SPA Training

At long last I completed my SPA Training at the weekend. I was with Chris Radford and Stan Lowe of Ogwen Cottage OPC.

It was quite an eclectic weekend with glorious sunshine at Holyhead Mountain, Anglesey on Saturday and driving wind and rain on Sunday in the Ogwen Valley. Thankfully, we maximised the good conditions on Saturday to run through the majority of the syllabus at the crag, only leaving at 8:00pm with plenty of sunlight left!

Being quite a confident group, we ventured into the clag on Sunday simply to practise setups at Gwern Gof Isaf before scarpering to the Indefatigable climbing wall to cover the indoor element of the Training. This definitely worked well!

Overall, it was a good weekend, which reinforced a lot of skills and knowledge that I have been fortunate enough to have garnered from hanging around friends who are working towards the MIA. I always enjoy spending time with experienced instructors, picking up tips and advice, and Chris and Stan exuded plenty of it. Stan was particularly inspiring – still climbing, working and instructing at 61!

Unfortunately, the only camera I had was on my phone, so I hope to post some photos soon.

P.S. If you’re at Holyhead Mountain, make sure your phone is set to avoid data roaming charges – I was surprised to find myself roaming in Ireland at one point!