Dave Bowes thinks he's so pretty! But is he pretty enough for 8a?

Dave in competition (Pretty good!)

Dave Bowes thinks he's so pretty! But man... I think he's ugly, cause me and Ali are much prettier!

Much Prettier!

'... Even the sweat on his own head runs backwards from his face... He's so ugly... My crocs are even prettier than he is, and they are ugly man...'

A little prettier?

Finding your climbing style takes time, like learning to box well, I expect, never done it! It's hard trying to look so pretty when your body is being busted with explosive movements or drowning in lactic acid, but me and Ali do our best!

Dave is asking me why I don't send the 8a (I demonstrated it for Finalcrux Films last year with one slip... Woopsie!) But I keep telling him that until I get my tooth fixed, then I'm just not pretty enough to send the route...

Dave has a great climbing style, but he is gonna have to get much prettier!

OK, maybe he is pretty?

Pretty good?

... But we are much prettier!!!

Dave's chosen charity that inspires him to fight the demons of living with a hidden brain injury is pretty good...

Tougher days

                                            

#dosomefingerstrengthtrainingprettyboy!

Getting to the CORE of where we might be going...

Jay working his Ormes (North Wales, UK) project 2014

I am seeing big changes in Jay in the last month; confidence and self esteem growing, social confidence with others, but his strength is on the move now and bouldering with him at this level is making me realize that if I can climb 8's with a few weeks focus, then whats stopping Jay getting to that level.

He trains harder than anyone I've climbed with (well except Haston - he would train my core till I could barely stand in the Pyrenees). Jay is working his core pretty hard now and I am sure this will help connect his movements and coordination.

Core work in the cave with Haston

But the real journey we are on is not getting Jay to 8a as quickly as possible (that will come). We are knocking on the door of  7's at the moment and we will both need to learn how we find a way to reduce the complexity of dealing with the more athletic and mentally demanding ground of the upper 7's when we get there, but we will.

The real journey is finding a way to share Jay's experience with other kids with autism through climbing and I expect that Jay will assist me in coaching others and help me to understand and improve what we are doing with more focus on delivering what works.

 My focus is working alongside Jay to develop Paraclimbing Coaching and to learn from him as much as I possibly can and make sure he has the best opportunities possible in climbing to better his life. And that's the difference with Paraclimbing for me. Its not improving your grade to 8a for thrills, it's improving peoples lives in the most profound way if we take risks now and try to get it right

Coach Jay! A nice sound to it...

Jay and the girls at ROCFest, Manchester (UK)

... So next stop CWIF in Sheffield to enjoy the climbing festival ...

Climbing for All - Disability Awareness in Rock Climbing - The Outdoor Partnership, North Wales

Climbing for All - Disability Awareness in Rock Climbing

The Outdoor Partnership have organised a ‘Climbing for All Disability Awareness in Rock Climbing’ Workshop to raise awareness and impart knowledge of disability climbing to those volunteering and working in the outdoors in North Wales. The workshop will be delivered at one of North Wales’ climbing walls on Saturday 25th April 2015 by Graeme Hill at a subsidised rate of £5.

Graeme specialises in disability in the outdoors, he is the GB Paraclimbing team manager and is a member of the British Mountaineering Council Equity Steering Group. 

The workshop will be open to individuals and organisations who would like to see the provision of climbing for disabled people increase for those living in North Wales through community clubs and centre based activities.

How individuals and organisation may benefit from attending the course:

·         Club volunteers who would like to be able to provide inclusive club climbing sessions and are working towards an insport accreditation.

·         SEN and mainstream school teachers and staff who would like to gain more knowledge of the sport to feel confident in organising climbing sessions for the pupils

·         Parents, family members and care workers who would like to gain more knowledge of the sport to feel confident in taking disabled people to organised climbing sessions and community climbing clubs.

·         Providers and outdoor centre staff who would like to increase their provision of climbing for disabled people in North Wales

(For those holding a Mountain Training qualification this course is included as part of Mountain Training’s Continual Professional Development (1 point) and has also received endorsement from Association of Mountaineering Instructors).

For more information about the course please contact your local Outdoor Activities Development Officer or to reserve a space please email marian.lloyd.roberts@outdoorpartnership.co.uk.

 www.partneriaeth-awyr-agored.co.uk

www.outdoorpartnership.co.uk

Route Setting for Paraclimbing. It's Orange!

