Huw Gilbert Mountaineering

Breaking Free

2012-01-27T17:15:00.000Z

The hordes on the other side of the valley mustn't have known what they were missing. Colonel Phil and myself had liberated ourselves from the shackles of groomed piste and ski lift. Skinning up through forest and open hillside a narrow ridge lead to the summit of the Stuckkogel (1888m). The magnificent vista being all the better for being earned by a thousand metres of climb. With skins removed we shot down through the deep snow before making the short re-ascent to the Hochetzkogel (1738m). The link back to our starting point at Oberaurach provided a bit of a sting with the crossing of the steep and thickly wooded ravine that runs from between the two peaks. I knew the ground was getting steep when I found myself pulling on the upper branches of trees for support. Thankfully the sweat and tears were short lived and the glide down through the snow covered alpine pastures brought an end to a fantastic finale to our weeks skiing.

Blue Skies above the Piste

2012-01-26T20:20:00.000Z

The last couple have days have seen bright sunshine and we've continued to dive off the piste onto every entertaining run we spot. That great powder is now a bit chopped up and crusty but skiing it must be improving my skills. We've also spent some time searching for buried rucksacks with avalanche probes and transceivers. It's not hard to recognise the benefit of wearing a transceiver when you compare the detection times of either method. Tomorrow is our last day and could perhaps be the highlight of the week. We're donning skins and heading away from the ski area.

Powder and Mist

2012-01-24T20:10:00.000Z

I guess I just didn’t realise what I was missing. Several years worth of cross country racing thinking that alpine skiers were all a bunch of big sissies and only now have I discovered the point of it; powder! The dark clouds might have meant we haven’t been able to see a lot on the mountain over the last couple of days but that wouldn’t appear to be the primary sense that’s required to ski this deep soft snow. Set your balance right, stay relaxed and let the buried skis rail around the turns. Not that I don’t find it hard, any lapse into laziness has sent me cart wheeling away into a drift. We’ve been quite committed in hunting the powder, never far from the ski area but seeking the lines between the runs and cutting corners through the trees whenever we could. As well as blasting down the slopes we had to don skins and be shown a little bit of climbing up. Much more familiar stuff for me but hopefully this’ll build to getting us into some wilder places later in the week.

Skiing in Austria

2012-01-22T20:12:00.000Z

Just through being in the right place at the right time I was offered a place on a ski trip to Austria. Given the current lack of winter in Wales it wasn't much a decision to say yes. I've not skied properly for years, aside from a couple of forays around the Dyfi Forest last winter, so here's a chance to pick up some instruction and refine my home taught technique a little. For our first day on the mountains above Kitzbuhel we stayed largely on the piste slowly easing ourselves into things and trying to rid our bodies of the aches gained over a marathon 28 hours in a minibus. The plan is to move towards some touring later in the week which is what I'm really looking forward to.

UK Mountain First Aid Course

2012-01-18T21:31:00.001Z

So there I was in the pitch black forest struggling to hang onto the screaming Indian with one hand whilst with the other trying to stem the blood flowing from around the arrow sticking out of her back. Nearby an unconscious and bloody body lay awkwardly slumped over an earth bank, a cowboy perhaps? Two more casualties were hidden somewhere in the darkness, the flashing beams of head torches and hurried shouts of rescuers told of how complex a situation this was. I like to think that I’ll never have the misfortune to come across anything quite like this for real but having been put through a number of these challenging scenarios over the last couple of days has hugely increased my confidence in being able to cope with the unexpected. In the UK all those who lead people professionally in the mountains are required to maintain their competency in First Aid by under taking formal training and assessment every few years. For a while now I’ve gone to CRT Medical based in Mid-Wales to achieve this and I can’t praise the quality of their UK Mountain First Aid Course enough. There are so many great aspects to it. Firstly the excellent instruction, which is delivered by Russ the hugely knowledgeable Chief Instructor with the perfect balance of science, real world practicalities and humour. Then there’s the level of enthusiasm and imagination that they apply to the numerous practical sessions. As well as the afore mentioned Indian, the guys had set up a full paraglide wing strung up in the trees and as a finale they have a ‘crash’ car which after mowing down a group of walkers ends up crashed in a ditch. All that said though the best thing about the two days staying in the centre they use near Staylittle was the food. Karen seems to run around tirelessly managing all of the behind the scenes activity no small part of which is the cooking. Three cooked meals a day with at least two cake breaks between meals, I’ll be well on my way to first aid certificate renewal before I’m hungry again.

Bog, Blood and Brilliant Barmouth Grit

2012-01-15T23:35:00.001Z

Bold would be another 'B' I'd add to the title of this post if I hadn't already overused that particular letter. Bold shouldn't be the overriding description of the day but Dan's confident approach is certainly what got us underway at the fantastic gritstone crag of Upper Craig y Merched today. The Meirionnydd climbing guidebook is a great piece of work, but it's always worth bearing in mind that until publication many of the routes listed probably hadn't received a second ascent, some I'm sure still haven't. It's also prudent to consider that sixteen years after their inception the lines mightn't still have the in-situ peg or tape runners mentioned in the text. With this in mind and with the additional factor that until the sun swung round onto this remote south west facing crag it was flippin freezing (a couple of rare frosts by the way) I quietly suggested that an abseil inspection mightn't be considered too underhand. Dan's clearly made of stronger moral fibre however and wasted little time in starting up Stockholm Express (HVS,5a). Holding the ropes I watched on in no little awe as Dan coolly crept his way up this steep and sustained line. I say holding the ropes but that's not strictly true, the first piece of gear was at nigh on half height. The point came when I figured that spotting had become a bit useless and concentrated on moving the sharper rocks from the landing instead. Following the line only served to increase my respect for Dan's efforts and raised the level of apprehension I was feeling about it being my turn next. Tieing onto the front of the rope usually sharpens things a little and in only a few moves along the rising fault line of Burnt Umber (HVS,5b) I was starting the feel a whole lot better about things. The crux pull over the terminating roof cost me a bit of skin but was certainly a fair trade for that quality of climbing. Attuned to the rock with the sun on our backs Dan put up another steady ascent on Chandrapur (HVS,5b) and all I had to do was enjoy the moves as I followed.

Glorious (If that's what you're after)

2012-01-12T23:52:00.002Z

There's been a unfamiliar glowing orb hanging in the sky for much of the day. Added to that the wind that seems to have been blowing relentlessly for around a month has dropped to a mild breeze. The weekend weather looks good too, good for rock climbing and walking and all those other non-winter activities. Let's celebrate what we've got though.

This Seasons Scottish Winter Skills, Winter Mountaineering and Winter Climbing Courses.

2012-01-09T23:52:00.000Z

Winter seems a fragile thing throughout the whole of the British Isles at present but keep the faith and I'm sure things'll pick up soon. If that sounds like over optimistic sales speak then I'm afraid to say that it is. I've just posted details on my website of some Scottish Winter Skills, Winter Mountaineering and Winter Climbing Courses that I'm looking to run later in the season. They are all five day courses and in keeping flexible can be run in whichever location is best at the time. Dates are 7th-11th Feb, 27th Feb-2nd Mar and 19th-23rd Mar. In line with my usual tailor made approach the later two dates are still very much open in terms of content, they could become just what anyone fancies. The course running 7th-11th Feb is confirmed as being Winter Climbing in any of its wondrous forms at around grade iii/iv. There's currently a space left on this going at the bargain rate of £375. Oh, and don't worry about a lack of good snow and ice, we'll have stella conditions by then!

Avoiding Trouble

2012-01-07T18:56:00.002Z

Spent most of this week working away from the mountains which wasn't so much of a bind given the trend of continued stormy weather. Today wasn't so bad though on the slopes above Bwlch Oerddrws where I was working for Tyn y Berth on an ML Summer training course. The topic of the day was emergency rope work, the type of skills that you'd use to get your group out of trouble rather than anything that you'd deliberately look to use. My little team of Jamie, Jenny, Giles and Greg were quick to pick up the skills and spent plenty of time putting them into practice.

The Old Year Washes Away

2012-01-01T21:17:00.000Z

As the pictures show the ending to 2011 was no better than the whole of the last month has been. My mates John and Clare have been in North Wales for a few days and not being bothered by a spot of rough weather we headed up onto Glyder Fach yesterday to climb the fabulous scramble of the Dolmen Ridge (3). John and Clare both have important and responsible jobs in the real world and so saw the day as a opportunity to practice some under used skills. This all suited me rather well as all I had to do was point the way and concentrate on keeping the water out. Not being a place to linger we didn't stay long on the summit but hurried back home to dry out and get on with the traditional New Year's Eve activities. Blwyddyn Newydd Dda!

An Easy Outing

2011-12-30T21:06:00.001Z

After two days of being blown around in the mountains an easy outing was today's request so James and myself had an enjoyable amble around Cwm Idwal. This gave me plenty of opportunity to ramble on about the rich history of climbing in the cwm, a place that has certainly played it's part in the development of both rock and ice climbing on a national level. Stood by the llyn on a damp grey day I'm afraid it's hard to see further history in either discipline being written any time soon.

Wild Day on Snowdon

2011-12-29T20:03:00.000Z

Heavy over night rain fell as snow over the highest peaks. Combined with the gale that's still blowing over the uplands it all added up to a pretty wild ascent of Snowdon for Andrew, Heather and myself. By coming up the Miners Track we kept sheltered from the worst of the westerlies and only had to expose ourselves for the final pull up from the finger stone. The roar of the wind grew louder as we neared the end of the zigzags and suitably attired we poked our heads over the ridge and made a dash for the summit. The thawing snow made for a slippery descent but I suppose this added to a memorable day out on the hill for my two companions.

Windy on Moel Siabod

2011-12-28T19:31:00.001Z

I met a bloke on Moel Siabod today who told me 'I'm glad of this wind; keeps the rain away'. Whether my companions for the day, James and Andrew agreed I'm not so sure. They're in Snowdonia for a few days to learn to become more self-sufficient mountaineers and have had suitably testing conditions today. We ducked out of the worst of the gale by approaching beneath the Eastern flanks of the mountain. Once over the summit we got the full experience, the gusts setting their timing to hit every time you tried to step over or around the boulders. For Andrew this was his first mountain, there'll be more of the same tomorrow if the boys are up for it.

Nadolig Llawen

2011-12-25T00:16:00.000Z

Well there's no white Christmas this year and the weather looks set to be rubbish for the next few days. That's no bad thing though, I can stay in and enjoy myself. Nadolig Llawen pawb!

Busy in Scotland as the Temperature Rises

2011-12-21T21:49:00.000Z

I'm on my way back home now following five days work in Scotland. I reckon that we might have left at just the right time as the thaw has sent the snow line shooting up the hill with cascades of water coming back down. My little team of Hannah, Phil, Sam and Tom made the most of the good conditions while they lasted. In amongst learning about mountain hazards, avalanche awareness, winter navigation and the building of emergency shelters we climbed five Munros and spent a night out in the Grey Corries bothy. Having chosen do to this over the longest night of the year we thought we'd better while away a couple of hours of darkness on the hill. A great week of winter mountaineering but it looks like it's a warm Wales we're heading back to.

