Bristol Sport climbing Intro days

 Sunday 15th August, Bristol based 'inside out ' sport climbing intro day. 

Hey folks,

I'm a climbing instructor based in the centre of Bristol.

I'm running an intro to outdoor sport climbing day on the 15th August based in Bristol. There are 4 spaces, the cost is £75 per person for a full day starting at 10am (it is Sunday after all). 

What is sport climbing? 

This means our ropes will be clipped to pre-existing bolts in the rock. 

(I do plan to run a similar day soon for traditional climbing, which is where you place you're own protection.) 

This course is aimed at people thinking about making the leap from indoors to outdoors but can also be a refresher for those who haven't been outside in a while.

It's also a chance to meet other people new to outdoor climbing and be shown around the local crags. 

Ideally you want to be a confident indoor top rope climber with your own comfortable harness and shoes. All other kit including ropes and helmets are provided. 

The day is very suited to anyone who has just done an indoor lead course, but that's not essential.  

To get the most out of the course you need to be climbing around 6a indoors. 

This day on its own may not make you a fully proficient sport lead climber but it should leave you confident to pair up with someone more experienced. Plus maybe you'll know a few tricks that they don't. 

Things we'll aim to cover:

-The hidden risks of climbing outdoors vs indoors

-Movement skills

-Being a good belayer, not just a safe belayer. 

-Crag access and etiquette

-How to decipher a guidebook

-What are bolts, where do they come from and are they all the same? 

-What gear do you need and why

-How to clip the rope in and take it out

-intro to 'cleaning' the anchors from the top

-Different styles of climbing - what even is a

 'redpoint?' 

 -Tips and tricks to get the most out of a day out. 

-Lots of great local climbing, tailored to you as much as possible😊

About me

I'm a qualified mountaineering and climbing instructor with 15+ years climbing experience in the UK and abroad. 

I'm also a member of the association of mountaineering instructors (AMI) 

I'm insured through AMI with Sportscover. 

'Sale Rail Reviews'- OMM Mountain Raid Jacket

This is the first in a series of reviews looking at kit from last season or older, that can still be found online for a significant discount.

In the spotlight today is the OMM (original mountain marathon) Mountain Raid jacket.

RRP £200, 2018 season can be bought from an ebay shop for £125.99 if you're quick.

Nothing appears to have changed apart from the colour choice. I bought last seasons model, more on why below.

It looked for a short while like we were going to get a winter season. I suddenly realised I needed a replacement synthetic belay jacket. For those who don't know, synthetic fill retains its warmth when wet, unlike down. Very important for UK winter climbing. I usually look for the following features in a belay jacket:

• Light but super windproof
• Hood fits over a helmet
• Cuffs squeeze over my climbing gloves without taking them off
• Two way zip ideally with press stud at bottom
• Full articulation so you can climb wearing it (whilst holding the hem down, reach for the ceiling)
• 100gsm (grammes per square metre) of insulation, preferably primaloft- This is the key feature and I wanted to write a bit more about it.

Fill weight is usually listed in the specification or features for warm clothing. Along with the type or brand of insulation, Primaloft being the industry favourite ( in various flavours, Gold being the best)  This doesn't mean much when you start out but becomes a good point of reference when choosing new kit to replace or upgrade old.

I know I can get by during winter in Scotland with a Rab Xenon jacket filled with 60gsm of Primaloft Gold. If its too cold for the Xenon I can change to my bigger down jacket as its not likely to be wet.

I wanted something a touch warmer than the xenon this time, but around the same weight. This is what drew my eye to the Mountain Raid.

OMM make niche running equipment for multi day events where you carry all your gear, including tent. The Mountain Raid jacket is intended to be combined with a pair of insulated trousers, which press stud on to make a sleeping bag. The Raid has 100 gsm of Primaloft Gold in the body and 80gsm in the hood and sleeves. It also has thick fleecy hand warmer pockets which are excellent.

The Raid comes in at 390g total weight. The nearest climbing specific jacket, the Mountain Equipment Fitzroy, has identicial insulation but weighs 650g. A want to carry the jacket in a stuff sack on my harness, hence the weight obsession.

The Raid has some stand out positive features:

• The hood seems to have thicker insulation around the sides and back of the neck than other jackets, more like a sleeping bag hood, as it is intended. In practice very cosy.
• The outer material is very light but extemely windproof, very similar to the old Rab Xenon X.
• The hand warmer pockets are plush fleece and feel amazing with bare hands. These are normally zipped up on winter belays however, as this increases insulation and you'll be gloved up to belay. Still a nice feature when its on rock climbing duty.
• The zip is two way allowing you to unzip the bottom slightly and drape it around your belay device, covering your midriff better. Sadly no press stud to wrap underneath, I may be adding a button or toggle.
• Large body and long enough to pull down over your gear loops.
• Cuffs fit over a Black Diamond Punisher glove without taking it off, they also don't then cut off the circulation.
• The grey I bought looks cool, I think, but still has an eye burning orange lining if needed.
• Lastly the overall weight of this jacket in a stuff sack is far less intrusive on your harness than your shoes in summer, in winter this could mean comfortably leaving your main rucksack at the base.