Good route setting is hard man!

Good Paraclimbing setting is hard man...

It was great that a recent UK bouldering comp got a few of the GB Paraclimbers down to share their experiential knowledge with the paracomp setters before the comp... There's a lot of 'comp' in this paragraph?!

It was also great that the same comp organisers (ROCfest) changed the podium presentations for the Paraclimbing event to run alongside the presentations of the other categories instead of the scheduled plan. Another accidental win for this great event at ROCfest... Its called inclusion. It was one of the best comps I've been to and the atmosphere was awesome...

ROCfest Paraclimbers enjoying their podium

Inclusion works two ways... Awesome display of 

strength from the male and female Senior Cats. (Nice bobble hat gorgeous woman)

But here's the stuff I love about Paraclimbing: When it comes to route setting, we may need to begin to move away from inclusiveness with the route sets (in competition) and aggressively segment the setting so that it tries to achieve the following:

• Is more specific to Paraclimbing categories (upper limb, lower limb etc..)
• Highlights the category competitor's specialist abilities and athletic ability specific to their catergory
• Understands the specialist techniques currently employed and challenges the competitors to advance their techniques in example more core orientated setting...

This is an 8a in Pyrenees That I believe I could coach an upper limb Category up

 (with appropriate core and technique training)

So for instance, one might set a technical roof route with various knee bars like the above video that would test perhaps an upper limb category with one arm on both technical roof climbing but with realistic opportunities to heel and toe lock or knee bar and shift enough weight to the core and lower limbs in an athletic way to allow for the next hand movement, as opposed to forcing the climber to just get their feet up and slap to the next hold, after hold after hold until their power is quickly sapped.

The Physical Variances

So the facts are that if you have one leg, then that means you have one rock shoe and two hands. It's a study of movement in it's own right and that is what Paraclimbing route setting has to unpeel and then deliver for the most spectacular Paraclimbing  Competition events. Do this well and we get to really show what these dudes are about.

Its Orange!

BMC GB Paraclimb Team Manager: Graeme Hill enjoying
 the comp at ROCfest

I could go on about route setting in Paraclimbing for hours, but I won't,... Just set it.

A New Paraclimbing Centre Project for Suzi Rees

Was speaking with Suzi Rees from Deaf Climbing UK the last night and she told me of her latest project.

It's no secret that I think Suzie is amazing. As someone who spent 15 years at the sharp end of business and entrepreneurship as a Founder and Managing Director of private companies, I understand about the level of motivation and energy it takes to see through a new business idea or project. But that's something that most can find in themselves, but it's having the bravery to commit to action is what makes the entrepreneur... Combined with a true belief on an unshakable scale.

Suzi and I at London Comp 2014

Suzi's ventures are Social Enterprise models, where it all goes back into programming to help others. And that is what I like about Suzi...(well that and her lats!)

As the current GB Paraclimbing Team Coach I am very excited to help and be part of this amazing concept and can't wait to watch the whirlwind do her stuff in pulling this fantastic idea off a page into the reality of a new climbing centre. 

2014 Paraclimbing World Championships in Gijon

Coaching Paraclimbing within a specialist environment such as this will just help drive GB Paraclimbing forward in both athlete's performance and increase awareness of the benefits both physical and mental to one's well being from adventure sports such as rock climbing.

If you wish further details then contact Suzi at:

The devil in me...

Coaching and training someone in my opinion are separate.

In Paraclimbing, you coach, mindful of the climber's condition or disability. But to train and push someone physically, you have to clearly separate current inability from disability and have the courage to communicate that to the climber.

Like any climber looking to increase their climbing performance, paraclimbers need to improve through hard work with a clear focus on what's going on. Seems obvious?

Try giving a lovely woman with MS a motivational prompt (bollocking) for not pulling hard enough on a boulder problem or for confusing her condition and ligitimate fear of MS induced fatigue with the same feeling of training fatigue at a busy climbing wall with onlookers looking over pitifully at your client and then at you as if your the devil!

"I pity the fool that pity has fooled..."

Working with disabilities teaches you to quickly "see the person, not the disability" and that's obvious, but remembering to train the athlete with integrity and pushing them for change or to risk for improvement is the hard part.

Coaching someone to risk for success who has lost a lot, a part of their body, requires empathy of the highest level with an understanding that to risk losing again could just end them. But this is separate from training them.

