I have had a great weekend working on a lead climb coaching weekend for Plas Y Brenin. I had two clients who climb together regularly. Which meant we had a great crack from the word go. They climb a lot so I got them started on Oberon at Tremadog and they made quick work of that, so they went onto climb Yogi and then Rio.
The programme for the weekend had a 5.30 evening session, with the words, “Skill appropriate for the course”. The skills we were focus on were tactics for climbing harder. Like placing gear from appropriate places and saving energy. Having got them to put them into practice all day and them asking to climb on the Slate and Gogarth if possible. I decide the appropriate thing for them was to try pushing themselves on second on the Slate.
So I took them up Last Tango in Paris in Vivian Quarry, as it filled the box of them seeing just how small a ledge can be to rest on if the route is off vertical, but also it is a fantastic route in a great setting. I tried my best to practice what I had been preaching all day so they could see how it can be applied to harder routes. They were a bit nervous as they hadn’t really climb E1 before, but they did fine and we all had a good evening.
The following day they were really keen for Gogarth so we went to Castel Helen. Which made a lot more work for me than somewhere like tremadog, but I always think it is worth it. Afterall I love Gogarth and really enjoy introducing people to the climbing there. They led Light House Arete and then Adam lead to the top pitch of Rap. It was a great weekend with great company and I got the impression that the guys really enjoyed and learnt how to change their tactical approach to climbing to improve their grade and make routes feel easier.