Month: December 2008

I have just heard that in a jesture of good will, and to help people get to grips with Craig Y Forwen the Climbers Club will be putting online the latest route information from the 1987 North Wales Limestone guide to Craig Y Forwen. Now the CC think they will get the infomation on by this weekend, however to fill the void this page contains Jpeg’s of the relevant pages. As soon as the CC get the info online I’ll change this post to a link to the CC website page containing the information, as such this is an interim measure, if the CC want to copy the images then please do, or alternatively I can supply them with higher resolution files.

With regards to access to the crag, it is vital that you follow the infomation for access that is below, which is from the BMC website, as access was lost due in part to a parking issue and part to the behaviour of climber towards the local residence and landowner. So be quite at the crag, keep a low profile, don’t shit in the woods, and park in the appropriate place. If its busy then climb elsewhere like Llandulas Cave, The 70 degrees crag or Castle Inn quarry, all of which are within 10 minutes of this crag! For full information visit the BMC website.

How to access Craig y Forwyn
Do not park on the verges off the Issalt Road – otherwise access will be lost. The correct parking is located at a hairpin bend off the Trawscoed Road, in a field above the crag at OS Grid 902(5) 764(5).

To get to this spot, drive along the Isallt Rd. below the escarpment, passing Plas Newydd Caravan Park. At 2 km beyond the caravan park, follow the road as it bends to the right to pass a Chapel on the right. At the following T-junction, turn right and proceed along Dolwen Rd. for approximately 200m until a sharp right turn along Trawscoed Rd. Pass along Trawscoed Rd. for approximately 900m (the last 100m are quite rough) until a sharp right hand hairpin with two gates on the left. Go through the metal gate and park on the grass either side of the farmers track/North Wales Footpath. The field quickly drops away towards the crag, so take care not to park too far down the slope.

Accessing the crag from the agreed parking is easy and convenient – walk from down the inclined field and head for a stile in the right hand corner. This will take you directly into the left hand sections of the crag.

The CC have now got a link for a PDF that will make print the information way quicker here.

Finally the price of Diesel fell to under the £1 barrier, that means that in the last year after the price risen by around 30%, but also fallen by the same amount. If the way the financial crisis is playing out then there might be some considerable fall still in the cost of a tank of fuel. Forget the empty gesture of the government reducing VAT by 2.5%, the general fall in the value of everything seems to be making a far bigger impact.

However is the drop in prices only occurring because people can’t actually afford to buy anything, has the economy stalled? What does it mean for the many people employed in the retail industry. Today Woolworth started there closing down sale, amidst claims from shoppers that the prices just weren’t cheap enough! Well these shoppers have obviously forgotten that the staff of wooly’s will probably be served there P45’s ready for Christmas, but I guess the bottom line for the cash strapped public is bargains, bargains, bargains. Was it that Woolworth’s just couldn’t compete with stores like Tesco Extra and other major supermarket chains, that basically sell what Woolworth’s and the rest of the high street shops do, but also sell all your food and clothing needs under one roof. Meaning that there is no need for a high street anymore.

Compounded by the credit crunch, is this a pattern that we should start to get used to, as the whole economy falls like a house of cards, first the banks, which have been rescued by the government for now, then business like the motor industry, retail, as each industry fails one after the other, where will it leave us? Has Capitalism Failed us? Will we be left with three supermarket chains?

Anyway for now I am relishing the sub £1 a litre fuel prices, despite the fact that there is a distinct lack of work about in a Snowdonia.

This image was taken 10 am on Tuesday morning. The Classic view of Llanberis Pass from the Lakeside Car Park.

Now as well as climb, instruct, rant and rave, I also spend part of my time studying an MSc in Applied Sports Science, in particular I have spent a considerable amount of time looking at Sport Psychology, especially research that looks at climbing. There is one piece of recent research in particular that looked at personality and climbing. The work was by a Bangor University masters student and supervisor Tim Woodman.

Whilst they looked at was whether Narcissism had any effects on performance in a climbing task when comparing leading versus seconding. The argument being that a leading challenge has greater potential for self enhancement in the eyes of others and would therefore have a different effect for climbers higher in Narcissism. If you like it allows for a bigger ego boost than when seconding. One of the interesting interaction that the research has shown is that people higher in the narcissists trait recorded a higher ‘rate of perceived mental exertion’ in the leading task than the seconding task, when compared to people lower in the narcissist trait.

It is important to remember that this research looked at making two groups through median splits of data, so its not say narcissist versus non-narcissist, just a group of people higher in the trait than another group. However, given this research it could possible be argued that a narcissist, making a first ascent in front of a camera where the potential for self enhancement is great would lead to that individual experiencing a higher rate of perceived mental exertion and therefore give a route a higher grade.

