REACH @ Ratho

On Saturday I was at Ratho to team up with Pauline and around 40 kids from the charity REACH which is for kids with Upper Limb Deficiencies. We only had an hour with each party of 20 and all the work was done by Ratho instructors, my job was basically to speak to the kids and try give them an idea of what climbing with a similar disability is like and try give some feedback. Some of them were very inspiring and determined. Yet some had very obviously had extremely sheltered lives and were convinced they weren't capable, one lad in particular stood out and after a fair bit of gentle encouragement by 3 of us he eventually tied in and gave it his best shot. It would've been great to have had more time to work with the group as it was an interesting challenge not just with the varying physical capabilities but also on how getting past the confidence issues some of the kids had.

Good Work

Had a bit of a busy stint there with various bits of cool work. First up was two days of setting routes at the Ice Factor. It was a lot of graft for the team of us and stressful for the staff as the ice wall had melted after a client burst a pipe that was part of the cooling system with his axe. We got it all set though and by the sounds of it it was a successful day as this years STS kicked off.

Trying to figure out a good finals route

On Saturday morning it was off to the Peak district to work for Mammut. The plan was to team up with photographer Dan Lane http://www.danlanephotography.com/ and for me to solo an E5 that I'm keen for but pissing rain put paid to that idea. Instead I hung around Outsides shop in Hathersage blethering to the staff, drinking tea and getting nervous. The room rapidly filled up though when they opened the doors and it was straight into the talk.

Talking about Ireland- Pic- Dan Lane

The talk went smoothly and afterwards there was plenty of questions, all in all a good night.

Professional to the end, drinking Mammuts 'Tusk Ale' in the street , classy!! Pic- Dan Lane

Outside Talk

For those reading this around the Peak on Saturday 8th of Oct Ian Parnell and myself are doing free lectures in Outside Hathersage. Theres lots of give aways and raffle stuff to be won, be good to see some of you there!!

http://www.outside.co.uk/latest/news/Get-Ready-For-Winter!