Gogarth Traverse

With the consistently warm temperatures James, Ian and myself decided to take the opportunity to traverse the cliffs around Gogarth Bay. We scrambled down by North Stack, going through the cave into Parliment House and all the way along until we exited at the end of Main Cliff.

Along the way we found some nice climbing sections, a few jumps and a bit of swimming to keep us cool.

Cyrn Las, The Skull

Today I enjoyed the warm and sunny day up on Cyrn Las, Llanberis Pass. We climbed the Skull (E4 6a) which is a magnificently positioned route especially the top pitch. Unfortunately I wasn't cruising today with 6a pitch being a bit of a battle, good practice for Yosemite though! The last pitch is certainly the best, with great exposure.

Intro to White Water

Over the weekend I had a pleasant time with year 8 & 9 pupils from King Edwards School, Birmingham. All were keen to become hardened white water paddlers. First stop Mile End Mill on the River Dee.

As you can imagine other venues were extremely dry, but there was more than enough to do on the River Dee. I'm not too sure though if the kids enjoyed the kayaking or the swimming and jumping at the end of each day!

North Wales Rock

Upon return to Wales it seems the summer conditions are back.

Yesterday I went to Rhoscolyn with Rich leading the Mask of the Red Death (E3) and Savage Sunbird (E2). Both great routes on good rock. Fortunately there was a faint breeze keeping the temperatures pleasant.

Today I went up to Clogwyn Y Geifr at the back of Idwal to climb Devil's Fissure (E2) and a pitch of Hell-Bent (E2). Both provide good thought provoking climbing with surprisingly steep 2nd pitches.

White Water Coaching, Slovenia

I returned to Wales today after 24 hours of driving across the Europe, fortunately with all 4 wheels. The wishbone was making funny noises and with no last minute parts available the Slovenian mechanic assured us it would all be ok as long as we travelled slowly along the 'rail road' (I think he meant motorway). "No more than 120 km/h" he said - I wasn't planning on going much faster.

It has been sunny and hot all week, a pleasure to be kayaking in cooler water of the Soca. With everyone paddling well we were cruising the grade III sections, seeking out more challenging grade IV rapids to discuss lines and techniques. We finished the last two days with a great paddle down to Kobriad and laps on the Slalom site (+IV).

If anyone is looking to be comfortable at grade IV Slovenia provides great coaching sites, please contact me about next years course. info@sea2summit.net

More photos on Flickr

Slovenia - canyons, climbing and quads

I'm currently out in Slovenia ready for a white water course I'm running next week. This week though it's just a holiday and I have been exploring the Soca Valley. There are few sport climbing venues in the area, many interesting canyons and we also took the opportunity to hire some quad bikes for the afternoon.