Negatives

• No fluffy beard guard, this could also be a positive as I find these tend to freeze up and go stiff anyway.
• No draw cord adjustment around the face. Although as you can see in the photos it fits okay.
• The chest pocket is too small for anything but a phone, and not insulated. The zip is double sided, suggesting you can stuff the jacket into it. In practice its far too tight and you need a seperate stuff sack. The pocket could do with being twice as large and with a hang tab stitched inside (OMM if you're reading)
• No inner pockets for spare gloves, in practice i'd just use the hand warmer pockets.
• The hood doesn't give great coverage but you have so many hoods on these days its almost redundant, at least on top, see comments above about the sides being thicker though. Below is me wearing the Raid over a base layer, Rab Alpha Direct jacket and Mountain equipment firefox goretex jacket.

Last thing to mention is why I paid £50 more for the 2019 rather than the almost identical 2018. Firstly I prefer the grey colour, secondly I find Primaloft only lasts at its original loft (thickness) for around four years. After that its still very useful but moves up the temperature range. This could be improved by never compressing your jacket, but thats one of its useful features.

Great Gully

I had three days in snowdonia making the best of the weather this week. The route of the trip has to be great gully at Craig Yr wsfa with Rob.
A classic rock tick, and I can see why, pitches get steadily harder as you go up and then you finally appear blinking into the light through the top of the cave pitch (pictured) . Graded v diff but we had to haul sacks and change into rock shoes for the slimy chimney pitch. Made it down for last orders at the Brenin.
Continued the theme with Bryants gully the next day, another classic journey.

Enjoyed the micro summer!

Managed to spend all three days of the micro summer last week in North Wales. 

Monday at Gogarth and Vivian quarry with Tom. Then Tuesday at Carreg Wastad in the pass with Helen and Ted enjoying some classic vs routes in the sun. On Wednesday Helen and I climbed Belle Vue Bastion and Munich climb on Tryfan linking them up with north and south gullys for a solid mountain day.

Unbelievable weather and such a gift to be able to make use of it. 

North Wales winter action

Managed to get my first winter route of 2019 on Monday with Laura.
Clogwyn left hand with the mixed alternative due to thin ice. Adhering to my Welsh winter mantra - don't warm up, just jump on what you want, it might not be in again for years. Solid route and great fun .

Alpkit Morphosis jacket review

As an avid review reader I thought I'd try my hand at writing one. 

The alpkit morphosis is a windproof hooded jacket with a partial grid fleece lining.

Essentially it's a softshell designed to be worn most of the time apart from in heavy rain.

I tried one on a while back in Alpkit's Ambleside store, then asked Santa for one for Christmas!

Pros

The hood is very good, either over a low profile helmet or cinched around a bare head.

Durable water repellent coating is very good. (It is brand new though)

The cut feels a little baggy but still looks smart, goes on over winter layers.

Very breathable

Chest pocket excepts a cicerone scrambling guide, but nothing bigger, I.e OS map

Very light simple design

Cons

Long sleeves not to everyone's tastes

Rustly

Hand warmer pockets are a bit redundant, they aren't lined so not very warm, handy for storage though.

Hood only has a volume reducer not draw cord round face

Elastic cuffs already a bit bobbly.

In colder conditions or when moving slower, I.e mixed climbing, I add my old Rab xenon primaloft jacket over the top.  This keeps me warm, but even though it's worn thin I still end up overheating, partly due to it being super windproof and Primaolft, even at the end of its life, being a superb insulator.   

The morphosis fits well into this system by adding another layer of thinner grid fleece over the eclipse fleece.  The fabric is also slightly more breathable than the windproof I have which is noticeable and has a DWR coating. The cut is also better and, finally, it looks nicer.  

If I wore my windproof to the pub I'd be getting a written warning from Emily, the morphosis just looks normal, and in blue, quite fetching. 

So far I like it a lot.  

I've been through most weatherproof clothing types in UK mountain conditions- goretex, paramo, buffalo, boil in the bag etc. 

At the moment I've settled on lightish waterproofs with a high hh (hydrostatic head) and good softshell underneath. 

On the legs that's an old pair of montane sabre tooth softshell trousers.  They don't make them any more sadly, don't know why. 

On the top I've made my own version of the morphosis by combining mountain equipments eclipse hooded grid fleece with a cheap featherweight hooded windproof from decathlon.  I then mix and match base layers or an Arcteryx synthetic gilet depending on the temperature or pace. 

This works well for cold (I.e dry) Scottish days, alpine days where you remove layers as the day goes on, and most UK mounting activities.  

For rock climbing the morphosis works well over a t shirt.  The sleeves pull up to the elbow and stay there well.  In fact the sleeves feel cut as if they had been planned to have thumb loops, which I think would work nicely.

I often use my eclipse fleece as a standalone for climbing or walking and also approaching Scottish winter crags.   

Climbing and scrambling in N Wales last week

Just spent three days climbing and scrambling, instructing Toby in North Wales.
A day of diff/v diff link ups at craig yr wrysgan in the sun followed by a days grade 3 scrambling on Tryfan. The highlight was wrinkled tower with its brilliant exposed crux and a sunny summit.
Spent a wet day hiking round waterfall country.

 Summit Panorama

 Toby sitting on Adam. Or is that Eve?

 Wrinkled tower, crux on left skyline

 Milestone continuation

Walking behind the last waterfall, the route can be found on walkingenglishman.