After planning to stay on in the climbing wall, where I’ve been doing some staff training on the National Indoor Climbing Wall Award (NICAS), we were delighted to find that at the end of the course, the sun was starting to burn through. We went straight outside and over to Vivian Quarry in Llanberis to Read more

Out on the track by The Cottage, Spring is starting to make an appearance…  And with the weather forecast set hit 20 degrees next week, it feels great to be back here. The bumble bees are busy working the new catkins! Loads of them, but none would sit still long enough for a photo! Finding Read more

Although winter conditions are still going strong across Scotland and the Alps, my time spent shuffling about on skis has probably come to an end for this season. For anyone with the time and resources though, it looks like great ski touring will still be available well into May and beyond, especially up high!   Over Read more

Travel by ski has been replaced by a combination of planes, trains and automobiles. Recent movements have taken us in and out of several countries over the past few days. We made it through France and Switzerland, flew to England and then drove back to Wales in time to sort out the kit, spend a Read more

Snuck in a second attempt on the highest peak of the area: the (imaginatively named) Grand Mont today! Reaping the benefits of yesterday’s ‘Alpine Rest Day’, we were up early, intending to catch the first bus down to the town of Areche.  We got an unexpected bonus at the bus stop though, where Clare discovered Read more

Operating in the Alpine environment is both a rewarding and an exhausting business. Ever since my first Alpine adventures over twenty years ago, the notion (and importance) of the ‘Alpine Rest Day’ has been instilled in me by my various mentors, yet remains lacking from any instruction books. This short article aims to plug that Read more