Spending the week on Scotland's West Coast

2011-12-18T20:33:00.001Z

Based in Glencoe this week working on an Introduction to Winter Mountaineering Course. The weather threatened to spoil the fun this morning; clear blue skies! That's surely not winter mountaineering. By the time we arrived on the summit of Carn Mor Dearg on the way to Ben Nevis via CMD arete normal conditions had thankfully returned. Marvellous!

A Little Bleak at the Moment

2011-12-14T17:57:00.000Z

Wintry weather is how the television and radio forecasters have described the week so far. Snow, sleet or hail has fallen most days but none of it seems eager to stick around. I've not been out at all, spending time chasing jobs that have that self imposed deadline of Christmas. Jo's been in the forest just about every day and can confirm that it's been cold, horrible damp cold though and not the sort that'll freeze water. I'm heading up to Scotland tomorrow to work on a week long Introduction to Winter Mountaineering Course. There's more snowfall predicted in Wales at the end of the week, I might be wrong but I doubt that I'm going to miss much.

Cold Cragging at Porth Clais

2011-12-09T22:43:00.000Z

The reality that Welsh rock climbing maybe isn't a year round pursuit has started to dawn on Tom and myself. It was freezing at Craig Caerfai this morning. With half the crag dripping wet and a gale whipping across the rest of it we took just one look before heading back to the car. Our plan made the evening before had been sound, it's just that it all hinged on the weather forecast being absolutely spot on. A little more West than North West in the wind direction and we were scuppered. Pembrokeshire is a long way to travel for nothing so careful pawing over the map provided a second option, the small sandstone cliff of Porth Clais. Although optimism was on the wain the wind was at our backs on the short walk in hinting that the rock itself might be sheltered. Aside from cold hands our first climb up Red Wall (Sev,4a) all went pretty well encouraging us to get straight on with it's equally fine companion, Red Wall Right Hand (HS,4b). A significantly sized swell was rising and falling beneath the Grey Coloured Slab where we went next. This didn't affect our abseil approach to the block come island at the base of the slab. Regaining the mainland however required no small amount of careful timing. With a weak winter sun occasionally breaking through the climbing on Harbour Crack (V Diff) and Porth Clais Crack (HS,4b) was all very enjoyable but by the time we started up Glaze Crack (HS,4b) the temperature had dipped again. Packing up at the top of the crag wearing all the layers we'd brought it was satisfying to have snatched another days cragging. As we approach mid-winter the opportunities will surely become more fleeting.

Brief Winter Window is Closing

2011-12-07T12:36:00.000Z

Wasn't out on the hill yesterday but understand that there was still plenty of snow laying over the peaks of Northern Snowdonia. I spent the day in South Wales where I had an appointment to keep in the evening. It provided an opportunity to climb with Cled and although the weather didn't allow us to get outside we spent a good few hours pulling on the holds of Boulders Climbing Wall in Cardiff. As expected this brief window of winter weather is closing and the photo taken this morning shows how the snow has all but gone from Cader Idris. The same can also be said for Aran Fawddwy. The wind is howling at the moment and looks set to be even stronger tomorrow. Time to baton down again and wait for the next wintery spell.

Cautiously Off the Mark

2011-12-05T16:02:00.002Z

I had an idea that the weather forecast was building up to allow some of the first climbing of the winter but wasn’t completely confident as I left the house this morning. There was certainly no prospect of any significant ice build up or even for any of the turf to be frozen, leaving Cwm Glas’ Clogwyn y Person Arete (III,4) as one of the few places to try my luck. A covering of snow and a touch of rime is all that’s required to make the line worthwhile. Most importantly the climb doesn’t require pulling on turf in anyway, clean cracks and spikes providing plenty of options for progress. A popular summer scramble, it makes a great lower grade mixed route. The difficult sections are mostly short but the climbing provides real interest. The level of exposure seems to be linked in some way with the depth and quality of the hooks available to pull on. I stopped to put my crampons on well before reaching the base of the arête. Freezing rain had coated the exposed rocks and the shallow re-frozen snow had started to firm up in isolated patches. The route was in as good a state as I’d hoped it would be; dust down a foothold, reach up for a hook then repeat a hundred times. I can’t see that conditions will get truly good for a while but it’s nice to be off the mark. I’m busy tomorrow (Rock Climbing?!) but am available for guiding on Wednesday if anyone wants to check things out for themselves.

Change in the Air

2011-12-03T17:10:00.000Z

The first snows of the winter have fallen over Cader Idris, giving a white covering to the top of the mountain on Friday morning. It didn't last long though having melted away already. I went to the BMC Cymru AGM in Llanberis on Friday evening and had a loose plan with Tom to get something done during the day. It was too cold to climb really so taking advantage of the fact that we had two cars we choose to take in some fresh air along the traverse of the Nantlle Ridge. It turned out to be a good call with cloud sitting over most of the other Snowdonia hills. Strangely there didn't seem too much snow in sight towards the north of the park but I suspect that a dusting would have been laying hidden above the cloud base. We had a good walk over the ridge's narrow crest with short sections of scrambling adding to the interest. With the odd sleety squall blowing in off the sea it felt a lot colder than it has for a while. It still feels cold now so maybe some more lasting winter weather isn't far away. That said, a local I met at the burger van in the early hours of the morning told me it was mild, must have had a thicker beer jacket than me.

Thoughts Turning to Winter

2011-12-01T19:44:00.000Z

Although I'm enjoying the sunny rock climbing days that seem to keep coming it is now December and maybe time to at least think about preparing for the approaching winter. Nick and myself dusted off our axes and crampons to spend a couple of hours this afternoon attempting to re-familiarise ourselves with their usage at a nearby dry tooling spot. It all felt a bit alien at first but didn't take long for confidence and technique to start coming back.

Out of the Wind at Carreg y Barcud

2011-11-28T07:03:00.000Z

The start of the weekend saw some terrible weather, enough to sink the 81 metre cargo ship 'Swanland' off the coast of the Lleyn Peninsular. Amazingly Sunday provided hope of climbing though. Despite the tightly packed isobars indicating gales across most of the UK Tom and myself fancied that with careful consideration of the wind direction one or two leeward crags might provide feasable options. The South facing sea cliffs of North Pembrokshire looked promising. I'd not climbed here much at all so welcomed Tom's suggestion of Carreg y Barcud. It's an incredible piece of rock. The main wall must be 80 metres across and is one long uniteruppted slice of limestone, which gives the impression that a former headland has been scythed off with one sweep of a giant blade. We got under way with Double Corner (Sev,4a), it's three corners (contary to the route name) and no less than four mantle shelf moves providing as harder a 'severe' as you're likely to find. Tom had given a little warning about the grading in these parts so it wasn't much of a surprise to find our next route First Corner Direct (VS,4c) to be a little easier. I liked this pitch, little edges on a smooth steepening wall giving the type of experience that you expect when you first set eyes on the crag. Left Edge (V Diff) was as the name suggested but there are some hard unprotected moves to reach that edge. Our last climb of the day was Yellow Edge (HS,4b), a bit of sandbag of a route I thought. Tom made a good job of following though, straightening up the line to give some stiff and near the finish very exposed climbing. Let's end the post on quality though, the rave route of the day being Metamorphosis (HS,4b). A superb set of thin twin cracks rising the full 20 metres of this part of the wall. Pulling up towards the finish you're on the most positive of holds revelling in the enjoyment of being high on this great sweep of rock.

Riding the Giant

2011-11-23T21:10:00.000Z

'Is this in any way enjoyable?' A question I asked myself several times as I peddled, pushed, dragged and carried my bike up Idris the Giant's mountain this morning. I'd ridden the track up from Llanfihangel once before but my memories of it weren't like this. This approach to the 892m top of Pen y Gader is the mountain bikers route and I suppose is a bit of a classic in the sadistic genre of riding mountain summits. I seem to remember having to push less on my previous visit. That was though one dry spring day when the ground was firm. The steep grassy section where you break out onto open hillside offered little for traction despite having fitted my bike with the fattest and knobbliest of tyres. Unless you're really good they'll always be a touch of pushing and carrying to do once past the bwlch that marks the junction with the Pony Path. I'd not factored for the effect of the wind though, a mountain bike slung over a shoulder offers a considerable sail size whilst ironically affording not one bit of shelter. The final rocky climb to the summit provided a stern test of resolve. There's no riding from this point either up or down so hauling the bike is purely symbolic. On a good day there'd now come the reward, 867 metres of reward to be precise. The Dysinni Valley was until only a few centuries ago a floor of tidal marshes and Llanfihangel would have sat just above that water line. Today though I had to battle for much of the descent. High on the mountain the wind threatened to blow the wheels from under me as wet disk brakes wailed like banshees. A couple of steeper and looser sections of path I chose to walk, unable to chicken run around them with the limited visibility of thick mist. Even once back on the wide gravel farm track I still didn't really roll, a constant cadence required to cut through the wind. Did I enjoy it? Well; from sat here by the fireside, yeh it was great.

North Pembrokeshire Perfection

2011-11-21T10:34:00.002Z

Craig Coetan, that fabulous sweep of gabbro in North Pembrokeshire, is I think one of my favourite places let alone favourite crags. I'd been invited down there by Tom and a couple of his Mid-Wales climbing buddies Dave and Dan. Although I was a little sceptical of the weather forecast the company promised to be good and with the climbing being of such quality the long trip was certainly worth the gamble. The roads were wet when we arrived in St Davids but the glowing enthusiasm with which the Mid-Wales team applied to visiting Pebbles coffee shop was enough to part the clouds and after a round of cakes things were looking decidedly up. Tom and myself started off on Silmaril (Sev,4a), a route I thought I'd done before but is actually a different climb altogether. The climbing was great, the crux being a delicate and memorable traverse to find escape onto the upper rocks. It was a curious thing though that where the aspect of the face changed by just a few degrees the rock changed from damp to dry, just enough variation to catch the breeze I suppose. Dave and Dan over on Surprise Slabs (Sev,4a) found themselves on the 'wrong' aspect and so scuttled across to join our line. The Lower Tier is the most seaward part of the cliff, less sheltered from the wind and therefore aside from a little seepage in corners and cracks looked dry and inviting glowing as it now was in the weak November sunshine. It's also home to the truly tremendous Act of God (VS,4c). Reach the cave belay via a rising traverse starting from the base of Wall Climb (V Diff) would be my recommendation. Besides from avoiding any greasiness in the normal starting groove the line seems to fit well with the nature of the climb and in some way serves to prepare you for what I think can be described without too much exaggeration as an 'epic' second pitch. Grasping those diagonal sloping holds on the pull out of the cave with boot heels hanging high above the sea is a position that'll make the leader near the top of his grade draw breath and gulp whilst those fortunate enough to be cruising won't be able to conceal a beaming grin. I'd like to think that my reaction fell somewhere between the two. Once courage is summoned the route is over all too soon. This is however a short lived disappointment, finishing as it does on the halfway terrace you're guaranteed another climb just to get out of the zawn. Tom and myself chose well with Fuzzy Peg (Sev,4a) more immaculate coarse rock amongst the grandest of settings with the sea now booming below, perfect!

