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.

EMFF 2012 - Sunday Evening

THE FILMS

EYE OF THE STORM

A reflective ski film with some amazing footage of heli-drops in the mountains. Very nice shot and put together.

DAVE

A lovely short film by Lukasz Warzecha that looks at Dave MacLeod and his attitude to climbing and hard projects. The film features Dave climbing in Averstal (AKA: Magic Wood), Switzerland and repeating New Base Line F8b+**. One of the best short films so far.

COLD
A brilliant film by Cory Richards that documents his suffering in the bitterly cold winter with fellow mountaineers Simone Moro and Denis Urubko as they successfully climb Gasherbrum II. Some stunning footage and a lucky escape from a devastating avalanche on their descent.

MY OWN HANDS
A short artistic-style film about climbing trees. Not really my thing but very nicely put together.

THE LECTURE

ALAN HINKES - SURVIVING THE DEATH ZONE

Alan was a very interesting and funny chap. He had great videos and pictures from his ascents of all the 8000m peaks (although he didn't touch on the dispute about his summit of Cho Oyu). It's fair to say that Alan is certainly a true Yorkshireman - a very interesting guy.

A great end to EMFF 2012 and what a weekend it's been. Herbie certainly enjoyed it and said it was well worth the trip over from the Isle of Man. Many thanks to Stevie Christie and the rest of the volunteers for organising and running a great weekend - roll on next year!

EMFF 2012 - Sunday Afternoon

THE FILMS

WHY

This beautifully-shot film by Corey Rich was one of my favourite short films that I have seen this year. It features climber Alex Honnold, kayaker Dane Jackson and biker Rebecca Rusch talking about why they continue to push the boundaries and do what they love the most. A brilliant short film.

DOUGIE DOWN THE PET

This film follows the journey of a father taking his 4-year-old son on a canoe trip down the Petawawa river in Canada. Dougie is certainly the star of the show and the film is full of cute and funny moments - certainly a feel-good film.

IN SEARCH OF SNOW - HELEN RENNIE'S STORY
This rather short film tells the brief story of Helen Rennie's quest to ski on snow for 25 consecutive months. A truly amazing achievement... if not a tat mental!

OF WET AND WILDNESS
Another chance to see this fine artistic piece from Paul Diffley.

FEEL THE HILL
The longest film of the day followed a group of French long boarders and their pursuit of bigger, faster hills and pushing the limits of what you can do with a skateboard. A very nice piece indeed. 

THE LECTURE

SIMON WILLIS - THE ACCIDENTAL SEA KAYAKER

I didn't know much about Simon Willis but I had read that he was the author of the Scottish Sea Kayak Trail guidebook so I was quite interested to hear about his tails from the Western Isles. Emily and I have visited many of the Western Isles of Scotland but we still have many to explore and I've always fancied a sea kayaking trip around some of them. Unfortunately, Simon's main focus of his lecture was talking about how he and Gordon Brown had made their instructional sea kayaking films. I felt that this lasted a little too long and may not have suited the audience that was present. However, he finished with some amazing tales, pictures and footage of a trip he made to St. Kilda a few years ago that was very inspiring - the highlight for me.

EMFF 2012 - Saturday Evening

THE FILMS

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS

A nice short film about mountain biking featuring the world cup from Fort William. Some great footage  of the downhill and good interviews with various pro riders.

SMITTEN

Believe it or not, this film follows Australian climber/BASE-jumper Lucky Chance (yes, that is his real name!) and some of his crazy stunts. The film is very very funny and Lucky comes across as a real character - especially when he talks about his narrow escape on a jump where his canopy fails to open! A must see.

DARK SIDE OF THE LENS
A very artistic short film featuring surf photographer Mickey Smith and what he puts himself through to get the perfect shot. Not much surfing in this one, but a very nice poetic short film by Mickey.

SKETCHY ANDY
I had seen this excellent short film about the 'Slacklife' of Andy Lewis once before but I was really looking forward to seeing it again. Andy has, almost singlehandedly, pushed the development of slack lining and trick lining. Andy is an amazing character and this film really captures his personality. The film was just as enjoyable as the first time I saw it and I'd encourage everyone to check it out - even if you're not into BASE-jumping or slack lining, you can't help but appreciate Andy's talents... and his craziness! Randomly I remember seeing Andy performing with Madonna at the Superbowl 2012 halftime show - what a guy!

