Winter Courses

Winter is on its way so now is the time to start thinking about what you are going to do with yours.

We don't do set dates for courses so we can work around you. So check out the website or get in touch to talk about how we can help you acheive you goals this winter.

We offer:

Guided Winter Climbing
Instruction in Winter Climbing
Winter Mountaineering
Guided Winter Walks
Winter Skills

All courses are designed around what your aims and objectives are.

When will winter come?

The weather has not been very kind over the last few weeks. I have kept myself busy in the wall with the usual groups, route setting and leading courses. On the occasions that the weather has been ok for a morning or so I have stolen the odd cheaky solo at the local haunts in an attempt to stay sane. I have many been training in the wall or gym to stay fit and get strong for the winter when it makes an appearence. Hopefully soon.

Learning to Lead

David at the top of Fishhead arete

I've been working with David and Sandra over the past 2 days, and have been learning to lead. Yeasterday we started at the wall, looking at building belays and organising stances etc. Before moving outside to Rosyth Quarry. There we spent time placing runners, before they both took to the sharp end and led a couple of wet routes each.

Today the weather was much better. We went to the Hawkcraig to build on the skills learnt yesyerday and get a few more leads under their belt. They both did excellent. David led his first Severe and Sandra her first VDiff. A good couple of days despite the weather on the first day.

Exped

Today I returned from a very wet overnight exped with the Moray House crew. We had a very wet and windy experience on A' Chailleach in the Monadh Liath, and an even wetter and windier night's camp. Today we walked back to Kingussie in dry and sunny conditions which was a pleasent change from the previous day. A good exped despite the weather.

River Crossing

After looking at the weather forecast we opted for a low level day. In the morning the group split into pairs and made a short nav circuit around the low hills behind Kingussie. They then swapped circuits and went to find the points in a set time limit, putting the skills leant over the 5 previous days. In the afternoon we had a look at river crossing. This is still an important skill and judgement process to learn if you take to the hills in Scotland. After a short video we headed down to the Calder in Newtonmore to put some of the skills to the test. Folks did really well, managing themselves across some strong shoots of water. A good producive day.

Cairngorm

I have been walking along side Simon Beams from Moray House Uni. on there summer hillwalking course. Yesterday we had an early start from Edinburgh and walked up Meall a Bhuachaille. The course has a strong environmental theme, so this has also played an important role over the last few days. Time has been spent identifying and discussing various plants etc. as well as human impact. This was looked at in detail today as we headed up Cairngorm from the Ciste carpark. So far we have been lucky with the weather, but things are due to get worse.

CWA Training

Over the weekend I have been working with Nic on a Climbing Wall Award Training. We had a large group of 12, which threw up a lot of interesting disscusions. As well as the EICA, we also risited the wall at Meadow Bank for a bit of retro action. Over all the weekend was excellent, with the candidates commenting that they had loads to take away.