Few weeks ago I headed to Spain with a friend to try and get away from the British weather for a while.
We headed for Costa Blanca. Staying just outside Benidorm we had a good 7ish days of climbing in mixed weather to say the least!
Here's a List of where we visited and what we thought....

Sella
We spent the first day here. Most of the day on the single pitch 5-6b stuff. Really nice rock and in the sun it can get quite warm. Lots of different aspects so you can move around weather depending. When it started to shower we went to hide under a roof and tried some of the harder stuff. This crag also has the benefits of most of the climbing being either road side or a 5-10min walk. There's several car parks depending on which part of the crag you want to go to, (so if you're really lazy can park closest to the part of the crag that you want to go to). There is something for everyone here. Definitely worth at least one day to visit.
More info on the Crag can be found on UKC Here.

Vall De Guadar (Echo Valley)
Aran De Batistot 
Headed here for some steep harder climbing and we got it! Really impressive roof up in the mountains, which is again road side! With routes from 6b-8a, (although mostly around 7's). Can be a bit chilly if its windy as its in the shade till mid afternoon. If you visit would recommend having a go at Batistot Twenty Four 7a, awesome first few moves before merging into the 6a+ at about 3/4 height.
More info here on UKC.

Marin
Third climbing day saw us head to Marin just outside Elda, (northwest Alicante). We'd decided to have an easy day on the slabs doing multi pitch routes in the sun. Everything we climbed that day was top50 or 3* and we did 13pitches altogether! Harrison also got a taste of multi pitch sport routes and belays that are bolted :). Nice, friendly climbing, theres some harder stuff here that we went to have a look at the end of the day, but its definitely not a crag to go to for 6c+ climbing. Would make a nice crag for first multi pitch routes.
​UKC link here
​

Gandia
We spent 2 days climbing here. Such an awesome crag. Loads of steep/roof stuff set above a massive orange grove. The crag gets sun most of the day and with perma dry sections somewhere that could be visited after some rain too. Routes I would suggest to get on are Bianiulus Gluttulatus 7a, Pepestroika 6b and if you fancy a bouldery challenge get on Espanya no m'apanya 7b+. We barely touched the surface of the climbing here so I will be returning if ever in the area again!
More Info here

We visited a few other crags to, but nothing worth mentioning, other than if you ever climb in Guadalest take a helmet or face getting shouted at and told you can't climb here without one from the refuge owner that doesnt speak any English. Think staying just outside Benidorm worked well for us because it meant that everywhere we visited was under an hours drive. Even though it was still really early on in the year we had some nice warm, sunny days, but also had some bitterly cold days too and a bit of rain.
Both of us will be going back though!

I've also been trying to clock up Mountain Walking days to finish off my ML. So had a few trips to Wales and the Lakes. Alone and with friends..

So its a while since i’ve posted on here. Been quite busy with work. However this weekend and one a few ago my dad came down to Dorset where I’ve been working this month to do some diving. 2 days of diving with Diver’s Down on Swanage Pier, this is what I thought…
​

Couple of Weekends Ago….
Saturday - Black Hawk & Durdle Door
To catch the slack tide the day started at 5 to get on the boat for just after 7 and we where taken to the first dive site for the day, the Back Hawk. An old wreck thats been blown up several times in the past to make way for pipework. There’s about half of it left, but its scattered over the seabed. It sits in about 18metres of water near Lulworth Cove on a sandy bottom. Not a lot to see other than the wreck, life was very sparse.
After a surface interval we headed around to Durdle Door. It was to be a drift dive starting from the door, heading around to Man Of War with the current. The max depth was about 19metres, mostly sandy bottom with boulders interspaced. Other than seaweed in the shallower depths there wasn’t much else apart from the occasional crab.

Sunday - Kyarra & Peveril Ledges Drift
 Another early start to get on whats supposed to be the best wreck in Swanage. Kyarra is just outside the bay, sat in 28-30 metres of water. We were put on the wreck way too early, the tide was still really running all the way till the end of the dive. Had to hold onto the shot all the way down then hold onto the wreck to stop being pulled away. The vis was pretty rubbish too. Didn’t really see a lot other than the deck as we stayed near to the shot due to the conditions.
The second dive was even worse, was a drift dive over the bay, but the skipper insisted that everyone put up DSMB’s as we left the boat to make it easier to track us. Although would have made a nice drift dive if there was something to see as the current was running nicely so no swimming was needed. Saw a few crabs and some scallops.

