Reach Masterclass at Big Rock (Milton Keynes) UK.. 12th November (8.45pm to 9.45pm)

Mark McGowan will be running a coaching Masterclass at Big Rock Climbing Centre, Milton Keynes. Book Online here or at Big Rock Reception.

The Masterclass will be structured around the following:

* 6a to 8a in 180 days - Projecting Strategies for 'stretch' goals

* on sight strategies

* psychology and  methods for breaking through a plateau using systems training

* Contemporary Training Programme using Reach DF Theory combined with a Strength ∆ Power ∆ Power Endurance Cycle

* Coaching Partnerships - finding the right coach for you and committing to a practical term...

Base Calames, Pyrenees - 1 Week Real Rock Coaching Trip

The Pyrenees coming over from Barcelona
(my monthly commute in 2012!)

We are running a Real Rock coaching trip for climbers and para climbers to the Pyrenees (http://www.basecalames.com/Rock_Climbing/index.html) either the end of November or beginning of December. We will be staying at Jon Stoelker's family Gite - Base Calames. The Gite is directly below the crag which is just 5 mins walk behind the accommodation. A fantastic location. If interested please email markmcgowan01@gmail.com The trip may be filmed so if this is a problem then please flag it up at the beginning.

Prices of trip including accommodation and coaching fees available on request to markmcgowan01@gmail.com

Living by the Lake...

The stunning view at the bottom
of the road from the new place

Life as a climbing coach this last year has been nothing less than 'relatively pleasant' to relatively mental returning to the UK without a home (after moving out by text whilst walking the Camino across Northern Spain).

It felt a bit mental sight calling with John in front of TV cameras at the World Championships and flying straight in from Santiago de Compostela after 3 weeks of mainly solitude reflecting on the last year and finding clarity about a few things then to be plonked into a UK World Cup with John and the other para climbers. A few stressy days in a city then I pointed towards Snowdonia and walked on the coast biving out under the stars until I organised a new place to live in this wonderful country. Some rough nights but they were worth it to follow through with my plans to live just a little further out from the centre of things in Llanberis.

A forced bivi: 'relatively pleasant'

The UK comp was more demanding as the other Sight Caller for Reanne and Adam couldn't make the comp due to unforseen circumstances. So I agreed to call for the others but the radio sets needed to effectively communicate with VI climbers were not available so I had to call out for all to hear as the audience is asked for silence.

It felt hard as you are not just passing on technical information ..."sidepull at 11 o'clock for right hand with right foot up to thigh on a sloper..." Because I knew Reanne and Adam as people as well as para climbers and knew stuff that the audience would not and so when I was trying to keep Reanne's feet higher than normal to help drive her signals from her leg to her brain and push her hard to keep moving when the effects of her cerebral palsy were showing the signs that I had learned to recognise in Austria, it felt a little uncomfortable as I tried to verbally motivate her for all to hear. But I was so proud when I managed to put my own discomfort aside and give Reanne what she needed to hear as she gave it her all for the medal she was so keen to take home.

Reanne taking her medal from Gijon

Living in a great place enjoying my own great job. Everything I wanted when I began this journey in 2011.

Sherpa Adventure Gear Masterclass Lecture Tour - Aberystwyth

Reach Climbing Coach will be running a Masterclass alongside Neil Gresham for Sherpa Adventure Gear Lecture Series at Aberystwyth this Saturday before Neil and Kenton Cool's evening lectures. See link below for details:

http://www.mountain-training.org/latest-news/sherpa-club-lecture-series

Reach Masterclass will be structured around the following:

* 6a to 8a in 180 days - Projecting Strategies for 'stretch' goals

* on sight strategies

* psychology and  methods for breaking through a plateau using systems training

* Contemporary Training Programme using Reach DF Theory combined with a Strength ∆ Power ∆ Power Endurance Cycle

* Coaching Partnerships - finding the right coach for you and committing to a practical term...

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...

Are Crocs cool or am I just taking too big a risk?

Trying to be cool when things around you feel like a load of croc is obviously sometimes easier said than done. In climbing (as in life - mine anyway), belief has been the factor that has held my cool when in extremis on a wall way above with no ropes, too far out to fall and seemingly still so far to go.

In climbing situations like that, I remember just shifting the perceived reality of the potential disastrous outcome to a belief that all I can change is the elements of the situation that were within my perceived control, like the simplicity of just making the next rock over on a small hold as if I was just bouldering back at my wall in Glasgow. A coping strategy, obviously. Coping with perceived danger...