A Voice of Reason

2011-11-15T21:57:00.000Z

It’s funny how things turn out. I’d resigned myself to missing out on yet another day of great autumn climbing weather and turned my attention to an important task that I’d long been putting off, that of replying to the Chair of BMC Cymru, Tom Hutton, who’s sounding out the thoughts on just what service the BMC do and could provide throughout the Principality. In particular, looking at topics that affect that whacking great stretch of upland in the middle that’s often overlooked. As it happened Tom wasn’t only looking for views on this subject but was also looking for someone to climb with today. The forecast didn’t disappoint and we spent most of the day climbing in shirt sleeves up on sunny Clogwyn yr Oen. Pinky (VS,4c) is a fabulous route, two contrasting pitches on perfect rough Moelwynion rock. We got a little confused on our next route, Crossover (HS,4b), finishing up Orange Outang (HS,4b) once we’d solved the riddle (Hint: Follow the text and accept that the lines drawn on the photo in the Meirionnydd guide are a little misleading). It rapidly got pretty cold once the sun dipped behind Moelwyn Bach but I was still keen for another climb. Tom humoured me by uncoiling the rope at the base of Flake Wall (HVS,5a) in fading light and then quietly let me discover for myself just what a difference sun on the rock had made. Once satisfied that I’d absorbed that lesson the BMC man, in the politest of ways, suggested that conditions mightn’t be correct to fully savour the ascent. This masterful comment, the delivery of which was honed to perfection by the chairing of debates on such hot topics as ‘retro-bolting’ and ‘wind-farms’, surely spared me from epic destiny. Allowing the option of climbing back down, losing little face, gear, skin and anything else that could have been left behind in plunging down that cold exposed wall. As a foot note Tom is chairing a meeting of any interested Mid-Wales based climbers and hillwalkers at the Druid Inn, Goginan at 8.00pm on 30th Nov.

Afternoon Sun at Tanygrisiau

2011-11-14T14:24:00.000Z

I do seem to be struggling to bring any plans of climbing to fruition at present. Yesterday's grand day out in the sunshine was reduced to a couple of hours of bouldering above Tanygrisiau. I was going out with Nick but a big rescue on Cader meant that he was still on the mountain at day break having been involved in the search all night. Tragically they found a body in the end, a pretty rare conclusion to a search around these parts but a big effort from the guys involved none the less.

Wales Rally GB visits the Dyfi Forest

2011-11-11T18:09:00.000Z

Saw a bit of the Wales Rally GB today on the Dyfi West Stage. I don't know a whole lot about motor sport but it was all pretty cool having a world class sporting event pass your doorstep. Watching the cars blast round those tracks that I'm so familiar with on my bike was certainly an unusual experience. I've never seen the forest that busy before either. It's just a thought, but I don't suppose that the burger van man would consider staying up at Tanc Dwr on a permanent basis?

Telling Tales

2011-11-09T21:30:00.000Z

There are many things that I find quite daunting but attempting to hold the concentration of a large group of school children is certainly high on that list. I guess that I must manage alright though as I was once again asked back to Ellesmere College to run a days session on Team Work with some of their Lower School pupils. Stick to what you know and be well prepared is my coping strategy but Monday's day on the hill had affected the latter. I needn't have worried though as once at the school and all set up the day went smoothly. The teachers do a great job of running the team tasks that I bring along, all on a mountaineering or exploration theme. The complexities of them are perhaps often lost on the students but they seem happy enough just dressing up in balaclavas and scratchy woollen jumpers. The tasks are broken up by my enthusiastic but rambling story telling, encouraging the youngsters to draw lessons from the rich history of human endeavour in wild places. The story of Shackleton and the 1914-17 Trans-Antarctic Expedition is a favourite, unprecedented tenacity, selfless commitment and focus on their objective. We also reinacted the tale of Doug Scott's crawl down the Ogre, another excuse for the students to dig into the dressing up box. As would always seem to be the case, when things go wrong they really go wrong. I'd like to think that the guys and girls heard at least some of the message of how in pulling together great adversity can be overcome.

Scrambling into the Mist on Tryfan's East Face

2011-11-08T19:34:00.002Z

I've fallen a bit behind with posting. An evening phone call from Rob on Sunday impacted on my carefully scheduled (aka leave everything to the last minute) plan. That said it was a welcome call, an offer of a day in the mountains is always a good thing. Events weren't perhaps so welcome for Rob though who was laid low with illness. My partners for the day were Brian and Robin, both attending one of Rob's popular three day Advanced Scrambling; Learn to Lead courses. My brief was to get them into the swing of things by showing them the way on some grade 3 ground. With so many great routes to select from in Snowdonia our choice narrowed down to Nor Nor Buttress Variant (3). This decision was chiefly based on the fact that the East Face of Tryfan would be one of the few places where we could make the most of the bright sunshine on that otherwise cold and frosty Monday morning. The sun warmed us nicely as we made our way up Heather Terrace but all to quickly blurred behind a bank of ever thickening cloud as we started up the routes initial steep pitches. The lads were enjoying themselves none the less and cold fingers did little to dampen the hilarity of the backwards facing heave over the sloping chockstone or the rucksacless squeeze through the escape cleft. Once above the difficult ground we followed the North Ridge, now tightly enveloped in thick clag, over the summit and on down to Cwm Tryfan. Once back home my second days work began, but more of that later. For those worried about Rob, well I think he's OK now.

The Passing of Time

2011-11-05T20:43:00.000Z

Not done much of interest this week. Jo's racked up a fair few miles on her bike in the forest but the furthest I've stretched my legs is walking with Tomos and Martha. We all went up to Cwmorthin this afternoon and spent a pleasant few hours ambling amongst the relics of this now quiet little valley. Once it was a place of world significance to the slate industry where hundreds of men fought for their meagre living beneath the mountainside.

Photo Diary of Perthshire OMM 2011

2011-11-01T10:32:00.001Z

Here's a kind of photographic journey around the 'D Class' of this year's OMM. It was nigh on still dark when Cled and myself headed out onto a wet and windy Perthshire hillside. Day One didn't offer much in the way of views but we did see a lot of Deer and a handful of Hares that are slowly changing into their winter coats. The camera does a pretty good job of illustrating just how small the inside of our tent really is. The weird looking photo is an image that I couldn't really capture. The colourful glowing of light from inside hundreds of tightly packed race tents is always a magical sight to behold. The shot of the overnight camp in the morning is taken from the same view point. Day Two weather was much improved which allowed us to take in the fabulous Highland scenery and view from a distance the complex ground of heather and peat hag that we'd weaved through on the previous day. Then there's us at the finish line, looking forward to next year.

Perthshire OMM 2011

2011-10-31T21:39:00.000Z

It was in marvellous sunshine that Cled and myself drove up to Perthshire on Friday for this year’s Original Mountain Marathon (OMM). We were the picture of efficient organisation, arriving at the event centre of Cultybraggan Camp as one of the first to register. An afternoon spent pottering about the shops and cafes of the most welcoming host village of Comrie worked well in preventing us from succumbing to the common OMM affliction of packing and re-packing rucksack contents long since carefully selected. I hardly need have bothered with the 0530hrs alarm the following morning though, the sound of driving rain on the tent ensuring that we didn’t over-sleep. We’d been pretty pleased to receive an early start time as with the cut off times being the same for everyone it affords a better chance of getting through them. The trade off for this advantage however was stepping off the bus and making our way up the forested slopes above Loch Earn in the dark. With the weather as it was day light was barely breaking when the air-horn sounded our departure. I’d not intended to run this year’s race, my regular partner Owain couldn’t make it and I’d figured that with my summer away I’d have little time to train. As things turned out Cled was in a similar fix and that’s how we found ourselves trotting through the mist on a Scottish hillside in the rain entered into the shortest of the OMM’s five linear courses, the ‘D Class’ (the event also has three ‘score’ classes). We didn’t travel quickly, but that had been the plan. Never breaking into a run aside from a short downhill on a gravel track early in the day we stuck to our task and reached the overnight campsite by mid-afternoon. The conditions had suited us well, faster moving teams tracked across our path on a regular basis all of which seemed somewhat uncertain about the exact direction of travel. The overnight campsite is always in my opinion a slightly comical place. During the day competitors are absorbed in the act of racing or maybe just battling to get round the course. The campsite is a place where you can take stock and realise just what a ridiculous pursuit Mountain Marathon running is. Cled and myself lay in our light-weight and insufficiently insulated sleeping bags shoulder to shoulder in our tiny tent listening to the jeers that accompanied the frequent and inevitable bursting of Balloon Beds (a light- weight but flawed concept where racers lie on balloons that you’d otherwise make into rabbits or a poodle). Shortly before nightfall the rain intensified revealing the true extent of which a sub kilogram tent fails to keep the water out. This ingress of dampness forced Cled and myself to take the ultimate gamble, unpack our foil survival bags and risk never getting them back in the bag again! On the one night where you don’t want that extra hour in bed you get it, part of the unique charm of this event. Never the less we’d eaten well and slept enough to be ready for the next day. Bright and clear conditions mightn’t have played to our strengths but it was nice to be able to enjoy the fabulous scenery of the Southern Highlands. Although the good visibility meant that you could often see the controls from a distance a few of the legs offered multiple choices of route which is the mark of good course setting. Without overly rushing we comfortably reached the finish well inside the cut-off times having taken a total of just over 12hrs to complete the race’s 26 odd mile course. For the record our place amongst the results was a respectable 62 out of 123 starters. As always the OMM was a tremendously well run event of which this year I’ve been lucky enough to experience from a slightly different perspective. For one difference I carried a camera around, I’ll post a bit of a photo account tomorrow.

Losing Myself above Ffestiniog

2011-10-26T20:17:00.000+01:00

My habitual lack of proper preparation for mountain marathons has always been made up for in some way by accurate navigation. Having studied little more than a road atlas since last February it figured that I'd better not be complacent in this area and so spent the afternoon trying to lose myself in the wild bit of high ground East of the Crimea Pass. The principle summit hereabouts is Moel Penamnen (629m), a fine little mountain with a wide 360^opanorama. I'm pleased to say that in my mission I failed although the weather didn't really help, a glorious autumn afternoon! There's a lot to be learnt going out by yourself but it does mean that there's no one to tell you if you go wrong. Testing yourself on locating small ripples in the contours is a challenge but having something physical to find proves that you've really got there. Sheep folds are my favourite, the smaller, more tumbled down and over grown the better. I start to wind my slow way up to Scotland tomorrow for the weekends Original Mountain Marathon. I'm sure we'll do just fine.

Blowing Hard on Mynydd Moel

2011-10-24T12:18:00.000+01:00

There are few steeper grass slopes than those that rise from the top of the Tal-y-Llyn Pass. With an increasing sense of urgency in getting some climbing into my legs this mornings training run took me up Mynydd Moel (863m), the Eastern most out layer of Cader Idris's three big tops. Once cresting the ridge the puffing of my laboured breathing was matched ten fold by a fierce South Easterly wind, the type you feel is trying the tear the rucksac from your back. Even the run back down was an effort, like driving with the hand brake on. The air damping did at least make for light effort on my knees though.

Seascapes

2011-10-23T21:30:00.000+01:00

I've been busy away from the mountains over the last few days or so and the weather forecast for the near future looks rubbish. With that in mind Jo, Tomos, Martha and myself made the most of a dry afternoon today and went across to the beautiful beach (and also top class bouldering venue) of Cae Du.

Lonely Tarren y Gesail

2011-10-18T15:25:00.001+01:00

Once upon a time (or more specifically this morning) a training run took me onto the maze of tracks that lead up into the forest from the Dyfi bridge at Machynlleth. A lot of them narrow and over hung with branches, very Hansel and Gretel although I don't remember so much mud in that story. Above the tree line the open slopes of Tarren y Gesail (667m) are a lonely place and I was glad that I'd brought some company. My ginger bread man met a happier fate than in the fairy tale though and it wasn't the fox that ate him. After a rapid descent from the summit and another weaving line through the forest I made it back home in time for lunch, definitely a happy ending.

Climbing out of Red Despair

2011-10-15T19:47:00.002+01:00

An Irishman may have darkened the day in Auckland but there's been sunshine back here in the Principality. I spent the day working for my mate Rob Johnson climbing on Milestone Buttress. My partners for the day were Brian and Emma, both quite seasoned mountain travellers with the simplest of aims for the day. To have fun. Under the blue skies it seemed a pretty easy brief. The crag was busy though which kinda upset my progression plan but neither Brian or Emma seemed at all daunted by stepping straight onto the super polished first pitch of Direct Route (V Diff). Emma even enjoyed the old school wrestle of the exit chimney despite me offering an alternative finish. After that climb Pulpit Route (Diff) proved a breeze. A final word on that Irishman; he should be shoved into the darkest reaches of that afore mentioned chimney where he'll provide at least some use as a foothold in years to come.

Milking the Crowd at Tremadog

2011-10-14T21:55:00.000+01:00

It was a good thing that there was no one except Nick watching as I cried and clawed my way up One Step in the Crowds (E1,5b) this morning. I rather optimistically figured that I'd waltz straight up but that illusion vanished with my first stumbling moves in the opening groove. As this start is shared with the classic, but considerably easier Creagh Dhu Wall (HS,4b) the prospects weren't looking good. I'm not sure quite how I managed to find myself at the midway belay without having fallen or resting on the gear but I suspect that with the amount of time I spent on the pitch that the upward thrust of plate tectonics may have assisted. Nick, being the gentleman that he is did the decent thing and made the climbing look hard as he followed. The top pitch has the same grade but is nothing like the first. I still milked it for all it was worth though; spending ages trying different ways of climbing the short but smooth slabby wall at the top. After half a dozen options I settled for the one I tried first, the one that involved obtaining maximum friction between trouser fabric and rock. Amazingly we found ourselves still eager for more so Nick set off up Creagh Dhu Wall Direct (VS,4c). During the abseil down and whilst re-flaking the ropes I'd regained enough composure to remember my manners, considerately struggling on the exposed crux step across, generously done for Nick's benefit of course. After the tussle the top pitch on that perfect rock was a joy, almost as much as the tea and cakes in Eric's afterwards.

Steady through the Gloom

2011-10-10T19:19:00.000+01:00

The lingering damp weather has some benefit, there's little to distract me from getting out training every day. I'm progressing slowly and am confident that I'll be in good enough shape by the end of the month.

The Sunshine Days are Over

2011-10-07T23:22:00.000+01:00

There was a fair crowd in Eric's Cafe this morning all waiting for the same thing, for it to stop raining. After an hour and a half of drinking tea we gave up the ghost and scuttled off to the dark (but less dark than outside) confines of the Beacon Climbing Wall. I'd been eager to see how any strength gained in Cyprus might transfer to UK trad routes. With rain stopping play the wall at least offered an interesting experiment. How might I compare to Nick, who'd done a whole load of adventurous sea cliff trips, when seen at a 'neutral' venue. On the face of it we were just the same, evenly matched and neither of us climbing noticeably better than when we last climbed together months ago. However, I fancy that I was able to climb for longer, still completing routes when Nick failed to reach the second clip. The study was significantly flawed though, Nick insisted and then persisted in attempting some crimpy horror show in the middle of the session which Dom and myself were far too wise to touch. The conclusion to this scientific endeavour? There's not one, let's just hope for some dry weather.

Small Steps

2011-10-06T19:45:00.000+01:00

It's that time of year again or rather it was about two months ago. My usual late start at preparing for the Original Mountain Marathon is later than ever. I've a good excuse though, if half a year of gallivanting about in the sun is an excuse. There's another good reason though and that's that my participation is something of a bonus. Owain couldn't make the race this year and combined with my summer away we weren't going to enter. My septuagenarian friend Cled has been rolling back the years though, spending the summer climbing hard and running like a train. My dad normally partners him but although ten years his junior is pleading lack of training. All of this has left an opening for me, I just need to develop a bit of form and convert those cycling and climbing muscles into something that can run. If not it'll be back to my teenage years of getting rinsed by Cled on the South Wales fell race circuit. I'm confident that I can step up to the mark though; I've got three weeks and just need to build up my mileage slowly. Every journey starts with a first step but it's the hundreds of thousands after that that'll provide the suffering.

So Long Cyprus

2011-10-01T20:50:00.000+01:00

Well we've managed it, six months in Cyprus and the political and military situation doesn't seem any worse than when we arrived. I'd meant to get one final afternoons climbing in but as the pictures tell thought of a better way to spend our last afternoon. So long Cyprus, it's been a blast.

The Days are Numbered

2011-09-29T18:16:00.000+01:00

I have few days left in Cyprus which is good as I'm ready to come home now. The down side is having to work some pretty long hours in preperation for our departure. Not numbered in days though are the Cyprus Mouflon. My friend and great photographer, Rasti took these shots last month and I've been waiting for a tenuous link to post about them. The Mouflon, an ancient species of sheep, is a national symbol in Cyprus but not so long ago they were almost hunted to extinction on the island. Thanks to a successful scheme of protection numbers are now steadily increasing.

Wise Words at Garga

2011-09-24T18:14:00.001+01:00

Weekday mornings always follow the same routine. I turn up at the briefing room chat with the guys I work with then hear what’s been going on in the Buffer Zone. I was pretty surprised whilst down at Jamiesons a couple of weeks ago to bump into Giovanni, who everyday sits behind me and when not in work it appears is making a good effort of ticking off all of the hard sport routes on the island. It’s pretty bad timing to discover this just as I’m preparing to leave but none the less we did manage to arrange a visit to Garga together one evening last week. Giovanni’s dedication to training puts my bumbling efforts to shame but I thought that I’d better try and make as good an account of myself as possible. I impressed myself by choosing to warm up on Gufi (6a). Six months ago this was as hard as I could climb so it was pleasing to see improvement. Mastika (6b) didn’t go quite so well. I watched Giovanni float up it after I’d failed and I get how he did it, I just need more strength to pinch those holds. Giovanni did a circuit or two on some steep power route with rounded holds. A little limply I had a go but didn’t get that far. Using Giovanni’s knowledge of the crag I found myself on the furthest route, right out on the end of the New Sector. The climbing was fabulous, steep slab leading to overhanging flake. I didn’t do it justice though, falling off with more than a little whimper of fear. Standing back at the bottom with forearms blown up like Popeye, Giovanni seemed satisfied ‘That’s how you should sport climb, until you can’t even pick up your bag’.

Where I'd Rather Be

2011-09-21T12:52:00.001+01:00

A few more shots from the Mountain Bike course up in Troodos. Office bound this week but the end is in sight. We did get a bit of rain last week, how I'll be glad to see some more of that.

More Top Class MTB Coaching

2011-09-18T08:01:00.001+01:00

We’ve had another excellent couple of days mountain biking up in Troodos. Thanks to Alex and Chip I’m now not only a proud holder of the MBCUK Technical Trail Leader award but also a greatly improved rider. I was ringing Alex Rafferty’s praises in my last post but I’ll reiterate that I reckon that he’s one of the best coaches in any discipline that I’ve come across. The process was simple really, we just went out and rode the fantastic trails around

Troodos Square

and took teaching opportunities as they were presented. Over the week we circled Mt Olympus on the Artemis and Atalanti trails, followed our noses around the jumble of scenic undulating single track that make up Kampos Tou Leivadiou, rolled along the flowing Persephone Trail and terrified ourselves twice (myself at least) on the legendary Troodos Downhill.

Learning to Ride my Bike

2011-09-15T19:39:00.001+01:00

There's not really long left before I return from Cyprus and bring myself back into the real world, one that has weather and mountains instead of conferences and computors. I've been lucky enough this week to get myself onto a mountain bike course which is helping with the transition. The course is excellently run by Chip and Alex from MBCUK who between them are running Trail Leader and Technical Trail Leader courses. I've been riding in Alex's group and I'm quite amazed at just how much I've learnt. I've been riding a mountain bike for what must be 20yrs and although not to any great standard thought that I knew how it all worked. With hindsight that was pretty dumb, if as a climbing instructor I can spin out hours on how to use something as simple as an ice axe it's no wonder that Alex has been able to feed us with infinite knowledge on riding a bike.

Two - One to Jamiesons

2011-09-11T09:19:00.000+01:00

Yesterday Tom, Dom and myself made what I guess might be our final trip to Jamiesons. There were a couple of routes there that I still had asperations of doing but that didn't really work out too well. All started OK as we warmed up on a few of the great slab routes that rise out of the canyon. Ergatiki (F6a) was the only route on the steeper opposite side of the canyon that I reckoned I could climb. The crux is widely claimed to be between the 3rd and 4th bolts. I can confrim this section of the route to be hard but I'm afriad can't comment on anything above this! Dom was also out to clean up some missing lines and had a shot at pushing his grade on Neraida (6a). The boy put up a fair fight but the result was another defeat for our little team. It was left then to Tom to boost team morale. With just 3 or 4 leads under his belt he confidently padded up Kohilaki (F4) to give us at least some success. Climbing isn't about the grade though (at least that's what you say when you're not climbing well) and as darkness began to fall we finished off with the fantastic Ergatiki (F5c) across the road on the south boulder. After an undercut start a diagonal fault leads right to the apex of the boulder. the climbing was great; but do you know what? I found that hard as well.

Shooting the Breeze at Agios Iraklidios

2011-09-03T09:46:00.000+01:00

The following is steadily growing and there were 9 of us that went down to Agios Iraklidios for an evenings climbing yesterday. With such a big number we inevitably did more bouldering than anything else and for this the place is superb. There are dozens of problems from long smooth slabs to a horizontal roof. The best thing of all with a large group though is that you can spend most of the time just shooting the breeze and watching other people, something that quite appeals to my naturally lazy nature.

Troodhitissa Gorge

2011-08-29T18:50:00.000+01:00

Troodhitissa Gorge is home to just about the only climbable rock in the Troodos Massif. Being igneous rock it gave Rich, Mark, Dom and myself quite a different climbing experience from anywhere else we've climbed on the island. My un-educated study of the geological map would show it to be Wehrilite. To put it within a climbers frame of reference, kinda granite but with smaller crystal size. Compact rock, flat holds, poor friction, that sort of rock. After a half scramble, half slide approach into the gorge there are 4 sport routes to have a go at. Being between 20 and 25 metres there're all pretty long. The pick of the bunch were probably the two open routes in the middle of the crag, I Patridha tou Ponou (F5b) and Ksiprima Psikhis (F5c). Starting up a half pipe of a chimney line on the right of the crag is Kalosorises (F5a), it's reported on both UKC and Cyprus Rocks (who incidently list different names and grades for the same routes) as being horribly loose but the place seems popular and most of the debris has been cleaned out leaving a climb that the lads enjoyed leading on. On the other side of the cliff Andio Philli (F5b) does have a sting. A hand jamming crack near the start struck me as being particualy tricky, maybe I've grown unfamiliar with the rock type or maybe more likely my jamming is still rubish. That said the problem gave me little to worry about a stretch of my 6ft frame allowed me to clip the 3rd bolt before embarking on the routes crux. Dom however is a touch shorter and had to go with the strategy of climb past the bolt until a good hold then clip beneath you. It would have been a fair plan if it wasn't for the fact that Dom pulls off a decent hand jam with about the same efficiency as me. Attentive belaying and quick foot work from Mark meant that Dom merely touched the floor rather than slam into it.