This Weekend Just Gone…
Saturday - Venezuela & Fleur De Lys
 A wreck in the channel between Swanage & Isle of Wight. Sat in 28 metres the Venezuela was a 64metre cargo steamer carrying coal. The vis was absolutely shocking, most 2metres, sometimes less. Apparently theres loads of fish on this one, but couldn’t see even if there was. Ok dive, but is probably a lot better in better vis.
 The second dive, after a rushed swap around back on the pier was the Fleur De Lys. A French crabber sat in 13 metres, the vis not a lot better and very broken up. Theres a rope running on the seabed from the Floor De Lys to another wreck sat upright next to it. This is alot more intact and can swim through the hold. Not a lot of life again but made an interesting dive.

Overall our experience diving in Swanage has not been a good one, the parking to expensive and rammed on the pier, theres not a lot of life and you feel like its run more for the money than for actual divers benefit. However with simple dives and pretty well managed would suit beginners or groups well. If you live above London its probably not worth the drive, go north instead or further south! Will probably not be in a rush to dive down here again!

So its taken me a while to get around to writing this but thought id get something up before I go to Cornwall. Beginning of this month my friend Ben and I headed to France to get some scary, exposed sport climbing in at Verdon Gorge in Southern France. This is what happened…

So the day we arrived was a write off because of the rain, so we relaxed after the long day’s drive and got a rack sorted for the next day. Unlike most people that go to Verdon we where not going to do a warm-up route, but instead go straight to do the classic Chimney/Off-width thing known as ‘La Demande’ 6a. We were told that the bolting was a little sparse, but weren’t really prepared for what we found. Parking in the bottom car park we walked in, in full sun wearing t-shirts, deciding to only take wind-proofs and a snack as the weather was nice and its ‘only 6a’. Eventually we found the bottom of the route after walking around aimlessly for a while, but at this point it was 2pm. I voiced my opinion that it was maybe a little late to be getting on a 13pitch route but Ben set off up the easy first pitch.
First few pitches were quite nice, bolting a little sparse, but managed to fill in the gaps with a few totem cams. About halfway up though the climbing changed from nice friendly climbing, to off widths with massively spaced bolts… At this point it was getting on 6pm. Slowly making progress up the top pitches we came to the Chimney pitches at the top around 10pm to find them sodden, shiny and hold less needing friction to climb up. To add to the misery of climbing in the dark with head torches where you can either see feet or hands at once, never both, it had started to get a bit chilly and the one apple and half an energy bar each hadn’t really been enough food since breakfast. Ben being the best at this sort of climbing managed to get us to within the last pitch through the super slippery, minimal bolted chimneys.

We toped out at 12:30am in the cold and dark with one of the head-torches dying, not realising that the car was nearly 3 hour walk away! Ended up walking back to campsite, (only 2hr away), and retrieving car in the morning..
After this mega day where neither of us got to bed till 3am, the next was a rest day. Following day though i chose the route, a nice friendly 6a that was well bolted. Not taking any chances this time I made sure we started climbing before 9am. The climbing was really nice and defiantly would suggest ‘Cocoluche’ as a good warm-up route! 
Getting off the route at around 1pm this time had a casual lunch in the sun then got on Wide Is Love 6a. This is probably the most exposed belay both of us have ever been on, you abb off the top and sit a couple of hundred metres up on a blank, pocketed wall. The route is really nice, like super scary indoor jug pulling with a run-out top and polished feet.
The next day we climbed a nice route further up the gorge, before heading to Sainte Victoire to climb a big multi-pitch route i’d had my eyes on.

The route that id found is called Le Grand Parcours and with 17 pitches started at 5am to finish at a sensible time after learning our lesson. The route is awesome with slabby, fingery climbing on the first few pitches, changing into fast scrambling for the middle, then a few off-width pitches at the top before some nice face climbing at the end. It’s well bolted compared to Verdon, however we took a few cams, coming in at uk HVS/E1 it’s a must do if your in the area.
The last few days of our French trip we spent sport climbing in Orpierre. The extremely generous bolting made a refreshing change from the last few days. Dodging the showers we played around on some of the harder stuff before heading home.

After a few days at work headed for a quick farther and son trip to Isle of Mull with the puppy for a bit of walking and wild camping. So much of Mull is unspoilt with some rocky coastline and steep rolling hills, with 2 Ben’s. 2 of the nights we were there we spent wild camping, one was on a beach on the west side of a small island called Erraid which is only accessible at low tide. A cool little wild camp, on a grassy verge at the back of the beach looking out to sea.
Second night we spent over by Ben Moore so we would be in the right place for a quick trip up in the morning before heading back. Luckily the clouds cleared just as we arrived at the top to have a view over the whole island and down the sound all the way to Jura.