Anyway...

And Up Yours...

Some people find theirs and now I finally have mine... Something to rise up to.

Finally having a project that is meaningful and has enough depth to really grab my complete focus, as a climber and even a human being! The Eiger...

I even love the sound of the word itself... The Eiger... Oooooooooooooooh!

It's great waking up and having the Eiger project consuming my thoughts. When I pull my curtains back in my small bedroom in Snowdonia, its the Eiger I'm seeing out my window. Every mountain represents it now, every track I run is the lower sections of the West Flank... I have to be 500% aerobically fitter than I am today but I know that will come with each attempt to flick that psychological training switch. 

Planing with others and planning with myself how I am going to get fit enough is exciting enough to piss ma pants, scary enough to fart out loud in public places, but worthy enough to invest all that I am today in everything it turns out to be for the others. 

It's the first time I've dug back into my previous self to unpack some of my project management experience to help the project be all it can be. Feels nice to use these skills that I had buried so deeply in fear of them opening old scars and losses, but after an initial wibbly wobble staring at the computer, it began to all come back, but this time, to be used for something human and kind. My biggest worry is not being tough enough for this, but quite the opposite (because my life has taught me that I'm tough), It's mixing the right level of compassion for the others on the tough environment of the Eiger.

I love the Eiger as a mountain, its simplicity as a pyramid structure, its brutality if you disrespect it, and the small precarious 10m wide summit that swirls the whole world below your feet and a vista that could make you cry.

I expect that along the way the Eiger Paraclimb might unfortunately attract a little criticism, because 'judge-mentalists!' are always present in society, but I suppose the answer just lies in the title. 

So far, it has been an overwhelmingly positive response and that is what will make all the training and preparations worth all the effort and strengthen the whole teams resolve when on the mountain six months from now.

I invited my friend Colin to join me because his life has been hard and he is my best friend whom I trust and I know the Eiger will turn his life from a current dark struggle to a big shinny happy place where his self esteem will hit the azure skies of the Swiss Alps. Cant wait to see his face coming back to life on the summit with the others,.. Happy days :)

Intelligence in climbing - TFB Strategies...

Operating without no 2..

Someone once told me that ' intelligence' is overrated...

If one was so intelligent then one might think that a humans' ability or gift to be intellectual was something greater than others with perceived 'less' intelligence?

But surely that's unintelligent? For to think that your ' intelligence' is greater than another seems kinda dumb. Then we throw 'genius' into things we don't personally understand?

Seems it is a bit like language. Some argue that language is just metaphorical and we generally don't say exactly what we mean.

Anyway, what I'm talking about is working with autism. The great thing about working with autism is there is no space for untruths, because it doesnt make sense.

When 1, 3,4,5,6 are all there for you to easily move a conversation forward or make a learning outcome succesful but 2 is somewhere else, then you just build new routes, new learning strategies, new ways to re-engage at an intelligent, honest, unpatronising level that validates the objective and then it's all just Tickety Fucking Boo... (TBF).

Anyway... #autism #ticketyfuckingboo

Better Coaching...

Better...

I've started learning a new language for Paraclimbing coaching and it is great to be doing this again. I have been learning Spanish for two years now and enjoyed the fact that it is fonetic. I'm in the very early stages of learning BSL (British Sign Language) with the alphabet cracked, some emotional word groups and colours (for climbing holds). I'm loving this and it has reminded me why I love the work I am trying to do with climbing.

Coaching is communication and not to be able to communicate and motivate a climber who is deaf would be like trying to coach a Spanish climber in Glaswegian! I used to work alongside a chap who was deaf when I was younger. He taught me a few signs but I used to watch how he watched others around us in the work place. This was interesting to me because I used to watch people closely (due to trust issues) trying to read their personality, their integrity, by how they were visually, not from what came out their gob. Actual words are just metaphorical anyway! Anyway... Long way to go and loving it...

See https://m.facebook.com/deafclimbinguk?_rdr

What?

Pyrenees Paraclimbing at Base Calames...

Jay, John and I returned to the UK after a week living and climbing in the Midi Pyrenees.

Calames crag

The highlights of the trip were seeing John lead his first 6a, his hardest lead outside and watching Jay in his paradise enjoying all things French, enjoying his climbing and independence in another country, another world of mountains and climbing. Witnessing John's commitment on lead as a VI climber was great, great to see and great to be a part of.