Fabulous Forests

2011-08-26T15:44:00.001+01:00

Jo, Tomos and Martha came over to Cyprus for a week and we spent a fair chunk of the time up in the cool of the Troodos Mountains. It’s a beautiful place with a near perfect climate, snow in the winter and a warm but fresh summer. Nearly all of the Troodos Range is managed by Cyprus’ Department of Forests who do a fantastic job of not only protecting the natural environment but in combining this with sustainable recreation. It’s pleasing to note that the Department of Forests, established in 1879, is a positive aspect of the legacy of British colonial rule. Tomos, Martha and myself spent our days just pottering around whilst Jo made the most of the miles of great trails on her bike.

The Boys do Well at Droushia

2011-08-15T13:56:00.000+01:00

We tried out the more direct route from Nicosia to Droushia which skirts across the northern flanks of Troodos as the mountains reach the sea between Morphou and Khrysokhou Bays. It's a fabulous drive, ducking back and forth across the buffer zone and following some truely spectacular 'Monte Carlo' style roads. The journey does however take considerably more time than the longer route of following the motorway along the south side of the island. The climbing is worth the trip though and pleasant and friendly Inia Gerakopetra was the perfect antedote to Saturday's battles. Tom Stewart brought his climbing on nicely leading Konti (F4), Agnooumenos (F4), Monahiko Pneuma (F5) and Irmos (F4). Not wanting to miss out Tom Stockdale boldly pulled the rope through on Irmos and very confidently bagged his first lead. Still feeling battered from Garga I didn't go at anything hard but spent a very nice afternoon filling in the gaps that I had remaining on the left side of the crag. Of note was Andreas Prodromou - Haris Charalambous (F5+), I'm not sure who those guys are but their route climbs through the edge of the big overhang on improbably big holds.

Still Trying

2011-08-13T19:09:00.000+01:00

Failure again on Riviera (F6b+), this time however I felt that it was a little more honourable a defeat. Unlike last time when I wimped out I did manage to grit my teeth and climb until I fell. It's not that the holds are really that small it's just that there's a lot of climbing to be done before you get to them. Added to that I find that top sequence of moves hard to work out. You want to pull sideways on the holds but then there's little to press your feet against on that smooth leaning wall. The result is that I end up trying to pinch the last of the verticaly aligned holds while the strength drains from my protesting forearms and my feet skitter about below. If I want to do this route cleanly I've either got to find a better way or just get stronger. I wasn't all gloom today though. Tom, Steve and Mark made short work of Marshmellow (F5) and Hellim (F5+) before Mark bagged his first F6a lead on the athletic little line of Anorit. I thought that we'd finish off with a pleasant little canter across on the 'New Sector'. I don't know this area at all well so it was somewhat inevitable that this idea also meet with defeat.

The Long and the Short of It

2011-08-09T15:19:00.000+01:00

I came back from a quick trip with Rich and Mark up to Garga on Saturday a little disappointed having blown an on-sight attempt at Riviera (F6b+). At 28 metres it’s long for a sport route but that still wasn’t a good reason to take a rest at the last bolt. Climb until you fall is sound advice that I just didn’t heed. I faired better on Sunday evening closer to home at Agios Iraklidios but then there is a significant difference in scale between here and Garga. As well as introducing Mark B, Mark H and Tom to the area I climbed a few routes that I’d not done before. Ektoras (F6b) is another great and absorbing problem on the wildly undercut big boulder. Kassandra (F5a) gives a juggy romp once the crux moves of stepping off the ladder have been made. To complete my ticking of the little boulder routes I came through a tussle with the sharp little crimps of Aris which I reckon is far harder than its F5c+ grade suggests.

A Place of Habit

2011-08-05T17:55:00.001+01:00

The boulders at the Monestary of Agios Iraklidios are becoming a regular haunt and is a place that we should certainly of checked out far early in our stay in Cyprus. I was down there again yesterday with Rich and Craig. We enjoyed a great evenings cragging mostly climbing routes that we'd done before. The exceptions being Paris (F6a), a route which climbs the wall to the left of the big corner of Oraia Eleni (F5+). It's all good climbing but as the two climbs share the same bolt line you have to try pretty hard at the start not to use the large holds in the corner. Also sharing a bolt line is the arete left of Athina (F5b) on the smaller boulder. Athina is a good climb but the arete is better, big side pull holds that you can lean right out on. PS appologies for the worst ever cryptic post title.

Evensong at Agios Iraklidios

2011-08-02T12:41:00.002+01:00

I was back at Agios Iraklidios on Sunday evening with Rich. I'd done a bit of detective work and with the aid of wikipedia managed to translate the route names from the Greek alphabet. By cross referencing the list of climbs on Cyprus Rocks which run in left to right order across the boulders with the alphabetical list on UKC I now have a pretty good idea of which route is which. On the smaller boulder we kicked off with Troia (F4) and Athina (F5b). There's a widely spaced bolt line immediately right of this which I'm sure is a great little climb. I dogged my way up it resting twice on the bolts but if I can get the mid point sequence of tiny sloping holds worked out it'll give a satisfying lead. Best experience of the visit though was Pinelopi (F6b), what a great climb. Balancing on a boulder to start, blind reaches to jug holds allow a mantle onto the hanging slab above. As the sun started to dip away and the monastery bell tolled for evensong Rich sought out a hybrid line beneath the large overhang at the top of the big boulder. He in fact followed 90% of Aiantas (F7a), ducking left at the top to a far more appropraite finish.

Cyprus' Climbing Centre

2011-07-29T07:19:00.001+01:00

The climbing at Agios Iraklidios receives little acclaim from the write ups on both the Cyprus Rocks and UKC websites. I however enjoyed this little collection of boulders set amongst an olive grove within the boundaries of the Agios Iraklidios Monastery. It is in actual fact the climbing centre of Cyprus; geographically speaking at least, set as it is a short distance south of Nicosia right at the very heart of the island. Gaining access to the crag is a novelty in itself. If the gate at the back of the monastery isn’t open you’d have to find a friendly nun to help you out. As it was told to us on our visit the gate is currently open until half past seven in the evening. The routes are fairly short and sometimes a little disjointed. A plank ladder by passes a hugely undercut start to some and another is a one handed romp until a horizontal roof bars the way to the last bolt. With that said it’s all enjoyable climbing. I’m not too sure what any of the routes that Tom and myself climbed where called. I took with us on alphabetical list of the climbs, the problem was though that my list was in English and the names written on the rock are in Greek. In between alpha and omega there’s a lot missing in my understanding of the Greek alphabet.

Good Times at Jamiesons

2011-07-25T13:13:00.001+01:00

Avoiding the midday sun Dom, Tom and myself set off after lunch on Saturday and made the long drive across the island to Jamiesons or Dhiarizos to give the crag its Greek name. During the late afternoon and evening it’s a really pleasant place to climb. Our session was the perfect antidote to the battles at Garga last weekend. The limestone is fabulous, smooth without being slippery and with positive holds just made for climbing on. It’d be wrong to say that the climbing here is easy because easy is a relative thing, but it is the kind of place that makes you feel that you’re climbing well. Mostly we stayed on the big slab above the canyon, Dom and Tom pushing their grade leading. The couple of routes that I climbed were superb, Neraida (F6a) is pretty much all over by the 3^rd bolt but getting up there is fabulous. On the far right of the slab is an overhanging arête giving the best of climbing, big holds on steep ground. My research has failed to find its name (it is in fact written on the rock at the start but I didn’t note it at the time) but it’s maybe my favourite route in Cyprus so far. On the way home we stopped off at Aphrodite's Beach for a swim, feel the love!

Chipping Away at the Kyrenia Ridge Walk

2011-07-23T21:45:00.000+01:00

I was invited to join a group of British soldiers who are walking the entire length of the Kyrenia Mountains, a total of 147.5 miles from Cape Kormakitis to Cape Apostolos Andreas. The team have broken the journey down into 10 legs which they are fitting around work commitments within the Buffer Zone. Most, like myself, will just take part in the odd leg but a couple are aiming to complete the whole challenge. The driving force behind the event is retired British policeman John Chawner and his wife Margaret. They’ve lived in Cyprus for some time and posses an impressive knowledge of these hills and the myths and stories surrounding them, some ancient history and some much more recent. Yesterday’s route took us from the col above the pretty village of Belapais, with his historic and much loved abbey to the ruined Armenian Monastery which lies east along the ridge past the lofty ramparts of Buffavento and the distinctive Pentadaktylos (five fingers). Despite the obvious fact that it was a red hot day it was a thoroughly enjoyable outing, walking as we did on quiet paths though forest and sometimes on more open ground with all the while big open views of the coastline to the north.

Self Torture Club

2011-07-19T10:09:00.000+01:00

The thing with Garga is that you pretty much climb hard or go home. Arriving sore and bruised from the rugby field the evening before certainly wasn't the best preperation. Things might have been OK but Dom, Tom and myself did ourselves no favours with our route choices. I guess the days climbing started well enough, that is to say the first few metres of the 28 metre Rapunzelle (F6a+) where fine. A snaking crack and chimney line that rarely gives up fighting with you. To be fare it's full of holds, they just have to be used in all kinds of weird and strenuous ways. Given the length of the route I was concerned that I mightn't have enough quick draws. I needn't have worried, there aren't that many bolts. It's certainly 'emotional' for a sport route and the pictures of Tom following up it tell the story better than I could with words. Once we'd wrung all the 'fun' out of this route (which largely came from laughing at each others suffering) it was Dom's turn to take a lead in the self torture club. I'd worked out the underclinging heave of a crux on Anorit (F6a) a while ago so all I needed to do was grit my teeth and pull. Dom however started to clock up flight time and scratches with repeated falls from the last move. Now firmly set on a course of destruction we shunned all sensible advice and threw our slowly degenarating bodies at Molehiya (F6a). The UKC description of the route says merely 'The gentle climbers will prevail, butch ones will bleed' enough said.

Back on the Road

2011-07-14T08:16:00.000+01:00

Cyprus

is very hot, a contributory factor to the disaster that has disabled much of the islands normal infrastructure, a story better told by the likes of wiki leaks so I'll leave it at that. I arrived back on the weekend and was straight back into work. I did however manage to snatch a couple of hours last night to take a spin out on my road bike. Even in the evenings you can still feel the heat and humidity. There’s the odd occasion pulling up a hill when it feels like you’re just sucking in lung fulls of warm water rather than air.