So a few months ago my sister and I decided to go somewhere before I get busy again and she gets a job, also meant escaping the rubbish UK weather for a bit! We travelled to Aonang just outside Krabi on the coast of the Andaman Sea. Travel took about 24 hours, but was well worth it!
We stayed in the Ibis which was nicely set back off the road, avoiding the noisy Thai traffic! It was about a 20min walk to the closest beach, although the hotel had a free shuttle service every hour.
​While there we went Scuba Diving, visited a few beaches, went to the Phi Phi Islands, kayaked, did a bit of Climbing, Snorkelled and occasionally rested!

​Railay, Tonsai and Climbing 
From Aonang you can get long boat water taxi to a selection of close-by places, so twice we paid 400baht return, (£9), for the two of us to get around to Railay as the beach was a lot nicer around there. If staying in Aonang it's definitely worth going around for the day, the sea's clearer and beach quieter. Bonus too if your into climbing as Tonsai is only a short walk through the forest at the far left of the beach, (about 5-10mins). My sister doesn't climb so just had a bit of a boulder around the bottom of the cliffs on the beach. Theres loads of sport routes though!

​Scuba Diving 
So both being qualed. padi divers we booked a three dive boat trip through The Dive Ao Nang. Theres a few dive centres in Aonang and after walking around and talking to a few The Dive was the most friendly and didn't feel like I was pulling teeth when talking to them finding out about the local dive sites. We went on what they call the ASK, essentially in its three dives, a wreck and 2 reef dives.
The wreck is an old car transporter which sank in 1997 after hitting the reef nearby, (also the location of the second dive). Called the King Cruiser, it also happens to be in Scuba Travel's top dive sites in Thailand guide. The wreck is sat upright with the wheelhouse at 10metres, going down to the props at 30. Theres lots of life, big schools of fish, shrimps, nudibranchs, moray eels and box fish, along with typical reef life for the area.
The next dive was on a reef called anemone reef. A pinnacle starting at around 5 metres going down to 30+metres. As the name suggests there are lot of anemones. Lots more life too, even a shoal of barracuda swimming past on our dive. Our guide said that there used to be quite a few seahorses there, but in recent years they have completely disappeared. 
The final dive was called Shark Point, which is three pinnacles at progressively deeper levels, first tops out around 4metres, second 10metres, third 20ish. Again we where told there used to be quite a few sharks at this site, but have dropped sitings recently. We didn't see any, but did see a hawksbill turtle, along with a variety of shrimps, crabs, a cuttle fish and a few tunas.
The trip was well run with food and drink offered between each dive, and the guide was very knowledgeable. The guide ratio was good too with one to three and after our guide saw that we knew what we were doing soon relaxed. Ended up with 3 60min dives, not bad for a day diving!

Phi Phi Islands
​For one of the days we went on a Phi Phi Islands tour. It cost 2,000baht(£46) for two of us. That included a taxi from the hotel to the speed boat, Lunch and water throughout the day. The only thing it didn't include was national park entrance fees which are currently 200baht/person. It's approx. a 40 minute boat ride from Aonang to the Phi Phi islands. We visited several of the islands on the trip. First place we went was Maya Bay on Ko Phi Phi Lee. The beach is possibly one of the best beaches I have ever been on, well it would have been if you got rid of a few hundred people! According to the guide, 200 boats visit every day in peak season!
After a few more beach and sightseeing stops we arrived at the main island, (Ko Phi Phi), for lunch. Buffet style and nice food. Our final stop after lunch was a snorkelling trip then relaxing on Bamboo beach. Coral around Bamboo island is good, (video below), and the beach has soft white sand. It was also a lot quieter than the rest of the beaches that we had been to.

Food, Getting Around, Ect 
The food in Thailand is generally pretty cheap. Cost 2 of us around 600-800baht(£15) for a decent meal every night, although neither of us drink. In Ao Nang you need to get a water taxi to the other beaches around. To get to Railay beach it'll cost you 200baht return / person. There is however a nice beach just around the corner in the next bay along that can be got to by walking to the far end of the beach and up through a bit of rainforest.

Earlier on this week I went on a Conville Trust Course in Scotland. The Conville Trust was set up by Jonathon Conville's family after he died in an accident on the Matterhorn in 1979. The trust aims to educate young aspiring mountaineers, (18-30), with the skills they need to look after themselves in the mountains in winter conditions. The course does not require you to have any previous winter experience, just a good summer mountain walking background.
The week preceding my course I had my first taste of Winter Climbing with some friends, (see previous blog post), however it was nice to consolidate what I had picked up from them into a set of skills that would allow me to move around the hills effectively and safely. Making dynamic risk assessments and reading the conditions as they changed throughout the day.

