What a great couple of weeks it has been! I’ve been too busy climbing, working and exploring in Pembrokeshire to write any blog updates, so here is a sum up of the last couple of weeks, and the bank holiday weekend climbing in Pembrokeshire…. The weathers been almost non-stop good, great tides and magical sunsets, great clients and new routes climbed to boot!
We had a great day with Sicco and Hannah, a father and daughter from Germany (who thankfully spoke perfect English…). Hannah was psyched to get on any climb she possible could, and at only 9 shows great promise for the future should she keep it up, whilst dad Sicco had done loads of sport climbing previously – so he cruised his first trad lead climb here on the Pembrokeshire sea cliffs.
Sicco happy having led his first trad route!
We had a day out with some local instructors who have got their SPA assessments coming up. This award lets them take groups of novices onto single pitch crags, a vital stepping stone in the ladder to being a successful outdoor instructor. We went through top and bottom roping, group abseils, and problem solving. We were luck to have some willing guinea pigs come along for the guys to practice on too!
Teaching SPA Skills to Instructors
It’s almost a tradition now for people to spend the bank holiday climbing in Pembrokeshire, and with the release of the excellent Climbers Club Pembrokeshire guidebooks, we are definitely noticing the area is getting busier, with crags that were relatively unexplored before, now having frequent visits.. Luckily for us we know more secret spots (and whole crags with no routes on!) so we were able to escape the crowds with Si and Elliot on a learn to lead course over the Bank Holiday Weekend…
Seconding a climb in Pembrokeshire
We visited several crags on the first day, looking at loads of belays and rope work, gear placements and of course climbing heaps of classic routes, and on the second day, from being relative novices, both Si and Elliot were doing their first trad lead climbs. Great effort guys and thanks for a great weekend with good company…
Lead Climbing Course in Pembrokeshire
I was lucky to have bank holiday Monday off for a rare change, and was rearing to get out and have a climb, and being super sunny and warm, a dip in the sea. Not many places in the work you can go on what is one of the busiest tourist days of the year, and have the crag to yourself, right by the turquoise sea, watch Porpoises and seals and swim in the warm(ish!) water to cool off as it’s too hot! Magical! Gotta love bank holidays in Pembrokeshire climbing with the cliffs to yourself!
Stunning St David’s Head
Once the crowds had departed from Pembrokeshire, the weather was still awesome, and the tides perfect for some exploration. We spent the day looking at lead climbing skills at a very unexplored crag near Newgale, with some excellent established routes, great to learn to lead climb on, it should be more popular – but we’re not complaining! We had the pleasure of doing a couple of first ascents during the day, the most memorable being up a pinnacle, with a proper pointy summit necessitating a counterbalance abseil decent. Throughout the day our only company was a couple of seals that watched us pretty mush non-stop… I’m excited to get back here and check out more of the new routes…
Exploring new routes in Pembrokeshire