Plan B, C, or maybe D

2011-07-08T22:51:00.000+01:00

The forecast for today was rubbish, had that been entirely so things would have been easy but as it was the occasional tease of blue sky encouraged wider plans to come to mind. The Hylldrem Girdle (HVS,5a) was a route that I was keen to get Nick onto, it's a truly great experience at any time but its umbrella of overhangs was the obvious draw this morning. Although we met at the crag false promise coaxed us to Bwlch y Moch before a deluge chased us back. The first 2 of the routes 4 pitches stay bone dry, the 3rd gets wet towards the end but not so as to be a problem. The standard option in the rain (when most people go I suppose) is to abseil from a cluster of pegs at the end of the second pitch. Descending from the third would mean sacrificing some gear. Nick looked sceptical when I announced my clever plan, that we drop a rope from the top of the crag above the third stance. He looked even more sceptical as he sat chest deep in wet bracken holding a rope tied round my waist as I failed to find a spot in anyway close to where I wanted to be. So, after the pitch 2 abseil (for the record the climbing was excellent) we slid down to ground thinking that the skies looked good for a second look at Bwlch y Moch. As Nick and Jo started up Oberon (S) and Tomos, Martha and myself looked on the heavens opened again. Tomos seems to be at an age where word association throws up some amusing conclusions and the fact wasn't lost on him (once pointed out) that the route above the dry niche in which we cowered was Y Broga, the frog. Whilst all the while on the slab a few meters away his mother and Nick got wetter and wetter. With a sense of duty Tomos made his first Tremadog ascent, Belshazzar Gully (A1, It does have a ladder!) and delivered dry shoes to the pair of heroes at the top.

Great Time on Great Slab

2011-07-03T22:56:00.000+01:00

In 1930 a 'green caterpillar' of grass ran the length of the long groove on the opening pitch of Clogwyn Du'r Arddu's Great Slab (VS,4c). As Colin Kirkus stepped onto it during the first ascent a fair chunk of it slid away, in his own words 'I left this moving staircase very hurriedly'. 81 years and a couple of weeks later Nick and myself delicately tip toed across the undercut slab and climbed up what is now a fantastic, clean and unbroken crack line. We certainly weren't the only people looking to enjoy this old classic of a route and spent the day in the middle of a long chain of climbers which to my pleasant surprise included my mate Simon a rope length or so ahead. The quality of the route continues with the last couple of pitches being an exposed but easy romp. In order to reach these though you first have to negotiate the '40 foot corner', I guess that this delicate passage is maybe the crux of the route but as you're placing runner after runner and padding up in stealth rubber spare a though for Kirkus. 'I had to climb more quickly than the grass fell down. It was nasty and dangerous, but I dug in my finger nails and toes and clutched and scrabbed until I reached the top'. Where as it's pretty hard to relate to the pioneers struggle his final comment still rings true, 'It had been a marvellous day'.

Suffering on Moel Siabod

2011-07-02T23:26:00.000+01:00

Hauling my way out of the woods and out onto the slopes of the mountain I was begining to question my spur of the moment decision to enter the Moel Siabod fell race. I've never been terribly commited to training but with little more than a few hours of running since October I was suffering. I'd told myself it'd be a brisk walk up followed by a jog down, a chance to stretch the legs and enjoy the hills. It was of course anything but that. I finished a touch over the hour mark tucked right in the middle of the field. Maybe I'll train for the next one, I doubt it'll make it hurt less but at least it will be over sooner.

Idylic St David's

2011-07-01T23:50:00.001+01:00

Tan y Bryn campsite at Whitesands near St David's would make it into many peoples top 10 list. Jo, Tomos, Martha and myself have just returned from a few days spent mostly kicking around on the beach in this most fabulous of settings. Also in a top 10 list, though admittedly my own, would be the climbing around St David's Head and in particular Craig Coetan. We took the time to introduce Tomos and Martha to the splendid delights of rough gabbro, a rock which seems to suit their style of slap your feet anywhere and expect them to stick. After the kids had gone to bed I crept out again to the narrow promentory of Penmaen Coetan, enjoying every move as I balanced along above the swell of the sea with the last rays of the sun warming the perfect rock.

Green Grass of Home

2011-06-27T16:21:00.000+01:00

Back home for a couple of weeks and enjoying things like green grass and rivers. Not such a big fan of the horse flies but I guess that's a fair trade for snakes.

Sun and Sea at Cape Greco

2011-06-22T11:13:00.004+01:00

The majority of holidaying Brits who arrive in Cyprus will be heading for the South East of the island and in particular Ayia Napa. All well as the bright lights and loud music there’s also some climbing to be found here abouts, out on the furthest reach of land, Cape Greco. Greco Crag isn’t a sea cliff but is within earshot of the waves breaking on the rocks a short distance below this arcing escarpment of limestone. Dom is spending the week in this quarter of the island so it was convenient to climb down here on Sunday. It also seemed like a good opportunity to introduce him to a little more trad climbing as pretty much all we’ve been doing over the last couple of months has been clipping bolts. After a little tuition on the ground and following me up a warmer of a route Dom was tying onto the sharp end. Solo (Hard Diff) and Red Line (Hard Diff), both very pleasant little routes did little to tax him physically as the lad is now climbing very well. As his runners and belay were perfect I was ready to escape from the sun, aside from early morning on the far left of the crag there’s precious little in the way of shade. The near by sea caves provided the perfect retreat, maybe we did a lot more swimming than climbing, but heh, this is cyprus!

From the Jaws of Victory

2011-06-19T08:00:00.001+01:00

There was a moment yesterday morning when we were leading the annual Troodos to Pissouri (Mountain to Sea) mountain bike race. Wrong turns, mechanical failure and the fact that my team mates Colonel Richard and Padre Paul could both ride a bike very fast downhill had combined to put us in this unexpected position. Our spell of trail blazing was to be short lived though, ending with the flashing past of matching lycra. As Colonel Richard pointed out, one, if not more of them were brandished with ‘Ironman’ tattoos. No shame in losing ground here and I was content to be the fastest man in baggy pants. Gravity though had been our trump card and with the foothills of the Troodos providing as much up as down we were soon embroiled in a tit for tat battle to remain in the top three. Fortunes turn fast in bike racing, a lesson I learned today. A broken chain had us safe in third, not that we knew it at the time. Thinking the pack nearly upon us we were driving on, maybe I was pushing hardest, choosing to ignore the wisdom of my senior partners. An A4 sized sign pinned to a post or a tree would be hard to spot at the best of times; at 40mph peering over your bars the chances certainly aren’t increased. So that was it, race over in the blink of an eye, a turn of a wheel, chance blown. The detour back in, fighting a head wind was the metaphorical low point. The geographical one came shortly after. I think in the end we were the 6^th team to dip our toes into the sea at Pissouri Bay. I shouldn’t complain though, it was an incredible event, well over 2000 metres of descent , much of it great riding spread over 55 kilometres (in our case I guess more) of ever varying terrain. We’ll not be here next year but I think I’ll ride the route again, keeping a look out for one particular turning.

Familiar Faces at Droushia

2011-06-15T13:31:00.000+01:00

The climbing at Droushia is well worth the two and a half hour drive from Nicosia. Tom and myself met Dom and psydo local Dan out there. This is the Dan from Tywyn, strange I know but it's a small world and another mate of mine bumped into Dan the other day whilst at cragging at Jamiesons. I knew that Dan had worked in Cyprus before but wasn't aware that he was around this summer as well. With local knowledge we were able to drive right up to the main crag of the area, Inia Gerakopetra. On this our second visit, I was just as much if not even more impressed with the place. Dom and Tom kept themselves busy, Dom pushing his grade with every climb. Dan pointed me in the direction of a handfull of routes on both the left and right faces of the crag. Alexandros (F6a) although short starts with the toughest of finger edged heaves, further up a jump for the holds dispatches a stubborn leaning wall. It's not a world record beating dyno but anything that requires your feet to leave the starting holds feels pretty cool to me. On the big North East facing right side of the crag Toxo (F5+) and Fonaklu (F5+) ranked in turn as the best climbs I'd done in Cyprus. The former packs in huge variety on truely memorable rock. The latter is incredible, thought provoking and sustained move after move. After Dan had done with Idatino Perasma (F7a), just two falls was we all thought pretty impresive, the guide lead the way through snake country to near by Koneftis. This sandstone tor, shattered into half a dozen razor edged pillars gives truely tremendous climbing. Not even Dan knew the names of the routes but the 6a arete he recomended was sensational. These weren't like any sport climbs that I'd seen before and another knife blade of a route followed. Also enjoying Droushia were a couple of the climbers who had welcomed us so warmly in the north of the island. I felt almost embarrased to be caught someone else but as John said 'it's OK to climb here, just pretend not to like it', that'd be some bluff.

Closing the Loop

2011-06-10T11:58:00.000+01:00

A couple of long days in the office prompted a hastily arranged escape. My road bike has lain idle for a long while now so I slung it into the back of my truck and drove out into the foot hills of the Troodos. With little daylight remaining a complete ascent any of the major road climbs wasn't an option. The choice seemed to boil down to option a: Start midway and finish at the top or b: Start at the bottom and finish midway. In the event I elected for neither. The loose logic being that if I started at the forest centre at Platania I could climb to the picnic site at Kambos tou Liuadiou and thus close the loop that Jo started in a downhill direction the other week. Despite the lack of time on my bike I climbed well enough, probably credit to the road engineers rather than the cyclist. With the light still holding I carried on past my aiming point and reached the top of Mount Olympus (1952m) as the moon traded places with the sun. The summit itself can't be reached, fenced in and occupied by a giant golfball communication instilation. As I'm taking the Queens wage it may seen hypocritical to say but it's surely a travesty that Cypriots are denied access to the highest point of their island. Political issues were however quickly forgotten, swept away in the terrifing 850 metre half light descent.

Atalante Trail Proves a Pain in the Ass (For Dom at Least)

2011-06-07T19:32:00.002+01:00

At long last the time came to get out onto the Troodos trails myself. Jo and Ali had raved out the Atalante Trail so Dom and myself went to take a look for ourselves. Taking the advice of riding this 15 odd kilometre loop in a clockwise direction we rode out of Troodos Square straight onto the snaking single track. As with the Artemis Trail the route makes a complete circuit of Mount Olympus. For the most part the journey is flat but never dull. Stunning views and narrow terraces built out from the hillside keep constant interest. I found one section remanisent of that last pitch of Gogarth's iconic rock climb Dream of White Horses. Perhaps more for the chaotic and fractured rock rather than the exposure but the comparison is worth making. Dom will testify to the height of the drop as he measured in out in body lenghts following a dive over the handle bars. All was fine though, the biggest of spiky bushes breaking his fall. After pulling out the worst of the thorns we got back under way. The last section of the trail, after the tarmac road is crossed, changes in character a touch. A little height is lost here allowing the bikes of the leash for a while before the inevitable climb back to the start.

Local Hero

2011-06-06T05:54:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I managed to get myself organised enough to meet up with Momtchil and a gang of the very deticated North Cypriot Climbers at Garga Sugu. Climbing with these guys and girls is a great pleasure, a very social affair where everyone is happy to climb with anyone and put up top ropes for each other. The local champion is Nazo, she seemed to spend most of the day encouraging the newer climbers, rescuing abondoned quickdraws and occasionaly (though always effortlessly) floating up the crags harder routes. Workmates Rich, Tom and myself were invited onto one particular climb which Nazo had explained to Momtchil was a boys' route, strength over guile. Over hanging from the start and despite an encouraging appearence without what we mortals would consider a decent hold on it. After a good deal of scrathing around attempting to follow Nazo's direction (text book perfect coaching, we just didn't have the strength to hold on) the coach hinted that she fancied a few laps of it herself. No less than 3 times up and down, I'm not sure that she even broke a sweat. None of the lads made halfway.