We arrived the day before to Ardenbeg Bunkhouse ready to have a briefing before the following two days in the mountains. Arriving the day before also allowed you to meet the other people on the course. It was a mixed group with people from all sorts of different backgrounds and experiences.
The following morning we met our instructors Johnathon Preston and Diane. The Group was split on half 6 going with Johnathon, and 6 with Diane. We had a quick talk about weather forecasts and how they correlate to conditions actually experienced, before heading out up to the Ski Centre Car Park.
The conditions weren't brilliant on the first day, but we made the most of it. Walking up the snow under the ski lifts we talked about navigation, using your boots as tools and the importance of constantly making decisions as the conditions change, be it the snow/ice, the weather or the group. 
Heading over to some older snow we got out the axe, going through how to cut steps, edge our boots, ascend, descend and traverse an icy slope.
With the following day looking even more miserable we took the opportunity to head up onto the Cairngorm plateau to go bag Cairn Gorm via the Fiacaill a Choire Chais. Up on the plateau we did some poor vis. navigation, walking on bearings and pacing. With the wind around 40mph and sleety rain we did not say on the top for long. Heading into a Corrie on the North aspect of Cairn Gorm, we had our lunch in a snow hole, before heading back out into the sleet to practice ice axe arrests, which aren't as hard as they look!
That evening we had a slideshow presentation from Johnathon, the course director, showing some of his wide wintery travels over the years, with the pictures all still film, it required a slide projector and screen.

The following days forecast looked like a proper Scottish day, with 70mph wind forecast and snow for most of the day, we arrived at the car park to this time find it covered from the previous nights snow. Walking up the truck track that ran between the slopes in the strong winds we headed to the same place we had been the previous morning. Here we looked at the bucket seat and its improvement with a buried axe as an anchor. As a demo to prove how strong this method was we all hung off the end of the rope while Diane held the end. With the cold wind, (-24°C wind chill), we moved back down the slope to continue our rope work and look at using crampons. Further down we covered the Stomper belay, body belaying, South African Abseils' and snow bollards. Moving on to crampon work, we looked at the best way of walking in them, how to make use of all the points and walking up and down slopes.
After an interesting trip back down the ski road in the snow we headed back to the bunkhouse for our final meal. The food throughout the course was brilliant, lots of carbs and 3 courses in an evening. Looking back on the two days the instructors where excellent, really knowledgable in what they where delivering and I now feel I have the basic skills I need to walk around in winter conditions in the mountains.
The Conville Trust helps make this course affordable with it costing only £85 its very good value for money. Anyone under the age of 30 that is looking to get out in the winter mountains should defiantly look at doing it!

Follow my progress on Instagram: @climbing_weldon
​
Conville Trust Website: http://www.jcmt.org.uk

Thanks to Alice Ormrod for supplying the pictures!

Monday saw me driving up to Aviemore to meet up with some friends to get out winter mixed climbing in the Scottish Cairngorms. Arriving at about 9pm went to sleep psyched to get out the next day.
Waking up to a rather warm climate of 4 degrees, not really ideal, we headed out anyway. Heading for Coire An T-Sneachda to climb ‘The Message IV, 6’. It being my first time out, I just followed all day while my friends did the leading, still getting used to using axes and crampons effectively. The conditions where not ideal, with the warm weather causing the melting snow and ice to get blown into your face as you are climbing. With the crux being a step around and over a bulge, while the dripping cold water was blowing straight into your face. Topped out and started the walk back down to the car at the ski car park, to head back into town for a warm drink and food.

The second day started off being alot colder with the temperature around 2 degrees at our bunkhouse and below zero at the car park. Today we headed to Coire An Lochain for me to do my first lead, Ewen Buttress III 4. The route was really nice, with the conditions being alot more wintry and no dripping water to contend with! I was allowed to lead the whole route, only getting stuck on one bit, took me a while to figure out how to get past, only to find out about 2 metres right was alot easier! Topped out the route at about 2, feeling good, even though i was told i was being a little slow near the top
​

The third and last day before my friends went back down south saw us back at Coire An T-Sneachda, with there being four of us today. John’s friend and I went to do ‘Invernookie III 4’ and the other two went to do Sterling Bomber. We swing led Invernookie with me ending up doing the harder bit. Although with my reach i could use loads of hooks and didn’t feel too hard. Being quicker this time we topped out at just gone one and headed back down via Fiacaill Ridge to wait for the others in the ski car park cafe.
​

Overall its been a awesome few days, lead my first winter route, leant alot and done some distance. Got a few days to myself now before I’m booked onto the Scottish Conville Trust Mountaineering Course on Tuesday/Wednesday Next week, looking forward to that and learning more!