Being honest with your self is it seems key to being able to manage risk. But sometimes you don't know what your capable off until you choose or have to face it. It's obviously easier to face challenges when you have no choice but putting yourself in a position of danger when you have a choice forces a default to the question "why am I doing this?"

That leaves you no where to look but straight into the centre of your self. Usually I'm doing it because what I think I have isn't enough for me and taking this risk could be worth it as it should make me feel better about myself and satisfy the 'rat' that wants that amazing heightened experience that perceived danger provides. And that's fine so long as it doesn't hurt others.

Back in the eighties soloing was rewarded with an image of 'cool'... A cool head to handle the fatal danger of a fall from high above to the terribly firm Terra firma. A bit uncool to the more risk averse, or even deemed selfish. For some; get it right and your a hero, get it wrong, and you were an idiot. Taking risks in climbing is obviously an inherent part of it. Does it have to be so risky wearing crocs? I think so. Even in sport climbing and bouldering there is a small feeling of risk before you fall. So maybe Crocs are so uncool, that they are actually cool? I think I'm wrong here, but there are two 'cools' here: being cool (comfortable temperature) and trying to seem cool (like branding). Which one rings true when up there on that beautiful endless piece of rock without ropes, just the updraft corressing the back of your hands as you reach over to that important rounded side pull, take the tension on the opposing foot and move up with belief... Or is this just a croc of shit to keep me busy on the real madness of the National Express bus from hell down from Scotland to Snowdonia. I prefer walking but that takes weeks...

Manchester next stop. Hope that's cool?

Recruiting for November Team for Reach Dual Factor Online Programme

New routing on Gozo Island

Malcom Smith on Hunger (9a) at The Anvil

If you climb between 6a and 7c and are looking to improve your sport grade using our online training programme then please contact markmcgowan01@gmail.com to design your programme beginning mid November. The cost is £100 for the 6 week programme and payable via paypal

Coaching in Montserrat

Finger board session at The Beacon in N Wales

Reach Coaching and Sight Guiding - Finding our Way at the IFSC World Championships Gijón 2014...

The GB Para Climbing Team 2014

John & I discussing the best choice of Crocs for my Camino
and also his climbing tactics

... I found myself in Northern Spain in the September of 2014 coaching and competing as a sight guide to John Churcher (The GB Visually impaired Para climber) in the Gijon World Championships. We flew in for a week and came 3rd and John proudly won a bronze medal (which over time I began to realize was for his family).

I had only been working with John a few times and initially found our personalities to be quite different. But as we spent time together in Gijon in the day taking long walks sharing our lives and then competing together as his climbing caller in the televised spectacle of the World Championships, I began to understand  him more and build a friendship and the trust that we needed to go out into the arena for the final in front of the TV cameras streaming worldwide and a packed international stadium.

GB VI Category - John Churcher and
some handsome footwear behind...

I told John that I was maybe not coming back on the flight and considering going for a walk in Spain. He found my idea as amusing as me as I only had 200 Euros to last the three weeks I thought my walk might take. I had training shoes, a pair of Crocs two sizes too big and my sleeping bag in my black waterproof coaching bag (well it was the stunt woman's actually - must give back!).  Not well equipped for such a long walk.  John and I wandered through Gijon looking for the few 'necessities' that I still required to take on my walk across the 350km to Santiago de Compestela: foam sleeping mat (7 Euros), blank pad and pen to keep a diary and that was it really...

... As team GB took their medals and prepared for the coach back to the airport, John asked if I would be available for competing with him in the World Cup in three weeks back in Sheffield in the UK, but all I could say was let's see how long the Camino takes me and if I can I will, but I didnt want to rush one minute of this truly spontaneous and personally inspiring adventure ...

The Way... El Camino de Santiago de Compestela

Santiago de Compestela

Three days from Santiago John text me and told me to hurry! He had booked my flight out of Santiago and I was to be in Sheffield for The World Cup. I made the flight, adjusted our calling strategy and John  found his way to climb the best he had climbed in competition in front of his home crowd. I went back to Snowdonia...

Sheffield...

Snowdonia...

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!

Route Setting at Big Rock Climbing Ltd

Post by Big Rock Climbing Ltd.

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!

Working the core... No sex?

Grotte de Sabart 

It was something I paid little attention to when I returned to climbing in 2010 but it quickly became obvious as an important factor for contemporary climbing.

