Making the best of a bad day

Looking down Ullswater, from Oxford Crag, above Patterdale.

It was back to some outdoor lectures today, which are better known as practical days really. It was a shame that the weather was so bad though as I'm still on climbing practicals. However we were still able to make something out of the day as it turned into a revision session for the SPA with a bit of an open forum as well.

Abseiling off the top of Yew Crag on Gowbarrow Fell.

We took in two crags, Yew Crag on Gowbarrow Fell and Oxford Crag above Patterdale so that we could get a variety of topics covered in one day, in a variety of situations. Even though the weather was pretty rubbish, and I didn't even ascend any decent bits of rock the day was still enjoyable to a degree, but I suppose it was made better by the fact that I knew I was going to be beasted at the climbing wall in the evening.

Wide games combine with climbing: multi-person belaying at the bottom of Oxford Crag.

Today was the first day of an intensive ten week training programme I'm implementing as part of a Coaching and Training for Climbing module. At the moment I'm in the four week stamina stage of the programme, which meant that I spent twenty minutes climbing an overhanging wall before taking a twenty minute rest and repeating it twice more. Good times.

Good lines, stay safe and see you on the wet stuff...
Iain