It has become a yearly pilgrimage for the Donabie family to book a weekend in the wilderness with Monsterclimbs. Twice they have been to Snowdonia, climbing, scrambling and hiking, but this year Tracie, Neil and cheeky little Jay ventured further afield and headed for the Lake District. Arriving early afternoon at Gillside campsite at the […]
AMI Annual General Meeting
The Association of Mountaineering Instructors held their AGM at the Conway Centre near Bangor, North Wales over the weekend 11th/12th February 2012. It was an opportunity for AMI members to get together as a professional body and discuss good practice, MLTB courses, Continuing Professional Development and AMI administrative issues. It was also an opportunity for members […]
Part 10 – Learning to Sport Lead Climb: Belaying & Taking Lead Falls, The Lower Off
Taking a fall can be very intimidating, and it is best to practice on a steep, overhanging wall, when 5 or 6 clips up, where you can just fall into space. Often when a climber gets into difficulty, she either down climbs and sits on the rope, or asks for a tight rope, then drops off. […]
Climbing and other sports after hip replacement
It is well documented that I love climbing and other sports, and in 2007 after months of suffering excruciating pain in my right hip, I was diagnosed with Osteoarthritis. Doctors told to come back in 15 years for a hip replacement. As the pain got progressively worse I wondered how long I could take Cocodamol, […]
Indoor Climbing Centres Near Gloucestershire
I’m often asked about the climbing centres I’m most familiar with that are not too far away. The Warehouse in Gloucester, Undercover Rock, TCA Bloc and Redpoint in Bristol, Redpoint in Worcester, Boulders in Cardiff and finally Redpoint and Creation in Birmingham are the bigger centres, but there are a few smaller ones that still provide […]