Downhill from Troodos

2011-06-03T05:53:00.000+01:00

For a last days riding Jo made the most of the Troodos Trails with an uplift service provided by Tomos, Martha and myself. Starting at

Troodos Square

the 450m descent of the Caledonia Trail seemed like a good place to set the wheels rolling. In practice Jo reported it not such a great choice as the many well constructed (for walkers) steps and bridges make a fair chunk of it un-rideable. I understand that in the summer it’s one of the more popular walking routes in Troodos so maybe another reason to give it a miss. However the scenery is all pretty impressive and I’m sure with a bit of nous a better route could be found. That’d be a good thing as at the bottom of the hill is the pretty village of Pano Platres. A former colonial hill station which from the look of things is a bit of a base for cycling and walking in the region. From my view in the support car the winding road climbs looked just as attractive as the sweeping forest descents. Sweeping forest descents is just what Jo found on her second run. Starting from the picnic site off the road north out of Troodos Square juniper lined double track led smoothly onto the European Long Distance Path E4, a path that remarkably starts in Gibraltar! Whilst the rest of us were enjoying the third playground of the day the E4 lead Jo down 600m of steep mountain to the Forest Centre at Platania.

Buffavento Castle

2011-05-26T11:58:00.000+01:00

Work seems to have increased over the last couple of weeks leaving little time to get out and about on the island. We've managed a couple of trips to the beach which Tomos and Martha have enjoyed. Tried to meet up with a some of the North Cypriot climbers again last weekend at a place called Armenia Slabs. It took a while to find the crag but we failed entirely to link up with the locals. The lesson learnt is that my South Cypriot phone doesn't work in the North. Not all was lost though as we paid a visit to near by Buffavento Castle perched high on the rocky crest of the Kyrenia Ridge. There's as fair old climb up to it but it's quite a place. Crumbling wind blown ruins clinging precariously to a series of ledges right at the mountains top.

Kicking up Dust on the Atalante Trail

2011-05-19T09:55:00.000+01:00

There's a phenononem know as a 'Dust Storm' settled over Cyprus at the moment. Winds from North Africa or the Middle East scattering a fine layer of deset sand across the island. The skies were all clear on Tuesday though when Ali and Jo went up to Troodos to ride the Atalante Trail. Like the Artemis Trail it runs around Mt Olympus but at a lower level giving greater distance of riding. Both said it was fantastic, single track most of the way round and being a little less rocky rideable all the way.

Just Like Home

2011-05-16T15:26:00.001+01:00

Jo, Tomos and Martha have come to visit for a few weeks. We made the trip up to Troodos on Saturday where Jo took a ride round the fabulous Artimis Trail. I thought that spending a bit of time in Cyprus would be quite a novel experience for the kids but shivering up in the mountains in the mist I think Tomos thought that he was back in the Dyfi Forest.

Cragging with the Locals

2011-05-10T14:01:00.001+01:00

There’s a vibrant climbing scene in Northern Cyprus which Dom and myself were invited to tag along with on Sunday. It was a real privilege to be climbing with the dozen or so local climbers, a mix of Cypriots and ex-pats. There’s a real sense of enthusiasm and freshness amongst the group. After all, Garga Suyu, where we were climbing is a crag that they’ve developed and are quite rightly pleased with the quality of the routes they’ve put up. We arrived early, warming up on a couple of routes we’d done before, Marshmellow (F5) and Hellim (F5+). Being far to early in the day for the hedonistic struggle at the start of the former we crept in from the side, an approach far more in keeping with the rest of the route. As people started to arrive we were pointed in the direction of another crag classic Gufi (F6a+). Starting up on tiny edges you reach a ledge below a smooth undercut tufa edged wall. It looks unlikely but get the sequence of small holds right and it gives superb technical climbing. Finding an excuse for a rest we enjoyed listening to the banter for a while as we watched successive suitors make short work of the really long Riviera (F6b+) before Dom took the opportunity to have a second shot at the tremendous Highway to Heaven (F6a). Some of the recommended routes were longer than our 50m rope allowed so we were offered Anorit (F6a). It was mentioned that the crux is notoriously difficult to work out, often spitting off would be ascentionists time and time again before they finally work it out. I was pleased to find that after just a brief moment of shuffling round on the holds I managed to climb it clean. I’ll admit however that the problem probably suited my style, reach for the small undercut, press down with the other hand then having checked no one's looking shamelessly drop a knee onto the hold. With the risk of destroying any impression of competence we headed back home, hoping for an invite next time.

Arkamas Heights

2011-05-02T18:59:00.000+01:00

Some more photos of the magical area around Droushia on the Akamas Heights. Thankfully not many of the boys I'm working with follow my blog so word shouldn't get out that I've been taking pictures of flowers.

Atmospheric Akamas

2011-05-01T10:23:00.000+01:00

With a thick coastal mist drifting over the Akamas Heights the path to the cluster of crags around Inia Gerakopetra closely resembled the approach to a Cornish sea cliff. The screeching and wheeling of the jackdaws lent a further air of familiarity and as for the temperature, well that was very British like as well. The Akamas Peninsula stretching out into the Mediterranean in the far West of Cyprus is a quiet and remote area of rolling high ground, meadow and scrub. Near the sleepy village of Droushia some 600m above the sea are scattered a collection of weather sculpted sandstone Tors. It’s a magical place and with the accompaniment of gently clanging goat bells and views of distant lonely beaches it’s a fabulous place to climb. Most of the half dozen or so major Tors have established routes on them, both sport and trad. The prince amongst them though would seem to be Inia Gerakopetra. Dom and myself spent yesterday there and climbed ten routes, all were very good. Wind sculpted rough rock with bizarrely scoped hollows and pockets. The highlights were maybe Frixos (F5+) unlocking a sequence of positive edges on a steep slab before a steep corner and crack finish. Kathodigitis (F6a) improbably big holds on a big over hanging wall and Etsi Kai Alliws (F5+), far harder than you think it should be and with the penultimate hold like the inside of a football. It’s a long drive from Nicosia but our next trip is being planned, a whole weekend with time to enjoy the setting as much as the climbing.

Kyrenia Again

2011-04-29T20:51:00.000+01:00

Ali and myself took advantage of the half day that Wills and Kate had jacked up for us all and headed off for another crossing of the Kyrenia Ridge. Still harbouring plans of finding the tracks that we missed on our last outing we had got ourselves better organised with a drop off and pick up. The climb up to the col from the landmark Turkish Flags was straight forward and quick, finding our lost trail wasn’t quite as simple. I lead us around for a while trying dead end tracks. A chink of springing metal suggested I’d broken a spoke but on a closer look scattered machine gun link hinted at the ferocity of fighting that must have occurred in these mountain passes during the ’74 invasion. It was Ali that got us back on track, making far better use of the map than me. Our path lead through ‘Dead Dog Alley’ not a local name but there were two dead dogs, before we ran up against another of the ‘Keep out or we’ll shot you signs’. All was not lost, a side turning ran off down the steep North facing slopes, a dozen or so switchbacks snaking towards the sea. I can’t claim to riding them fast, gravel on the hard baked surface felt like cornering on marbles. The gradient eased as we neared the coast road and all that was left was to cruise into Kyrenia and meet up with our lift.

Top Class Sport Climbing on Garga Sugu

2011-04-25T13:29:00.002+01:00

With a bit of nosing around we're starting to find that there's more climbing in Cyprus than first meets the eye. From up near the Pendadhaktylos last week we got sight of a big imposing crag looming above the road back towards Kyrenia. Driving beneath it we caught glimpse of the first climbers we'd seen since arriving on the island and jumped at the chance of getting some info. The local scene seems pretty active and despite the divide is island wide. The politics of Cyprus is complex but the leaders would do well to follow the islands resident climbers example. Though few in number they've pooled together, got themselves organised and put up some pretty sensational sports routes. Both Dom and myself forgot most of the detail we were given, but after a return visit yesterday and a bit of detective work on UKC Log Books we think we know what we climbed. The crag is Garga Sugu and it sports about 15 well bolted lines, the harder of which are well out of our league. We started off with the steady and enjoyable Marshmellow (F5) before Hellim (F5+) the latter giving us a starting point to match the routes to the clues on UKC. A grade 5a route with an overhanging 6b start is pretty distinctive and took more than an few goes to get off the ground. Time was short and allowed just one more climb. With Highway to Heaven (6a) we chose well. The classic of the crag or so we were told, I'd say it'd be the classic of any crag. It looked improbable and I was resigned to losing a crab for failing to reach the lower off. But the holds are there, tucked away and hidden, each reach being rewarded. There's loads to go back for, and then there's the other crags we heard about.

The Wrong Way to Kyrenia

2011-04-23T16:58:00.000+01:00

Take a wrong turn on a bike and it can be a long way back to correct yourself, sometimes too long. When your plan B runs into high barbed wire shielding scowling soldiers then you can find yourself a long way from where you wanted to be. This is how Ali and myself came to be eating pizzas on the quay side of the old harbour in Kyrenia. The ride started from the extensive litter strewn picnic site at the top of the pass between Nicosia and Kyrenia. We’d plotted a route on our ancient map which ran Eastwards on the Nicosia side of the crocodile back Kyrenia Range before hoping the ridge and returning, or so we thought on the Kyrenia side of the hills. The ride out was all pretty good, grassed over double track traversing the slope with the Mesaoria Plain stretched out below. We were expecting the worse from the climb up to the pass but a steady gradient passing weathered limestone outcrops and deeply cut gorges made for relatively little effort. Our mistake came at the top, captivated by the sight of distant Kyrenia sitting on the edge of the blue Mediterranean 2000 feet below we charged off into the swinging S bends of the gravel and dirt road. Once trapped we should have paid a dear price for our error, 6 km of re-ascent up the busy dual carriageway back to the truck. Fate played a kind hand however and after the pizzas we bumped into some mates with a pick up truck. As things turned out, a pretty varied days riding.

Thumbs Up to the Pendadhaktylos

2011-04-18T18:20:00.000+01:00

The outline of the distinctive five fingered Pendadhaktylos (740m) was formed, or so it is said by the hand of Dhighenis as he vaulted the mountain to escape the pursing Saracen Horde. Lacking the athletic prowess and stature of Dhighenis, Dom and myself made our ascent by more conventional means. The Eastern most pinnacle of the mountain constitutes ‘The Thumb’ and it was its long East Ridge (V Diff) that was our objective. With my photo copy of a photo copy guide book we knew the route existed but had no description to work off. As it turned out this wasn’t a problem, the 250 odd metres of the ridge are straight and narrow. A steep rib leads in a long pitch to a stance beneath some rotten rock, experience in the Dolomites had taught me to avoid orange coloured limestone so we dodged out right before re-gaining the crest. After that the ridge lay back in a knife edge crest gently rising over exposed steps and pillars. Two abseils saw us over the top and into the col between ‘The Thumb’ and ‘The Clock Tower’ with the ‘Index Finger’ beyond. The Grand Traverse lay before us but we slipped off to the side seeking escape from the sun.