Coaching on my own in the mountains with two very different human beings involving visual impairment, deafness, autism, varying personalities with the addition of climbing risk and the main objective of transferring coaching value was extremely intense and in turn extremely satisfying.

Sight guiding with John

Coaching Paraclimbing in the Pyrenees is something special for me as the place has a unique atmosphere untouched by tourism and getting the chance to show these guys this special find was nice. Sight guiding John along the mountainside to the crag with Jay following behind felt quite profound. We must have seemed a little bizarre to our French friends.

Jay leading outdoors

John on a 6a+ 

A big thanks from Jay to DMM and V12
 for sponsoring his trip with much needed gear

It's not just the climbing environment that is challenging to manage but the hours before and after where you are depended upon for physical support and guidance and mentaly restructuring explanations to make them more understandable but at the same time legitimate. Worth it to see their smiling faces on top of a mountainside with great landscapes falling behind them.

Revisiting the Pyrenees was a personal journey that worked out well for me as I hoped it would.

Base Calames

Thanks to Jon Stoelker and family for looking after us at their Gite : Base Calames.

The Hidden Disability... Not the constapated asshole

Dave on the slate, North Wales. 

I had the pleasure of working/climbing with our other GB Para Climbing Team coach, Phil Blue here in Snowdonia along with Jay, Katie and GB Paraclimber Dave Bowes.

A good day in the quarries on the slate to give Jay a days real rock practice before we fly over to the Pyrenees in a few days.

It was good for Jay to meet Dave because of Dave's hidden disability ( Dave was in a serious motor bike accident leaving him brain damaged with various after effects. )

"I have persistent post concussion syndrome ( basically permanent concussion symptoms forever: affecting memory, concentration, attention span, confusion, sensory overload, anxiety), central vestibular disorder, vestibular dysfunction in both ears (both mean I have no sense of balance, I have to focus on fixed objects ahead of me to use as a tilt guide, like the dial in a plane), REM sleep disorder leaving me unable to get regenerative sleep, post traumatic migraine, moderate to severe depression. Finally the worst, complete change in personality, as in Dave version 1 died on 08/09/07, a new Dave is who you know. Commonly called frontal lobe syndrome..."

Team GB Paraclimber Dave Bowes on climbing and hidden disabilities from George Sewell on Vimeo.

I've been to various Paraclimbing Competitions with Dave, most recently Gijon at the World Championships where he came 4th in his category. An exceptional guy!

When I first met Dave I thought why is he here amongst such obviously disabled and challenged paraclimbers but that was my mistake and spending more and more time with him has lead to a greater understanding of him and his hidden disability. I realized I had been an asshole and I even think I like him now!

That's the thing with all this... You don't need to like people with a disability by default. That's something else? People are people, and some are nice and some can be assholes. I wouldn't say I have gotten to know all the team yet nor do I like their assholes. But the more time I have with them climbing and coaching the more growth they give me as a more caring human being. Sorry about the asshole comment but it was just a running theme!

Phil and Dave

Flashing 8a Isn't Easy. Especially When You Only Have One Leg...

Jay's Journey : 2014 ... 2015

It's been around eight or nine months since I began working with Jay as his climbing coach and five months as his support worker to assist with his challenges with autism and developing an achievable pathway for Jay towards a sustainable and more independent life.

It was a big decision for me to involve myself with the support network of working alongside Jay's social worker and her department because deep down I am a little too anarchic these days but when Jay volunteered his psychological profile report for me to read a few months ago, I knew the gravity of what he was doing and what he was asking of me with the gesture: its the same as handing over your difficult life story to a psychotherapist and that is simply trusting someone enough with who you really are. I know about that from the Pyrenees in 2012.

So in twenty days or so Jay and I will be flying in to The Pyrenees to show him some great rock climbing in a very special place where my own life began a profound change.

It's been great to see and be a part of the change in Jay's climbing from fighting with both hands to clip the quick draw on a 4c to seeing him onsight 6c and work his first 7a.

As he prepares his list of equipment from the climbing companies that have kindly sponsored him and meticulously plans his clothing for the trip. I am so proud of how far we have come together in this climbing journey and the level of mutual trust we have built to allow us to be all we can be, in his life and in mine.

