This September, I went to the Dolomites again with a couple of fellow Clingon Climbing Club members, Dick and Ashley. The idea was to attempt the Bocchette Alta della Brenta in the Western Dolomites. Unfortunately, due to a combination of the weather and not being able to book huts at the weekend resulted in a […]

Once again I was asked to accompany Ibstock Place School’s Gold DofE Assessment to the Pyrenees. This time I joined with Rob Mason, a local IML. We had four teams and due to the large amounts of snow and less than ideal weather we decided to join forces and follow a similar route for the […]

Following our successful Scottish Winter Skills Week in 2022, we decided to repeat it with a small group led by James and Myself. We based ourselves near Fort William and climbed locally everyday bar one when we went to the Cairngorms.  We were blessed with a high pressure system all week which made up for […]

It was a privilege again to accompany the students of Ibstock Place School to the Pyrenees for their Gold Assessment. We were blessed with some excellent weather despite a dubious forecast and all the students performed with distinction. The route again took us to the foot of the North Face of the Vignemale then on […]

This winter, James, Mark and I decided to run a Winter Skills and Mountaineering week. We based in Roy Bridge which gave us good access to the Central Highlands and particularly, the Mamores. Most of the clients had done Mountain Leader Training and Assessment with us in recent years. The weather was varied during the […]

Towards the end of August, I was invited by Philip and Helen Wilson to accompany them to the Hardangervidda Plateau in Norway on one of their first overseas D of E Gold expeditions. There were two groups from Gordon’s School in Surrey and we based in a series of chalets in Geilo. The teams had […]

In July, I accompanied The Magell family on a short version of the AV2 in the Dolomites. Having taken the older two sons on a previous trip, it was the turn of the two youngest, George and Ben to accompany dad Alex and mum Helen. Having spent the first night in very nice accommodation at […]

In February, I accompanied Mark Joyce to the Beaufortain to prepare for his IML Winter Assessment. Alongside the rest of his family, Fern, Chris and Jo, we spent the first week piste skiing, ski touring and snowshoeing under blue skies in deep snow. Temperatures warmed up during the week but the snow held out remarkably well. Later […]

In November, Richard Brawn and I flew to Jordan to cycle through the country and visit a number of well known historical sites including the Roman city of Jerash and Petra as well as some of the more interesting tourist locations like the Red Sea and Wadi Rum. Things weren’t helped when at the end […]

The end of August found me meeting Ross Greenwood and the other IPS staff at Gatwick Airport for the annual D of E Gold Expedition to the Pyrenees. This time I actually made it onto the plane although when we met up with Chris in Cauterets, it was clear it was his turn this year […]