ALL I CAN
Emily and I had already seen this short skiing film but we didn't mind watching it again, as it is very different from any other skiing films we've seen. It focuses on uban skiing tricks and is beautifully shot and edited. A must see. 

THE LECTURE

LEO HOLDING - AUTANA - THE YOPO WALL

This is what I had been looking forward to the most in the EMFF line-up. Leo is a climber who I have been following for a number of years now and I have been extremely inspired by his adventures and achievements. Leo started off his talk by talking about his early like in The Lakes and his early climbing achievements on the Hold Man of Hoy and El Capitan amongst many other things! He then talked a bit about his climbing accident in Patagonia and his recovery. Leo then talked briefly about his expedition to Everest and The Asgard Project before moving on to the main event: Cerro Autana. Recently, Leo had led an expedition to Venezuela to climb the East Face of Cerro Autana (along with Stanley Leary, Jason Pickles and Alastair Lee). He told some amazing tales of the tribes, the jungle, the journey, the climb, and the logistics involved in such an expedition. It was quite fascinating to hear about all the logistics involved in adventure film-making and all the political obstacles that had to be overcome to make such a trip possible. Can't wait for the full film!

EMFF 2012 - Saturday Afternoon

THE FILMS

PUSH IT

A film by Jen Randall about female climbers pushing their limits. This film had a couple of interviews with elite female climbers, including Natalie Berry, talking about their climbing projects and achievements. However, the film's main focus seemed to tell the story of Jen's attempt, and success, to climb El Capitan with her friend. There were some amusing moments in their practice attempts, particularly involving hauling. I was hoping for more of an insight into the top female climbers, but this seemed to be the secondary point of the film. Nevertheless, very well done to Jen for putting together a great short film... and for climbing El Cap!

BONGO BAR

This short film documented a unique and privileged opportunity to a couple of competition winners run by Gore. Two lucky women travelled to Norway to climb a new route on a (mini) big-wall with Dave MacLeod. A very well put together short film by Paul Diffley and what an amazing prize!

ICE REVOLUTION
I've been lucky enough to see this excellent short film about Tim Emmett and Will Gadd's quest to climb the overhanging ice of Helmcken Falls once before. Even if you're not that into ice climbing, you can't help but be touched by the enthusiasm and entertainment value provided by Tim Emmett - what a guy!

THE LECTURE

ZOE HART - THE ALPINE PRINCESS

I must be honest here and admit that I hadn't heard of Zoe before, but I had Googled her before the show and was quite looking forward to hearing what she had to say. She didn't disappoint and told her story about how she became a guide in the Alps. She had some good video clips of some of the situations and epics that she and her husband had been involved in. It certainly looked like she is living the dream, guiding from Chamonix and getting to grips with motherhood.

EMFF 2012 - Saturday Morning

THE FILMS

THE LONG HOPE

I have seen this epic film once before in Sheffield, and I couldn't pass up the chance to see it again. Another great film made by Paul Diffley that tells the story of Dave MacLeod's quest to free the Longhope Route. The film portrays the great history of the huge adventure in Hoy that was first climbed in 1970 by Ed Drummond and Oliver Hill. There are also interviews with Dave Turnbull & John Arran who talk about the route, the history and their first free-ascent in 1997. Dave's goal was to free the headwall crack that Turnbull and Arran avoided - he thought a more direct line was possible. The film and the story is fantastic and features some amazing climbing by Dave and Andy Turner to complete the climb in only 10 hours! There is also a very emotional journey that sees Ed Drummond return to St. John's Head to the route. Well worth the DVD purchase, I would say.

BEN

I have had the pleasure of seeing this short film online prior to this screening. A lovely piece by Kate Owen that looks at a few individuals who make use of Ben Nevis and Glen Nevis everyday. It features a local farmer, fell-runner, photographer and climbers Dave MacLeod and Kevin Shields.

WHITE SILK ROAD
This film followed a group of Australian snowboarders to the slightly unusual ski destination of Afghanistan. I found the film, journey and story very enjoyable and quite different to many of the other snowboarding/skiing films I have seen over the years. There was a huge contrast between the war-torn city and the poor villagers who live in the snowy mountains. Some great footage of first descents and of the group teaching the locals to snowboard and build jumps.