Another busy week at work this week! I was working on the Touching Stone course for young people. Unfortunately the weeks weather hasn't been great so we have climbed quite alot in the rain and had to be quite inventive with the crags that we use. I was with brothers Luke and Dan from Harrogate. Both lads have climbed extensively indoors and have competed in the BRYCS.

We visited many crags including Tremadog Upper Tier, Castle Inn Quarry, Tremadog (Bwlch y Moch), Crag x and Craig y Forwyn. Both of the lads entered a mini bouldering competition on Thursday where they took 1st and 3rd place respectively, taking home a single rope and a t-shirt.

Arrived back from the Alps on Friday, we didn't get a route in on the last couple of days as it was raining in Switzerland. Back here the forecast was pretty similar. Today we dodged the showers at Tremadog. We managed to avoid the rain all day only getting caught by a small passing shower. This was Grahams 2nd climbing day in Wales so I wanted to take him somewhere different. Firstly I led him up The Plumb (E1 5b) in one long pitch, a fantastic pitch with interest all the way up. Then we headed to the right and Graham led up Leg Slip (E1 5b), another route I haven't done and a very good route. I then led up Venom (E3 6a) which I found very tricky. After 1 fall I got there in the end. Feeling a bit pumped we finished on The Fang (HVS 5a) where I took the 1st pitch and Graham took the second. Nice to get back on the rock but I am feeling weak! Must do some more training!

After loosing my axe, Kenny and I had to head down to Chamonix to pick up my mountaineering axe to replace it. So as we were down we had a burger and some beers. This morning we took an early lift up the Aguille Du Midi but got off at the half way station. Our plan of action was the classic Frendo Spur. As we didn't get the first lift, there were several teams ahead of us but by the time we had got to a hard section and roped up, we had passed them all. There was one other team we passed higher up, they had bivied out over night. The rock was dry and clear from snow, there were a few snow patches here and there but never required us to put our crampons on. We were able to move pretty swiftly and we really wanted too because we didn't want to be on the snow crest when it get soft and mushy in the midday sun. Also we didn't really want to bivi out. We did carry bivi kit with us which we didn't need but we still made a swift ascent, topping out in 6 hours. All the rock sections were pretty steady and we only pitched a handful of times. The snow crest was exciting, we mover together all the way up to the steep ice section which was probably like Scottish grade 4. Really good route, another top day out in the Alps. The weather looks to be turning in a little so were going to head to Switzerland and see what we can find there.

Our hiding place just after dodging the rock fall

Today felt like a hard day! We summited Mont Maudit at the top of the Frontier Ridge at 10am after setting off at 5am in the morning. I know the problem was that we weren't acclimatised at all, and we had climbed up to 4465m, and only arrived in Chamonix the day before yesterday. Anyway the route was fantastic! The climbing was very exposed but never too difficult. The were quite a few snowy ridges which felt a little spooky but generally fun to climb over. The rock was generally pretty sound, plenty of loose stuff so we had to tred carefully. Unfortunately a team up ahead didn't tred carefully and one climber took a fall bringing off alot of rock with him. At this point Kenny and I were moving together up a steep snow slope with no protection but fortunately we had space to move to the right as fast as we possible could to just miss all the falling rock. If we were 20 seconds slower there would have been no avoiding it! We checked the climber was OK the scooted past them so we were above everyone else. The hardest part of the route for me was the last 100m height gain along the snow slopes, I could hardly walk! Note to self acclimatise before climbing to 4465m.

From the top we walked down to Col du Maudit and Col du Midi, picked up out gear stash and walked up the the Midi Ridge. At the lift I put my ice axe down for 5 minutes while I nipped to the loo in the station and somebody nicked it so I am now down a Petzl Quark Adze. If you have one for sale, let me know!

So after arriving last night in Chamonix, Kenny and I got the first lift up the Aguille Du Midi and headed over to the Triangle on Mont Blanc du Tacul for a warm up route, we climbed a combination of pitches, 4 in total and then abbed off. The ice was generally good and this climb allowed us to blow a few cobwebs away and remember how to use axes and crampons! I think we mainly followed the German Couloir. A super warm day with many teams out on the Chere Couloir. After we abbed of we went and got our bags and made the 3-4 hour walk around to the Arete de La Brenva. Whilst walking over we saw a team lifted off a rock route, amazing to watch to watch the skill of the reacue team! We climbed a short and steep couloir to get up onto the ridge where we met the bivi hut. This small hut was really nice, we were the first team there but within 10 minutes of arriving 10 other climbers arrived to the small bivi. A cosy and socialable night.

Arrived at Chamonix, weather looking great. Time to pack for some climbing.

This week I have been working with a group of young people going through their Duke of Edinburgh Gold. The week was all about interacting with others, working as a team whilst carrying out some fun activities. On Monday we went up to a very busy Tremadog Upper Tier for a spot of bouldering and rock climbing where we looked at rock climbing skills such as movement, technique, belaying, rope work skills and pushing it hard. On Tuesday we went sea level traversing which involved climbing, jumping and swimming! So much fun. In the evening I met up with Donald and we went bouldering at the RAC boulders. On Wednesday we went kayaking and canoeing on the lake outside the centre, again I met up with Donald and went bouldering at the Cromlech boulders. Thursday we scrambled up Tryfan, we had very poor visibility and rain all day! I have to say, not all the kids loved this! Finally today we went Gorge walking, basically getting really wet and having a splash, brilliant way to finish the week. Now I'm driving out to the alps for a few days!

Today I was out with Matt and Rhyse and we headed up to Cyrn Las in Llanberis Pass. It has been dry for the last few days so we knew that it would be a good option. We climbed Lubyanka (E3 5c) which is a stunning route. We all got a 5c pitch and was a great route to climb in a 3. Many teams out on Main Wall (HS), in fact I counted 6 teams up there. After this we headed to Hidden Walls where I led up Rembrant Pussy Horse (E3 6a) and then Matt led up El Guide Direct (E3 5c). Rhyse had a shot on What a Difference a Day Makes (E4 6a) but got too pumped and bailed. A good day, despite being a bit chilly.