​Follow me on Instagram to see cool pictures and see what i’ve been up to more regularly!


Instagram: @Climbing_Weldon

So recently ive not been doing alot other than climbing, reading and going to the gym. A few soloing sessions in the Peak, first problem on the blue circuit, (7a-7c+), at the Climbing Works and my first E4! First though last week I read Alex Honnold's Alone on the Wall cover to cover in 5 days, which is alot of reading for me, below are some of my thoughts.

​Alone On The Wall, Alex Honnold with David Roberts
Alex has been one of my favourite climbers and role models ever since I saw his free solo of El Sendero Luminoso a few years ago, he takes risks, yes, but always manages them, saying that he intends to grow old and be around a long time. His book helps you see into the mind of Alex, and what drives him to do what he loves day to day. Covering stuff such as his free solo ascents, big wall speed link ups and alpine experiences. 
Alone On The Wall also covers stuff outside of climbing such as the Honnold Foundation, which helps by supporting projects around the world focusing on bringing power to remote areas and hoping to improve peoples lives in doing so. Alex's nomadic lifestyle allows him to donate alot of  the money that he makes to his foundation.
From the Free Solo that made him Famous, (Moonlight Butress), through to insight into his childhood and epic alpine adventures such as the Fitzroy traverse, Alone on the Wall is a most read, deffiently recommend it! May he have many more adventures and inspire more people.

What I've Been Up To...
Secret Stanage Severe Circuit
​I've been building some endurance up for a project that i've got planned for next year, and what better way to do this than have a afternoon out soloing on grit, and mix in doing all the Severes at Secret Stanage in one go too! There's about 15 severes in the area, most arent in the best condition as the whole area is usually just walked past, this is probaly because most of the routes are a bit long for boulder problems, but too short for a good lead, most with non existant gear. Some are quite nice though, such as Shuffle. I started from one end and worked back towards High Nebb. After finishing the circuit, i sat looking at an arete that looked really nice. Checked in the book to find it was Blockhead Direct E1 5b. Awesome little problem, would be made soo much better if it was another 20metres longer!

The Roaches
Harrison a friend from 'down south' had come up to see me for the day and get out on some grit, so i met him at the Roaches, an hour and a bit drive away for me. With harrison having not trad climbed in a while we started off easily on a Vdiff, then a S. Before I decided that I liked the look of an E2 called Ruby Tuesday, a two pitch route. The start is a blankish face with the first piece of reasonable gear under a ledge, which involved a high rock over to pass. Interesting with a full trad rack and shoes attached to your harness!

The second pitch was alot easier than the first, finishing up an airy buttress.
Next Harrison wanted to show me his project, Wings of Unreason E4 6a. Admittedly we set a top rope up on it, with me stood at the bottom saying its impossible. Although when i was on it soon figured out the sequence and awkward final move. With one peice of gear at half height was more like a boulder problem than a route.
After id cruised up it Harrison had a go, bailing on the final move, which required a bit more of a dynamic move than me due to hieght differneces! You'll Get it next time!
​Video to Follow!.....

Week last Monday I went to the Lake District with my dad for the day, mostly to build up my QMD's, but also because the weather looked good. We started at the New Dungeon Ghyll and walked, following the river up to Stickle Tarn. Then following the Contour walked around Harrison Stickle up on to Loft Crag, continuing up towards Pike O'Stickle. Stopping for lunch here the view was awesome looking south towards Coniston.

Heading north west we descended down to Stake Pass before the long slog down the winding path and along the valley back towards where we started earlier in the day.

Later in the week with usual climbing partners busy I went to Stanage to do some soloing and work The Beautician E4 5c using self lining with a shunt. Something i've not done before but after a quick explanation from a friend quickly set something up. Worked it for a while, eventually completing it in 2 sections. Getting fed up with working the same problem moved on to do some soloing. Started on Tango Crack, Before soloing a few others in the area before moving on to the Classic VS 4c, High Neb Buttress.

The beginning of this week I went back up to the Lakes to meet Joe and his dad to go up Helvellyn. We started from Patterdale heading towards Striding Edge. The higher we got the worse the weather got. By the time we where on Striding Edge the vis was a bit rubbish!

When we got to the summit we came back down via Swirral Edge where the weather stayed rubbish until we where down around Red Tarn. The Company made up for the rubbish weather!