Please note I was not climbing - DLOG won't let me put in shadow/assists without naming a climb. But this is one route I rigged for the clients.
Shadowing and assisting Sam Leary on a one day Boost your Confidence MTA day.
0900-1900
Movement skills on boulders
Rigging multiple systems and working around other groups
Supervising pairs, building on Sam's words
Too roping, ghost ropes to simulate leads
Very much learning the session and things to do with clients and ways to manage a day from the meet and greet to the debrief.
This session was fantastic. I think that working with such an experienced specialist in movement coaching really paid off. I've since been back to Tremadog Upper Tier and discussed with a fellow RCI trainee how I've seen the crag used for groups.
Sam uses every part of the day to talk about climbing and talk about it in context. The walk up isn't straight forward with a selection of obstacles in the way and from the road, Sam talks about walking, watching how we're walking and turning the implicit into the explicit - we're planning where to put our feet once the ground gets a bit bumpier.
She takes this to the next level after reaching the bottom of the crag on a 'journey' up to the top. Planning, Precision, Placement of feet. Doing some of the scramble sections only using hands for opposition etc. Small steps not great big ones and the reasoning behind this.
I also saw how everything was thought out - getting the stretch out of the rope, moving between pairs to talk, getting belay demonstration out of the way etc.
Sam and I discussed in the van whether to introduce placing gear. This was feedback at the end that some would have liked but we decided against this which was probably wise. None of them were really too fussed about it and only two 'led' on a ghost rope.
Sam's style is something that I'd like to emulate - teaching in context and making everything relevant.
Total 10 hours
Area :
Tremadog, Porthmadog, Aberglaslyn, Nantmor and Croesor
This Area includes the popular crags of Tremadog and also the nearby Porthmadog crags, plus the opportunities in Aberglaslyn and the nearby perma-dry Carreg Hyll-Drem. Tremadog is the comfort zone of Welsh trad crags. For a relaxing day out on routes well within your ability, or to test yourself on something harder, you can’t beat this roadside crag with integral café. The sun is always shining, and the routes are always very pleasant. Climbing heaven. UK Climbing says of Bwlch y Moch, ‘One of the best crags in Wales, with multi-pitch routes up to 250ft. Many classic including Christmas Curry (S), One Step In The Clouds (VS 4c), The Plum (E1 5b), the unbeatable Vector (E2 5c), Void (E3 6a), Zukator (E4 6a) and of course Strawberries (E7 6b). Often busy with people exiled by the weather in the Pass.’ But don’t forget Pant Ifan, with Poor Man’s Peuterey (S), Scratch (VS 4c), Itch (E2 6a) and the immaculate Silly Arete (E3 5c), and Creag y Castell, ‘Some great classics in the lower grades on perfect rock; tends also to be quiet. Single- and multi-pitch routes up to 220ft such as the wonderful Creagh Dhu Wall (HS 4b), One Step in the Crowds (E1 5b), The Wasp (E2 5c), Mensor (VS 4c) and Pellegra (E3 6a).’