So its not all been a breeze. Jay suffers weekly sometimes daily with anxiety driven by confusion which can lead to self harming and suicidal tendencies, stomach pains from stress and more. I understand all of this but most of all I admire his continued bravery, hope, and his inteligent ability to navigate the learning gaps he experiences to continue on his exceptional journey to push hard for the best life he can achieve for himself, so 2014 has been great for Jay and winning his category at the BMC Para climbing competition in the UK was such a great feeling for him and his family.

So what is on for 2015 for Jay 'stomping' Owen in the climbing world. Exactly that... The Worlds...

I want the IFSC to recognise and implement Autism as a World Championship Paraclimbing Category so that Jay and those like him can enjoy and express themselves as athletes on a world stage. So come on IFSC...

Final preparations with Jay for his first Real Rock Trip to Europe...

Jay's climbing progress seems to be on the move again as we prepair for his trip to the Pyrenees. As well as maintaining and increasing his physical training with an emphasis on driving his bouldering grade as close to font 7a (V6) as we can get within the next few weeks, we have been combining these sessions with power endurance lead climbing. But today, we began the challenge of learning how to help Jay climb the easier ground as efficiently as possible in between the cruxes when on lead. 

This is a learning challenge and goes against Jay's instinctive urge to pull hard and dynamically, but without this element being trained (like muscle memory and dogged repetition) then simply instructing the process fails. Luckily I'm a repetitive lunatic and Jay's will and determination to improve his life through climbing makes every challenge we face to get the best from and for him in climbing seem achievable. Well, we think so! And now. So does the two climbing companies below with their much appreciated equipment support. Well done them them and well done Jay!

Next, we begin a 5 week programme to induce a climbing/fitness peak for Jay and start looking for cheap flights to his first experience of climbing paradise...

Jamie Owen working on what is working in his climbing, coaching and life stuff: From the spectrum....

Coaching for Autism , ASD, D.A.M.P
(Jay Owen)

Previous Challenges:

• Trying to listen to instructor on how he was trying to explain things to me and get things wrong all time 
• haveing diffitculty remembering the ways in group with out haveing one to one help i cant have a understanding on how they explain things to me evan though they said it countless of times i lack memory things promoted to me   about tieing knots it taken me long time i had to go evening classes to be taught how to tie the figure of eight . It took me 6 weeks before i managed to complete and tie knot on my own . i still struggle even now with tieing knot and i climb twice a week 
• Coordination with foot work i felt that use of my foot work was clumsy 
• In the begining with hands i found it hard   to read right & lefts when I am thinking with lots of other stuff in my head and makes me lose concentration  i move into certain angle not only with hands but feet as well , things dont come easy to me but i have so much determination and i am determined to overcome my challanges , i was  useing the palm of my hands fingers did not feel like they was connecting on the hold 
• I did not know anyone when i was bouldering at the wall i try gain social interaction but some peers would talk , some would not talk but i guess that's same for everyone am just chatty person and collective person that like's lot things to talk about with peers to meet them , my confidence is better than when i was little , people with autism would feel in lonely place i no how that feels from my background in schools , so i feel climbing helps in end with social interacton  with peers 
• The challenges i faced with having a  meeting on telling specific person on my back grounds with my Autism and not many people can be open about there autism and feelings because they find it hard to speak out explain things others cant. Every person with autism is different  , and that friends of mine that have autism dont feel very open , and it   wasnt very easy either but i was happy when i met my coach 

