Final training and bivy in the Brecons
Well it has been a while since I managed to write something for the blog. Things have been slightly busy over the last two months. With work trips and weekends with friends. I’m currently writing this sat in my brothers flat in Tubingen, Germany, as it is only a couple of days now until we drive down to the Chamonix valley and see if the training has paid off!
Despite work being crazy busy this summer training for this years trip to the Alps has been going very well. Whilst mostly all I can do is run and try to keep the legs working, I have managed to get out into the hills to really try and test the fitness levels. Having
lived in Wales for the last 25 years I have experienced some wet weather, but I have not known anything like the conditions that I have found myself in whilst out in the Brecons this summer! It’s good to know that you have the right kit to keep you mostly dry when the weather does take a turn for the worse.
That said I have managed to experience at least 2 days of good weather whilst out in the Brecons. On that occasion things went rather the other way with temperatures soaring, I didn’t appreciate having to carry a 45lb pack up Pen-Fan over to Fan Y Big for my wild camp. It was completely worth it once I had set up camp to watch the stars come out and then in the morning t see the fog in the valley floor below with the peaks of the Brecons protruding through.
Finally, after a bit of a hiatus, spent a weekend sports climbing on some of the crags near to Cardiff. It had been a while since I have done any lead climbing outdoors. With my eye sight the way it is climbing outdoors is a somewhat tricky affair and so attempting to lead climb, albeit on a very easy grade, seriously tests the nerve. It was great to be back out on the cliffs though. Although we were only climbing up to 5C’s it’s amazing how different it is to climbing indoors where pushing your grade seems a much easier affair, especially when all of the holds for both your hands and feet are various shades of luminous colours. Outdoors that’s not the case, and so it can be very difficult at the best of times to find the best places to position your feet and your fingers to get up the climb. It is a great challenge though and very rewarding once you make it to the top, even if it can be stressful before you make it to the next bolt to clip yourself in!
Blurred Adventure 