Mountain Trainin Picture

Mountain Trainin Picture

Friday 21 March 2014

BMC FUNdamentals 1...

This past Thursday (20th March) I attended the BMC FUNdamentals of climbing 1 workshop. The workshop was run at the Quay Climbing centre by Guy Jarvis of Undercover Rock.

The FUNdamentals 1 workshop is one of the prerequisites for the new Foundation Coach award. Whereas the Foundation Coach training focuses on how to coach, the FUNdamentals 1 focuses on what to coach.

We started off the workshop with a power-point presentation and had discussions on various things such as Istvan Balyi's Long Term Athlete Development and the 10,000 hour/10 year concept. Istvan Balyi's Long Term Athlete Development is a model in which Balyi focuses on the long term development of individuals. In the simplest terms, the Long Term Athlete Development model is intended to focus on an individuals lifelong development in sport by focusing on a long term approach to maximising potential. The 10,000 hour/10 year concept was first coined by Anders Ericsson (1993). The concept focuses on the length of time in which an individual must spend practicing a certain skill before they can be accepted as an expert. Roughly 3 hours of deliberate practice daily amounts to 10 years. Hence the 10,000 hour/10 year theory.

Once we had finished the power-point, things became far more practical. We headed down to the climbing wall and spent some time focusing on warm ups and floor games which can be used prior to a coaching session to prepare individuals for climbing. We looked at the role pulse raisers and aerobic activities can be used at the start of a warm up to ensure that the blood is flowing around the body, muscles become pliable and the brain becomes more engaged and aware. We then looked at the second part of a warm up which was focusing on dynamic stretches such as hip rotations, leg swings and shoulder windmills. Once we had done this we looked at part three of a warm up. Specific moves for climbing. This can be done by using easy traverses and focusing on agility, balance and co-ordination.

Next up we played some wall games and focused on weight transfer, economy of movement and the role that the body's centre of gravity plays during specific climbing manoeuvre's. We climbed with blindfolds, no hands, balls in each of our hands, using only fingers and using only bolt holes. The latter was extremely difficult. We done each of these exercises on slab walls and vertical walls. Once this was done we analysed and gave feedback to our partners on each skill.

One area which was an ongoing theme throughout the whole workshop was the ABC's of climbing (Agility, balance and co-ordination). It is extremely important for coaches to be aware that when coaching juniors it is these fundamental areas which must be focused on. If an individual does not receive an adequate amount of input in these fundamental areas by the time they reach the age of 12 the window for training these areas effectively starts to close. An individual can still learn these afterwards but it becomes a much slower and harder process. This is why it is extremely important for us as coaches to develop these areas before focusing on techniques.

We also covered areas such as skill acquisition, cognitive development, emotional development and the use of correcting fundamental movement errors. However to write about all of this would constitute an in depth university standard assignment. Far beyond the scope of a standard blog post...

An extremely well run workshop by Guy to an extremely high standard.

I thoroughly recommend that any individual out there who coaches junior clubs and/or squads attends one of these workshops.

Sunday 16 March 2014

Climbing Wall Leading Award (CWLA) Training

This past Saturday (15th March) I attended a CWLA Training course which was based at the Quay Climbing Centre and run by the The Adventure Fitness Company. The CWLA is a qualification which allows instructors to teach lead climbing on both outdoor and indoor artificial climbing walls.

During the course we looked at the skills required by an instructor to effectively teach lead climbing. This included all participants taking both top rope and lead climbing falls in a safe environment and the use of dynamic belaying whilst belaying a lead climber. We also looked at safe clipping of quick-draws and the position the leader should be in when safely clipping. We then headed to the boulder room where we gave some scenarios to one another regarding areas of improvement and the measures that can be put in place to implement these areas. The last area of the syllabus that we covered was the effective use of rescues. We were given some rescue scenarios and talked through the procedures in place to ensure that a rescue is carried out effectively.

The Quay Climbing Centre...
A very well run course by Pen. I would highly recommend The Adventure Fitness Company for any individuals interested in attending a CWLA Training course.

Next up, assessment...

Sheeps Tor

During this spell of excellent weather that we are currently having it would be sacrilege to not get any outdoor climbing done!

On Thursday last week (13th March) myself and George headed up to Sheeps Tor to get our first day of outdoor (rock) climbing in for this year!

As the weather was wall to wall sunshine it was not surprising that the crag was very busy by the time we got there. This didn't phase us as we were keen to crack on  We both got kitted up and I quickly lead up Overhang Crack S 4a as George followed behind. Next up George lead Slanting Crack - Severe. Next up I lead Workers Wall - HS 4a.

Once we had lead a few routes we grabbed a few solos before we headed back down the hill and back to the car.

Myself soloing up Mushroom Wall - VS 4c...

George soloing up Slab Route - Diff...

Good first day out on rock. Hopefully more to come this year...

Thursday 6 March 2014

Fiacaill Ridge...

Today the weather was a bit better than forecast so the plan was to make sure we got a good day in before we head home tomorrow (Friday).

We set off from the ski centre car park and made the long slog up the slope leading to the ridge proper. Once at the top we got kitted up with crampons and helmets before heading down past the notch before ascending the ridge. The snow was fairly deep and the ice was melting quicker than we were moving due to the mild temperature.

Myself, Andy and Sam on the Fiacaill Ridge...
We made good progress arriving at the top of the ridge by 11:30am! Once we were at the top we followed the ridge round to spot height 1176 metres and then round to spot height 1141 metres. Once here we descended the Fiacaill a Choire Chais back down to the ski centre car park for 'tea, cakes and medals'...

The Fiacaill Ridge from spot height 1176 metres...

Another good day in the bag before we head back down south tomorrow...

Tuesday 4 March 2014

Cairngorms 2014

So far we have spent 2 days out in the hills making the most of all the snow that has dumped the Cairngorms this season.

Day 1 (Monday) we spent the day fairly close to the ski centre. We ascended the Fiacaill a Choire Chais ridge and headed to the summit of Cairngorm. A first Munro for many of the group. After bagging the summit we headed down towards marquis' well where we had a quick lunch stop and made a small snow-hole. After this we headed for Ptarmigan restaurant and descended the path towards the ski centre car park.


Myself, Sam and Andy on the descent from Cairngorm. Fiacaill ridge in the background...

Day 2 (Tuesday) the weather was a bit more hardcore. On the way to the sugar bowl car park we had a half hour wait due to the road being closed as the snow fall in the morning was heavy. Once we finally arrived we instantly set off and headed for the Chalamain gap. Walking through the gap we had some severe wind, we even had to stop and get the goggles on. Once through the gap we played about on some slopes practicing our ice axe arrests. Once we had done this we had a quick look at through the Lairig Ghru before turning back. The walk back through the Chalamain Gap was a bit friendlier with very little wind. A quick stroll and we were back in the car park. 

Ben in the Chalamain gap...

Hopefully the weather is a bit friendlier tomorrow so we can enjoy another day out in the hills...