• I found clipping the rope into the karabiner  very hard extremely difficult. taking one hand off when my balance and coordination was not that good . it has  been better over the months  , but was not easy. this was  a similar problem to when i was little to useing a knife and fork and tieing my shoe laces . i found it easy to grab the quick draw with both hands because it was less frustrating to put the rope in the thumb would not open the clip. I also went to practice with my coach in the corner while standing on the ground to practice with quick draw and the rope . i also took a karabiner home to practice . 
• When i was route reading on my own i found it hard to read a problem and get right and lefts correct  when someone would say do it this way , i cant relate to the following because there saying it to quick for me to understand anything feels as if there saying it to quick draw for me to read the problem , i would use to much energy on every hold to find out if that was right or left hand. Now when i am bouldering i stick to tactics that my coach says to me in each session and act as if he is there at bottom shouting left right on the problem.  The way we made it work was with useing touch on the holds and on my hands or arm and also the coach would wave witch hand to use from a distance , while i was bouldering climbing to help me understand on were to put my feet and hands and trying to listen to what my coach says sometimes i got it right and sometimes i get frustrated with my self because am trying concentrate but when someone explains something to me its like my body there but mind floating away somewhere else so i find it hard to read people instructions 
• How we learned the coach kept   repeating by saying same things over and over so i grew to know some things not all things , still find it difficult but try my best to listen to what my coach says when am so high up i find it easyr he is  standing beside me or on the rope to call out cause am not sure if you got keep conversation going cause i dont understand when it goes silent  
• When i was bouldering i felt down hearted annoyed angry at home because why do things take so long for me be able to accomplish things and you see others that have not been climbing that long but get the things right maybe one side brain works and once you start understand what your body can do and your brain you can push your self to your limits  ashamed of taken so long to do problems. The solluation was for me is through repeatedly trying the boulder problem my body referred back to muscle memory i get a tick in my head when i no am trying my hardest , The reason the method works for me because i never give up. ill always keep battleing till the end 
• When i am training at home i get very frustrated and kick things in my room chuck things . my frustration whilst training at home seems to come from being angry at not getting things right .  because it dont seem as if am showing progress i have days were i feel am not doing things right it feels as if am back to sqauare one . I have fantastic session when being coached but when am on my own at home on the hangboard i cant seem get momentum so that causes angy frustrations . The problem with a written  training  programme for the home is i cant understand even though i want to , i forget things very easy that's why once i look at films or listen to music  they promt my memory. its like everything comes back from years ago but i cant say it out lould to express my self in conversation on certain topics of my intrests.  from the training programme to work at home it has to prompt my memory from exsperenices. 
• My improvement in climbing from 4C to leading 6C has come from doing it in small steps intensely  were we focused on particular things that were specificly a problem to me. 
• Climbing has had a massive impact on my life by helping me mentally and psphysicall with day to day life. Also meeting new people and having guidance from my coach and beleiveing in me that i can overcome my challenges. Having one to one with my coach as well has helped me a lot through my life with autism because having autism is not always happy smily days. It can be a very lonely place at times and not many people can understand what it is like to live with autism. When I am climbing, I am not thinking negitivaly about life and no one is judging me and it feels like a safe place. Its a great community scene with so many great people that have a good outlook on life its self. 

Thanks to V12 for equipment sponsorship. I will try my best!

Blind sight versus onsight! Gwynfor Roberts leads his first trad route since losing his sight...

Me and the 'Guru' Roberts! 

You know, there are methods that instructors and MIA's use to manage a climber when they are learning to 'TRAD' lead by being on a rope alongside them to ensure the gear is good and assist the person by being close to the action.

But today was not that kind of day. Gwyn had lead up to E4 as a sighted climber 14 years ago and today he spontaneously decided to go back 'up' into that place where you are on your own. He asked to lead (well, he TOLD me he was leading the route!) and so from that moment on my day became really exiting and truly emotional to watch my friend step up and feel his way up the rock and work out the width of the cracks from his fingers and work hard to place gear based on touch.

 I gave him my opinion on the key elements of the route but it was always going to be his truly personal journey. All I could really do was to tell him to sort his footwork out on the first few moves with more concise pressure on the rubber of the shoes and the rock then reassure him that if his gear ripped then I would still catch him from splattering all over my nice walking boots.

Gwyn is a better climber than me in terms of technique and flexibility and ultimately courage but I'm stronger at the moment, but I am confident if he continues as he is with his training the gap will shrink. His initial mindset for his lead reminded me very much of mine when I used to onsight near my physical limit with and without ropes where the analysis was mainly focused on wither one could physically climb the wall and then secondly worry about the gear. But I hassled him to death to place more gear so he wouldn't spoil my footwear.

He climbed to the top of his first trad lead as a VI set up his belay then brought up Jay. What a great day today, for Gwyn, Jay and myself. It felt more historic than when I last belayed someone doing something special up there in that magical place in the windy quarries of Llanberis. Tomorrow, I get to enjoy a morning run with a special woman then coach a person with MS in the afternoon. A good day ahead I think. It was a hard start getting settled here in Wales again but I think life in Wales is getting more real and more worth the effort...  Gwyn & I want to climb Right Wall (E5 6a) on the Cromlech. I did it when I was 16 but to see Gwyn do this will be mind blowing and truly exceptional...

Top out!