Rattling Around in the North

2011-04-16T17:41:00.000+01:00

The Kyrenia Mountains are within easy striking distance of our base here in Nicosia, or so I thought as I headed out on my road bike this afternoon. The border control into the North is a minor inconvenience but it’s the maze of streets out of town that really cause the problem. In a car the road towards Kyrenia and the hills runs die straight but although I think legal, cycling up this busy dual carriageway would be an unpleasant if not suicidal experience. The enormous flags of Turkey and the disputed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus which adorne the hillside in painted boulders are measured in terms of football fields and are reputably the largest flags in the world. With these as my marker I weaved through industrial estates and scrap yards, unfinished housing estates with their un-tethered Alsatian dogs. Hardly the popular image of the Island of Aphrodite. Things slowly turned more rural as I started to pass floppy eared sheep roaming the streets. My impression is that tarmac is at a premium in this part of world, passing a sentry post a soldier waved my on, either he wasn’t a ‘roadie’ or he was one of the classical mould as the road turned to cobbles that would make Paris-Roubaix look like a velodrome. After a few miles of carefully ridden but intriguing scenery I bounced out on the asphalt again. Aside from the two main passes all of the routes into the mountains offer the same off road experience. Thinking further venture would best be done on another bike I arced back round to the city alongside golden fields of swaying barley. The trip back through the city wasn’t quite as idyllic but the pothole and truck dodging maintained the interest.

Sport Climbing at Kourtelorotsos

2011-04-12T05:00:00.000+01:00

When compared to many of the other Mediterranean islands Cyprus offers surprisingly little in the way climbing. In geological terms Cyprus is surely just one huge lump of limestone standing proud of all around so I’m not so sure why climbing venues should be so limited. The almost two hour drive that Dom and myself made around to the crag of Kourtelorotsos shed some light on the mystery. Shaley, shallow bands of crumbling rock line the motorway as it cuts around the rolling foothills south of the Troodos. Even the valley running up to the crag holds little promise until there it is, four or five huge limestone boulders unexpectedly blocking the way. There’s climbing on all aspects of the boulders no doubt offering welcome shade in the heat of summer. We spent our time on the wide expanse of slab as a cold wind whistled through the narrow cleft between us and the largest of the blocks. The climbing is actually very good, well bolted single pitch sport routes as good as anything I’ve climbed in say the Costa Blanca or Central Europe. We didn’t climb anything hard but all of the routes gave interest and required the odd pause for thought. There are plenty of lines to go back for and with a half dozen or so other crags listed on the Cyprus Rocks website there should be plenty to keep us busy.

Cool Biking in the Mediterianian Snow

2011-04-09T20:15:00.004+01:00

Well, Gareth and myself have found some pretty incredible mountain biking up in the Troodos Mountains today. Thinking that we'd be able to pick up a trail map when we got there we drove from the plains of Nicosia up the winding roads to Troodos Village. The collection of toursit shops and timber shacks which make up this tourist centre isn't really ready for the main season yet leaving little more than the biazarely named 'Ben Nevis' cafe and a sugered nut stall open. Tasty as it was the peanut crunch did little to aid us geographicaly so we rode off into the ancient pine woods following nothing more than your noses and stumbled onto the most fabulous and actualy well marked route, The Artimis Trail. Snaking rocky single track spins round the very summit of Cyprus' highest peak, Mt Olympus (1952m). Given that neither Gareth or myself are yet that bike fit the real bonus came in the fact the in only one short place does the trail rise at all. Though equally no downill is encoutered zipping through the tight trees and balancing alongside considerable drops more than provides enough excitment. I guess on a clear day the Eastern Mediterianian would have been laid out all around us but not today. The mist and the old patches of snow were welcome though, quite different from the flatlands on which we're living.

Whirlwind Tour

2011-04-03T17:49:00.000+01:00

The Cyprus trees were bowed over as I battled out into the wind this afternoon. I found riding a bike again hard enough without this added difficulty. I'm yet to leave the United Nations Protected Area but with a 19km perimetre there's a fair bit of riding to be found inside. Despite the Mesaoria Plain exending for miles around riding in this patch of derelict land still holds interest, where else can you ride out onto the wing of a war time bomber. Out running the stray dogs that roam the area lends an edge to things as well. Whilst I was out a mini twister had spun through the camp picking up on its way a shed roof, a tree and a dog!That's karma my canine friend.

Scheming from Behind the Wire

2011-04-01T16:14:00.002+01:00

My first few days in Cyprus have passed in a bit of blur. My job out here for the next 6 months is far removed from mountaineering and though none of it's that hard there're 101 new things to take in. There's not been time to escape from behind the wire yet but climbing gear has been unpacked, the mountain bike re-assembled and plans drawn for making best use of weekends and evenings.

North Wall of 'The Big Mountain'

2011-03-26T22:13:00.002Z

A dozen or more climbers were readying themselves for a day enjoying the sun bathed rock at Tremadog as we passed by early this morning. A little while later following a couple of false turns arising from that perpetual problem of always being on the fold of the map wherever you are and the suspicion that someone had turned the road signs around Nick and myself arrived in the tiny village of Fron. Walking away from the car in the warm morning sunshine along the Western flanks of Mynydd Mawr did little to prepare us for the adventure ahead. The Ground Up guide book offers two approaches to Adam Rib (HS,4b), it also says 'neither is likely to avoid much cursing'. Being still March the bash through the heather could have been a lot worse. As we headed up in to the shadow of this great North facing cliff a fresh difficulty presented itself, being still March (we'd kind of forgotten that) a keen frost had glazed any rock adding slipping to our existing wading and flailing gait. The avalanche potential of the final scree slope seemed high but we did with certain apprehension eventually make the start of our climb. The rock on the route was by in large dry, though not reassuringly so. I'd have to go a long way back to recall being quite so anxious climbing on such big holds. We both took our time on the lead glad of any protection we could find. To be left on the stances was a cold experience despite synthetic jackets and a woolly hat. The climbing was tremendous though, the situation exhilarating high above the empty cwm. The guidebook description of the narrow rib on the final pitch gave another gem of advice 'follow it quietly to the top', what does that mean? Back in the sunlight on top of the crag keeping quiet about such a great journey was a hard thing.

Big Day on Wales' Grand Old Routes

2011-03-23T21:16:00.002Z

There are many possible climbing enchainments that can be done in North Wales and Nick and myself talked a fair number of them over before settling on today's plan, a combination of routes that neither of us had climbed before. The astonishingly good early Spring weather made for warm work up the steep slopes from the Llanberis Pass to the base of the days first route Reade's Route (V Diff) on Crib Goch. Over the last couple of winter seasons this has become a bit of a classic, if not popular mixed climb. The guide book describes it as 'rather shocking', I guess for the committing stride from the top of the pinnacle at half height. I'd argue that the smooth flat holds and lack of gear in the groove above this is more alarming. It is a good climb though and I'm happy enough for now to stick with just a summer ascent. Quickly dropping down to Bwlch Coch and re-crossing the cwm we found ourselves beneath the second in our trilogy of grand old routes. Rectory Chimney (V Diff) is another great climb on one of the heavy weight crags of the Edwardian Era, Clogwyn y Ddysgl. A devious line amongst some fantastic rock architecture it took more than a little effort to keep the faith and stick with Herbert Carr's original line. Easier looking alternatives reveal themselves throughout, undoubtably luring less guarded climbers to epic destiny. Our praise for H R C Carr didn't last long however. Approximately one hour, which is how long it took the cross the mountain to Clogwyn Du'r Arddu and gain the start of Primitive Route (V Diff). Not our old friends best contribution by a long way but I suppose still all good healthy fun given the context of our day. Hidden amongst the moss and dampness was a solitary sign of anyone ever passing this way before, a home made piton threaded with a length of old hawser. I guess not Herbert's but certainly vintage, a word that nicely describes the day.

Passing the Equinox

2011-03-21T19:56:00.000Z

We crossed the Spring Equinox yesterday though with the mist and drizzle I feel we were robbed of the full 12 hours of daylight. Things are back on track now though. Jo got up into the forest on her bike today where it's been a proper T-shirt afternoon.

Another Fine Spring Day

2011-03-19T20:51:00.002Z

I've a good few days at home now the first of which was bathed in Spring sunshine. Didn't really make too much of it though just pottered about the garden watching the tractors go by.

Light snow doing little to halt the coming of spring

2011-03-13T22:14:00.000Z

Been thinking more about the heat of Cyprus than Welsh winter so felt a little caught out to see a dusting of white over Cader Idris on my way home today. Despite the snow things are definitely becoming more and spring like along the Dulas Valley.

Softer Touch

2011-03-12T21:19:00.000Z

I’ve actually had to get on with some work over the last few days which has curtailed any climbing activity. The odd opportunity has started to appear again now though so I’ve been making the most of things up at Nesscliff. I was bouldering up on the far left hand side of the crag the other day, I think this is the area around the route Red Square. A long unbroken square cut corner line would be easy to spot on any other cliff but at Nesscliff there are dozens of them. The rock round here seems a little softer, even by the local standard. I made little impression on the straight up problems but did find a number of great traverse lines.

Nice Out

2011-03-09T14:01:00.000Z

Been largely classroom or office bound of late despite the fine weather outside. Got this shot of Cader one evening on an all to brief visit back across the border.

Escape to the Hills

2011-03-07T20:47:00.000Z

In amongst all of the more specific training that we’re undertaking for our work in Cyprus a couple of days were dedicated to bringing the team closer together. Foregoing any of the exercises of crossing shark infested custard or sellotaping eggs to make believe space rockets we just all piled across to Ogwen for a day in the hills. The weather couldn’t have been better, clear skies and just the slightest hint of a breeze. Most of the guys hadn’t visited Snowdonia before so a short trip over Tryfan proved an exciting and enjoyable day out. The dusting of snow still hanging around in the shadier spots adding to the novelty. From my point of view the day seemed a little strange, what is usually an every day occurrence will be a bit of a rarity over the next 6 months.

Holds!

2011-03-04T20:39:00.000Z

Working for the Queen isn't bad really. The course of my duties took me to Capel Curig recently and given that in preparation for our forth coming work in Cyprus a good chunk of each afternoon is dedicated to fitness training it seemed reasonable that I should grab an hours climbing on the RAC Boulders. It was great to be back on home turf and in bright sun shine as well. After the Grit and the Sandstone the profusion of positive hand holds were a joy to climb on. With holds comes the 'pump' though, you can't have it all.

Kynaston's Cave Bouldering

2011-03-02T21:51:00.001Z

I managed another hour or so up at Nesscliff a couple of days ago. On my first visit there were a couple of locals playing around in the Kynaston Cave area, I however shyed off round the corner thinking that it all looked pretty hard. This time though finding the crag to myself and with no one to laugh at me struggling to leave the ground I thought I'd have a shot at some of the well chalked problems found thereabouts. Walking up to the problems things looked promising and when I tried there are genuine holds. The sit starts are still eluding me on many of the routes but I reckon I'm getting stronger. Putting things in perspective though Humphrey Kynaston the highway man who gave his name to the afore mentioned cave scaled the crag with his horse on a daily basis. Those who are familiar with the place will agree that he did carry out no small amount of chipping the facilitate this ascent.

Happy St. David's Day

2011-03-01T22:32:00.001Z

A gloriously sunny and mild day here. Not a hint of snow, but the daffodils have made it out for St. David's day. It was lovely to be out this morning with the Corris buggy walking group before returning to the institute for prize winning bara brith. There's other signs of Spring too frog spawn and lambs, though they are hiding in the shed just yet awaiting more settled weather.