up a y-hang and lowered down to rescue him. I made a slight error here and ended up too far below Euan - much to his delight; as soon as I had him safely attached, he jumped up in the air and crashed into me to demonstrate my error! Nevertheless, when we were back on the ground again, Euan said that it was still perfectly safe and that he just did that to demonstrate what could happen and to remind me not to do it again! Fair enough!

Chris running his bottom-rope with David and Nic as his clients, Overhang Wall, Traprain Law

I was then told to relax and pack up, as that was me finished for the day - I breathed a sigh of relief. Chris had been busy running a bottom-rope with David as his client and they were now finished too. As we headed back along the A1, I reflected on the first day. I was really happy with how things had gone so far and it certainly gave me confidence going into the second day of assessment tomorrow. Also, a great day climbing and the weather was rather fine indeed.