For my sins, I probably had my most effective core when training with Haston in the Pyrenees for the cave climbing in Grotte de Sabart.

Knee bar rest on 8b 

After 4 sessions on a project at the cave we would head up to his 'boot camp' for further core work which involved all sorts of training torture  with heavy weights on chest during inverted sit ups which was sometimes finished with a run up the mountain to completely annihilate what core was left until it was difficult just standing up.

In the cave in the morning, he would growl if my core seemed anything less than robust during what became our 8a warm up discouraging me from morning sex with my girl friend at the time on core days! For a 28m cave route, core is absolutely key, I failed on the 8b. So the moral of the story is no sex on core days, or no core on sex days or something like that...

Recruiting for 5 clients for September Online Training Programme...

Pulling through on the crux of a great
8a+ in the Grotte de Sabart, Pyrenees

We are looking for 5 new clients for our September Dual Factor Online Training Programme. If you climb between 6a and 7c sport and are looking to improve your grade then join our 6 week programme by contacting markmcgowan01@gmail.com . The programme costs £100 or 100 euros and bookings should be made before 25th of August to allow us to design the programme around your climbing goals.

Grass Roots... Finding the fun man!

Same height but thankfully
less grown up than the grass!

After a productive coaching session with John from the GB Para climbing Team at the Beacon climbing center, I decided I wanted to get out of the valley and get back to my roots a day early and hopped on the afternoon train to Glasgow, with no change of clothes just my coaching bag. I don't wear pants so it was just a matter of finding a tee shirt in Glasgow and taking the odd shower in between Glasgow showers!

Finding fun in climbing is what feels the most real element of it all. I arrived at the Glasgow Climbing Center to some smiling friends from the past. The atmosphere was great and as I waited for my mate Colin to finish his work I noticed 4 young students probably new to climbing ( 2 guys and 2 girls) climbing together. As the center began to empty they started mucking around on the mats together and then one of them set off on this traverse off the mat onto the wall round the building and then next student followed by the next until the were all traversing back to the mat on the other side where the first student semi somersaulted onto to the mat with the others following like puppies. It was great to see them so uninhibited and just having fun with climbing like that. 

It's funny as we get older, we feel obliged to act differently but keeping the child inside is what seems to be where all the fun is! I saw a post on facebook about growing up, saying 'don't do it, it's a lie' and it seems to be the case. Fun and happiness seem to work together and yet at 46 I feel more in touch with the fun side of my life than I was as a boy.

1984 with a head full of grown up stuff...

Visiting my old haunts where I used to boulder obsessively, sometimes twice a day where I would dog off school in the day to have a session then wait for my cousin to finish and then have to put super glue on my skin to get through the evening session on the hard sandstone. But it was nice to just touch the holds and not feel compelled to pull up this time, just look and smile at the things I could do as a boy and look forward to the things I am going to do as a man.

A nice evening with my best mate, a few beers and great discussions about our lives going forward. We share a birth date within 24 hours of each other and so we are able to compare and reflect on our mutual experiences, lovers and the other important ingredients of life. 

Climbing makes the child in me happy and coaching is making the adult me more fulfilled and helping me learn about el humano and the positive transfer between like minded people and friends.

Happy that the holds haven't grown up too much and are still small.

 I realized a couple of years ago that I wanted to do what I wanted to do with my life (so long as I didn't hurt others) and having fun and never letting one's inner self grow old looks like a good path to be on. Being adult for me is not about judgement, it was about being honest in relationships or carrying my broken mate alive from a dark winters night on a savage mountain or holding a persons hand while they took their last breath of life or watching my babies pop out into my hands as a young man...

Progression with Jay - Driving Power to Power Endurance...

A hot days Bouldering at RAC 

The last few weeks with Jay have been about driving his power through campussing and bouldering to increase his power endurance so we can complete his first 7a red point. We had a few months outdoor climbing both for fun and to improve his footwork and route reading skills. But now it's back to it with some focused training for his big goal of F7a this year. A big step from his 4c lead at the beginning of the spring.

Jay warming up for his 6c onsight at the Indy

Today stunned me as Jay managed his first F6c onsight lead and then worked and completed his first font 6c boulder, so his climbing has changed dramatically over the last few months where he is climbing like a different person from when we first met - a bit of helpful guidance from me "chain this f*&@$*" and an unbelievable amount of effort and self determination from Jay.

We tried a 7a earlier in the summer but we weren't ready but now I am sure that Jay is about to achieve something very special for himself. A truly inspiring person...

font 6c