Now I have not tested this hypothesis, I am just stretching research that I have seen. It would be a reasonable easy hypothesis to test though, as all you’d need is an ungraded route in a climbing wall, and a selection of climbers to grade it, and then test those individuals for levels of narcissism. It might be an interesting undergraduate research.

I was wondering whether they would pay my next speeding fine or my rent next month?

If you read the last post, then you know that I was called out as part of the Mountain rescue team, what you won’t know was essentially what I was involved in was a body recovery. I have an extremely controversial view point on this type of work that the rescue teams carry out. They certainly don’t represent the official stand point of the rescue team, however it my opinion so i will try and give it to you without upsetting either members of the rescue team or the families of the people we recover, a delicate line to tread.

There are possible three or more types of death that we deal with in the rescue team, natural causes (heart attack, stroke, etc…), Unnatural causes (suicides and Murder) and accidental death (falls and exposure). All require a large team of people, and specially trained MR personnel to deal with these Fatal Incidents Protocol, so that we can collect ‘evidence’ for the police. Last night was no difference, we took a reasonable amount of time filming and noting down what was on scene, as well as photographing everything in detail. Now the last time I was at a fatal incident my experience as a filmmaker, meant I got to film it. However last night I had to take the photos, as my experience a photographer meant I got to be a forensic photographer for the evening.

I have to admit that, on a unfamiliar camera, and shooting on film, meant that the images probably won’t be my best work. Besides the images are property of the North Wales Police (NWP). This is were I bear a bug, in that the police are responsible for maintaining a local resilience forum, that can deal with all type of emergency in any environment, so in north Wales the NWP have a responsibility to provide a mountain rescue solution. However, the NWP or any geographical constabulary are incapable of providing that service, so instead rely on voluntary teams to do the work for them.

Which mean that the NWP basically save themselves a fortune, what I would like to advocate is that we as a rescue team at the very least start invoicing the NWP for the body recovery and evidence gathering service the rescue team provide. If we take last nights incidence as an example, then it would have taken in excess of 44 man hours, which for the physical nature and special skills required of the work would definitely warrant £20 per hour, which would have cost the police £880, and that was before the cost of hiring out the rescue teams two specialist vehicles.

After spending yesterday(Tuesday), firmly out on the side of Meol Siabod in horrendous snow and hail condition, teaching part of a ‘Summer’ ML course. The irony was that the condition at the top of the Hill were more ‘wintery’ than one of the days on my Winter ML training. However in order to achieve the aims of the training course needs must. Today was quite different, as I was route setting inside, with a young lake’s based climber George Ullrich.

I think I had met George before if so, getting off on the wrong foot might be the most diplomatic way of putting it, as I might have approach one of his friends and explained that using the wooden holds on the route they had chosen was, well a. cheating and b. damaging to the holds. George defended his friends, and I defended my stance, with the arrogance of someone who had set the route.

George is a rising star in climbing circles, albeit with apparent reluctance, if the review of the DVD about a year in Ullrich’s climbing life is anything to go by. The next time I met him, he was topping out on the steep section of road as you head up to the beacon climbing centre, he had just ridden from Bangor to set routes. I stopped and offered him a lift the rest of the way, but having done the worst of the cycle George opted to carry on pedalling.

I HAVE TO APOLOGISE HERE, AS I WAS CALLED OUT ON A RESCUE, SO LOST MY TRAIN OF THOUGHT A LITTLE

Anyway having chatted to George about his antics since arriving at Bangor, seems that he has started to attack the *** classics like The Cad and Positron at Gogarth, a good effort given the horrendous weather we’ve had. He has also knocked about the quarries and climbed the bold Scare City in Bus Stop. In my brief meeting with him I got the impression that this quiet design student hides some serious motivation and of course climbing ability.

Whilst I have found films about one climber dull or boring, I am actually looking forward to seeing ‘Call it What You Want’ about young George. As I have heard so much about him yet seen so little. If you are interested in buying a copy of the DVD then may I direct you to V12 Outdoors or Joe Browns, my local retailers, or if you’d like to support the film-maker directly, and help him afford to make more film then Dave Gill will sell you one direct.

In North Wales bouldering Guru, Guidebook producer and all round Mr Nice, has been involved in developing one of the UK premiere training facilities. Dubbed ‘The Mill’ the bouldering facility offers problems from desperate to impossible if you are what might be consider a reasonably good climber. The climbing probably starts at V6 upwards. The concept is based on the ‘School Room’ in Sheffield which had twenty ‘members’ who chipped in for the rent and the cost and time of setting the facility up. I have been invited along a couple of times where I both flailed miserably and took some pictures.

I did manage a problem that the big boys that train there call easy, however it was probably V7! Anyway I hope you enjoy the images.

The only jug on the entire wall!

James Lillie cranking in out.

James King on the Steep Wall

Jemma Powell focuses of the finishing jug!

Jemma Powell

Pete Robin’s who’s put the power of the mill to good use with ascents of Pools of Bethesda V12(?)

Mill Scene

The Man, the Myth, Simon Panton enjoys his vision.

Olly Cain training his front levers, he also showed that training pays off with an ascent of the uber Fontainbleau classic Carnage.

I have been working with the well known instructor Andy Newton today helping him provide a Mountain Leader Training course for well known chain of outdoor centres. Now for some instructors these centres serve as the ‘way into’ the career of instruction, however they often don’t pay that well, and the working conditions are often pushed as far as it is possible to do so and still be legal. The guys that work in this type of centre often only last a year or two before they move onto bigger and better things or exit the industry altogether.

I Work guys like these all the time, on training courses, and it got me thinking about the other ways into our industry which are to either pay for the training and assessment yourself and gain the experience by volenteering, or pay for a ‘Fast Track’ Scheme. Whereby a centre takes thousands of pounds off an individual and basically gets the people through as many qualifications as is suitable in the space of three to six months. Whilst these are enticing on paper, as well as lucrative for centre and even freelance instructor like myself who work on them. The reality of the situation is that despite having ‘paper’ qualifications, those who try and enter instructing this way often find they still have to go and work for one of the well known chain of centres like PGL, Manor, Acorn or Kingswood, and work for very little money to get the experience of working with real groups.

Ironically i have spoken to several centre managers over the years and not one of them would employ someone who had gone through a fast track scheme, as often what you get is an IT consultant that has learnt to jump through hoops to become qualified but who has little related experience in the soft skill of group management. Which begs the question of the validity of a Fast Track to Nowhere versus the apprenticeship of working for a centre that pays you very little but as a consequence does train you up for National Governing Body awards, and get you that hands on experience of with groups as you work.

Olly climbing Slug Club Special, E4 6a whilst being belayed by his dad.

Olly manages a smile in the Artic conditions

Olly climbing Seasmstress, trying to Warm Up!

Well, I can’t say the weather today was as nice as it was yesterday, but I did end up laying in bed with a hangover until midday. It all started with a misunderstand of the date on Facebook event, that is actually next weekend. Which meant I was a week early at the Fricsan in Cwm-Y-Glo, however that meant I was right on time for another great local group Banacabana (sic?), and some wicked afro beats to throw some bad shapes to!

It all ended in too much beer and a long dark walk along the cycle track back to Llanberis. It always gets me that track, basically a straight line from the Fricsan to the Village, yet I only walk it in the pitch dark when i have lost the ability to walk in a straight line or see of that matter. It was a good walk back and I only fell off the the path once, well I have a bruise and a vague recollection of falling.

So my lazy day was justified really. Although I did manage to squeeze in a walk to pick up the van, Pete’s Eat lunch, some photography and a climbing wall session. I hadn’t been out to P’eats for a while and there are a few very nice women serving in there at the moment. One used to brighten my day almost like clockwork when I was living in a house at the top of the Village, when she road past my house in jodpers. I almost lost the ability to talk when she served me today.

Anyway, we eventually headed out to the slate, so Olly could try and climb his hangover off, and so I could try and get some snaps. In my overly self critical nature I actually don’t like any of the images I took today (not olly’s Fault), save for one. It was too dark, and taking photos of an abseil rope in the cold, really increases the camera shake. So they pretty much all came out ‘soft’. You live and you learn.

As I have mentioned relaxing as a strategy to combat anxiety and performance catastrophies, it only seemed appropriate that I gave you a few more pointers, as to how to go about training yourself to be able to relax. Like most skills, relaxation doesn’t neccessarily come naturally, as such you need to practice using it to be able to rely on it when your in those stressful situations.

Firstly it is important to realise that there are numerous ways that you can try to relax, and one will be more effective than others for different people. The more popular ways are controlled breathing, Breathing-mantra, progressive muscle relaxation, transcendental meditation. Whatever relaxation technique you choose, you should aim to practice it at home to start with, and spend 15 to 20 minutes relaxing.

After a few session, once you feel you have started to get the hang of the protocol, try to reduce the length of time it takes to reach a relaxed state, and with it the overall length of the session. What you are trying to eventually achieve through practice is the ability to reach a more relaxed state in a 10 to 20 seconds. Allowing you to relax before leading a route or even when on a route, as your about to embark on the crux section.

There are some more links here:
Progressive Muscle relaxation -MP3 audio
Progressive Muscle relaxation – Video