M Reeves – MIA, MSc and now WML

Sorry that I didn’t post last night, but things overtook me, as I was told that I passed just before dinner at Allt Shellach, which meant by the end of dinner I had topped up the first few beers, and totally forgot to add something here or on my twitter feed. I have to admit to being rather coy in my previous post, about feeling the day went well, as my feedback after each day was extremely positive. With both Carlo my PYB boss and Dave Evans my friend and colleague from PYB both being extremely impressed with how I presented myself for this assessment.

I know many of my friends said they didn’t have a doubt, but the Winter ML is possibly the hardest 5 day assessment I have ever had. I am a climber, and this required a whole new skill set to judge and manage people in the Scottish Winter terrain. Hopefully from my blog over the last month or two, you have come to see just how important it was for me not just to pass but to do well. The final de-breif from the man who does the booking of freelance staff at PYB, was amazing. I don’t really want to go too much into what was said, however I had impressed him with my skills and knowledge. Even more importantly we are going to chat about where I can go from here in the future with regards to directing summer ML training courses and assessing on them. Which was a reason for me pursuing this award, as it opens up a whole load more work for me.

I have to say that my performance on teh course is down to many peoples help, my friend Martin Chester help me get 6 days observation of the PYB staff on the hill in winter conditions. During that time Stu MacAleese spent a day during staff training drilling me with snowpack assessment, and then followed it up when I was observing him on a Winter Mountaineering course. I also followed Dave Evans and saw a many other staff teaching basic winter skills like walking with and without crampons, using the ice axe and ice axe arresting. Along with this observation came a lot of encouragement from the other staff at the centre.

I also have to thank Katie Haston for her Headtorch, its better than mine, which is why you hadn’t got it back yet. Maybe next week. Also Andy Newton leant me his copy of Chance in A Million, which I read and re-read in the week leading up to my assessment. There are probably more people to thank, for now I am back home in Wales, and looking forward to teaching on a winter skills course at PYB, I only wish there was a winter down here, maybe next week!

Its been an emotional journey, and finally after all those days alone in the Scottish hills its paid off. Now its cragging time unless you have some winter work for me!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *