To make the most of the arctic conditions, I took some students ice climbing today! It was scheduled as being the first training day of a rock climbing expedition group, but we all decided that the activity still had some transferable skills and we ought to make use of the experience. So instead of a… Read more

Woke up to a little more fresh snow this morning. Needless to say, it was chaos on the roads, after a few false starts, I got to where I needed to be! Things became much more relaxed once my students and I reached the woods where we were to spend the day discovering, exploring and… Read more

With ice climbing conditions starting to form in the mountains, but without any available daylight hours, I decided to head out into the night to see how frozen things were in Cwm Idwal. It was a particularly cold and clear night. It was -2°C at The Cottage when John picked me up and two degrees… Read more

There was snow falling while I walked home from my friend Dave’s house last night. By morning, not much more had fallen, but there was enough of a covering to give away the passing of unseen animals – a fox, rabbit and various birds… The forecast which has lent towards a wild weather day had… Read more

There’s been a tantalising dusting of snow across North Wales over the weekend and temperatures have been very low, which peaked my winter climbing curiosity! With a clear(ish) day of weather forecast, we decided to postpone our planned day of rest and go and see what winter conditions prevailed. When the alarm went off, I… Read more

After the warm rock of Greece, things felt a bit more tame climbing indoors this week. It was far too cold/damp to be trying to climb outside though! As well as a social trip to the wall, I’ve also spent a day with some keen students. We got warmed up on the crazy climb which… Read more