Month: April 2010

After running a successful ‘How to Big Wall Course’ earlier in the month I am keen to offer this course again sometime over the summer. At present I am going to set a date in early July (Sat/Sun 3rd and 4th), although if you are keen to attend but can’t make those dates then I am more than willing to swap them about. For more details you can visit my Snowdonia Mountain Guides to see what we covered.

Similar I have spent several weeks already this year teaching on Lead Climb Coaching Course for both Plas Y Brenin and the University of Wales, Bangor through the Conway Centre, and for Andy Newton. What I offer on these courses is a systematic approach to improving your leading by first coaching you on better movement, and coaching you how to find and develop rest. We then look at applying this in a sports climbing situation, so you can practice these skills in a leading but ultimately safe environment, with additional tactics for leading. Before finally moving onto rope work, gear placement and trad leading. This course can last from two days to five, and the climbing often takes place of Snowdonia Classic rock routes.

Alternatively you might just want to benefit from as much enjoyable and inspirational rock climbing as possible, and come out for a day, a weekend or a week with me and follow me up the classic rock routes of your dreams from the ultimate mountain experiences to Wales’ best Sea Cliff adventures.

A common and fundamental mistake that many climbers make is being clumsy with their feet. They scrabble them about both indoors and out, like they were some cartoon creature trying to do some comedy climbing up a wall. If you are guilty of this then stop it right now with these few easy steps.

Firstly bad footwork is associated with noise coming from your feet, so try climbing silently, this will usually slow you down. If this isn’t enough then there are a couple of other things you can do.

The first is to practice using stick on targets on an indoor wall or simply put a few dabs of chalk in a variety of places close to the ground when outside. Standing away from the wall, try and get the tip of you big toe to just touch the target.

Next look at a traverse and examine the holds, look at each one in detail and try and envisage the best way for your foot to be placed on it. Then try and complete the traverse placing your feet only as you envisaged on the holds.

If it is an indoor wall then the holds might be too big, so you can make the task harder by balancing corks on the holds, and complete the traverse by knocking off as few holds as possible.

All of these and many more exercises on movement, body position and technique make up the fundamental climbing movement skills that are covered in depth in my forthcoming book How to Climb Harder, published by Pesda Press

Well the good news is that the final run of work on my book is taking place over the coming weeks. I still have a handful of images to take, but my hope is that by the beginning of next week those will be done and dusted, and an official draft document will be out for a chosen few to look over and comment on.

The plan is that by the 4th August the book will be heading out towards shops and other retailers. So if you are eagerly awaiting this book, which will help any body from beginning to more advance climber address and improve there climbing, or you are an instructor looking for ideas as to how to teach different aspect of climbing then this is the book for you.

The main distributor is Cordee, however the book will be available through Amazon or direct from Pesda Press. If you are the buyer for and climbing shop then please pre-order a few copies ready for the launch of this great new resource. Unlike any book that has come before it, the book as bags of practical exercises and top tips, as well as simply hundreds of photos and diagrams to explain to you, just how you can improve your movement technique, fitness, safety and mental approach to climbing.

Much of the book has applied lessons I have learned from years as a climbing instructor, and more recently applied the science of skill aquisition and sport psychology and performance physiology learnt on a taught Master Degree and one of the UK’s leading Universities for Sport, Health and Exercise Science, at Bangor North Wales.

I can’t tell you how excited I am that the finish line is in sight, and that finally the book is looking as good as it is. My hope is that many readers get as much out of the book as I did writing it. As I believe that spending the last couple of years working through and actually considering how, what and why I teach the different aspects of climbing, as made me one of the leading climbing coaches in the UK.

Whats more the photos and diagrams will be available for any coach to use as free downloads from the pesda press website

I ran a great ‘how to Bog Wall’ course at the weekend for four great clients, we covered lots of skills required for Big Walling, as well as having a great time. Here are a few photos from the course. If you are keen to come on one of these courses then they can be arrange over a weekend to suit your needs, and require a minimum of two people to run, at £150 per person.