After running a massive amount of RCI and RCDI training and assessments this last year, I thought I’d put some thoughts down on how best to prepare and consolidate to answer the question – how to pass you RCI…? Go Climbing!! First things first – the minimum requirements are ABSOLUTE minimum, and shouldn’t be the target – aim for well above. This is the case for the RCI training course too, we’re seeing people coming on the course with very limited experience, meaning they’re not absorbing all the info over the 3 days. The d-log says 15 trad leads and 5 sport climbs?! Id say come with at least ..read more

The RCDI course is the award for teaching the skills for trad and sport climbing and leading in a single pitch environment. We’re super proud to be one of the 4 providers in Wales for it! Whilst the venue remit of the award will be the same as the RCI, it will fill a gap between that and the MCI. The fact you need to be a committed hillwalker, mountaineer and ML holder for the MCI has in the past put many people off from moving up the awards ladder. With these barriers removed for this award, we’re going to see loads of amazing climbers and coaches moving to the next step, and I love being inv ..read more

Before heading to Costa Blanca I’d heard really only of the Bernia Ridge, as it seems to be the one all Brits have done. Everyone speaks very highly of it – they clearly haven’t done any of the others!! I didn’t realise there were so many beautiful ridge lines here, with amazing natural sweeps of limestone forming great knife-edge ridges many hundreds of meters (or kilometres!) long. The first one we did was totally by chance as we drove along and spotted the immaculate Benicadell Ridge – which made us go wow and immediately find out info about it. In no particular order, below is a one senten ..read more

The RCDI course is the award for teaching the skills for trad and sport climbing and leading in a single pitch environment. We’re super proud to be one of the 4 providers in Wales for it! Whilst the venue remit of the award will be the same as the RCI, it will fill a gap between that and the MCI. The fact you need to be a committed hillwalker, mountaineer and ML holder for the MCI has in the past put many people off from moving up the awards ladder. With these barriers removed for this award, we’re going to see loads of amazing climbers and coaches moving to the next step, and I love being inv ..read more

Well, what a ride. From the elation of passing my WMCI in March to having to find alternative work for much of the year, 2020 has been a year of ups and downs! During the first lockdown I spent three months working at the local hospital as a porter, waiting for the first wave (that never really came to far South West Wales) when the weather was nothing but clear blue skies everyday – 3 months of what would have been perfect climbing conditions! With my contract over at the hospital as all the extra staff simply weren’t needed, there was quite a period of not knowing when we’d be allowed to wor ..read more

Well, what a ride. From the elation of passing my WMCI in March to having to find alternative work for much of the year, 2020 has been a year of ups and downs! During the first lockdown I spent three months working at the local hospital as a porter, waiting for the first wave (that never really came to far South West Wales) when the weather was nothing but clear blue skies everyday – 3 months of what would have been perfect climbing conditions! With my contract over at the hospital as all the extra staff simply weren’t needed, there was quite a period of not knowing when we’d be allowed to wor ..read more

Well, what a ride. From the elation of passing my WMCI in March to having to find alternative work for much of the year, 2020 has been a challenge! Initially in the first lockdown I spent three months working at the local hospital as a porter, waiting for the first wave (that never came to far South West Wales) when the weather was nothing but clear blue skies everyday – 3 months of what would have been perfect climbing conditions! With my contract over at the hospital as all the extra staff simply weren’t needed, there was quite a period of not knowing when we’d be allowed to work. When we we ..read more

The blog has been neglected recently, but now finding extra time on my hands, here’s a whistle stop tour of what we got up to this winter after our Nepal trip in the Autumn… The Alps We drove out to the Ecrin on Boxing Day, with the hope of some skiing and ice climbing, lots of good food and time in the hills not working. The ice conditions in the Ecrin and the low level ice options in the Alps in general were non-existent, so that was sadly put on the back burner.. We had a lovely few days skiing and some snow shoe adventures, all in glorious warm sunshine, with a particularly memorable New Y ..read more

This Autumn I was in Nepal again, guiding on Mera Peak for Jagged Globe. The full team assembled in Kathmandu ready for their climb of Mera Peak after a smooth journey from various start points. We had a short space of time to check kit and make final preparations before an early departure to Ramechhap for the much anticipated flight to Lukla. Shiv welcomed the team and gave them a rundown of the trip, while between the two of us we ensured all the necessary arrangements were in place. Flying to Lukla We were accompanied to Ramechhap by Kewal, who impressively facilitated our baggage and us th ..read more

A ..read more