 Good evening everyone and thank you for joining us this evening. It's a real pleasure to have you along this evening. For tonight's talk introduction to rock climbing with our friends at Glenmore Lodge. Tonight we're going to be, we've really aimed this talk at anyone who's either new to climbing or trying to get back into climbing after possibly a year of not doing it or even if it's just been a few months. So we're delighted to be joined by Stu from Glenmore Lodge, who is an international mountain federation guide and Glenmore Lodge instructor. And he's going to be sharing a few tips on how to get into rock climbing or how to get back into rock climbing. So thank you Stu. And just before we start the, we're on zoom and on Facebook this evening. So if you've got any questions and you're watching on zoom and feel free to pop them in the Q&A. If you're watching on Facebook, then feel free to pop them in the comments and I'll be monitoring them throughout the evening. So I'll put as many questions to Stu as I can. We've also got a slight technical issue with Stu's camera. So when he's presenting you actually won't see him. So we've brought him on camera now, but it's probably not a bad thing. I just mentioned that just in case anyone thinks something's gone wrong. But yeah, I'll hand over to Stu and thanks very much. Enjoy the talk. Thank you. Okay, thanks Mark. Thank you everyone for attending. And hope this is useful. And I hope you're well wherever you are. I'll just share my screen. And hopefully, yeah. Hopefully it'll work okay. Good. So yeah, I hope you're all well. Right now I've been having more. And I don't know where all you guys are but I hope you have a nice evening. And it seems to feel like summer has started again, which has been quite nice. And I've been teaching rock climbing today. I work over at Glamour Lodge up here in Scotland. I've been here for a strange couple of years. A couple of years ago. And then obviously, you know, COVID happened so it was very strange last year. But things are starting to improve and it's so nice to see people and meet new people again. And it's been fun teaching rock climbing the last few days, which is nice. So hopefully this lecture will help you. And any questions, do fire them in whenever. But all this lecture is, I'm just going to maybe is focused around this, maybe just some areas that you want to consider moving into rock climbing, whether it be for the first time. Or after a while, you know, leaving it for a bit or you want to come back into climbing. And hopefully it will inspire you as well to give it a go again and start things back up. But also if you're very brand new to it as well, I wanted to inspire you to start up and I'll give you some ideas on how to do that as well. Pretty limited as it's just a webinar, but hopefully it gives you some notes and questions and that will lead on to things for your climbing developing as well. So, along these pictures, it's just going to be some some text as well to focus on a certain area. I can maybe also tell where some of the pictures are as well to help you along. But I guess this talk is is a bit of a skills checklist. But also what I mean by safe practices is, is kind of what people normally do. And these are if he's a brand new to you then you, you can go away and learn easier through a book or not give you some advice on where to start all these things as well. So this is a big rock climb here near Trawimaw on a mountain called Binion Shoes, and this is a very key wall that you can see the person climbing on there. And this is quite a long route. It's about five pitches long. So five real plants long and you can see it's deep in the mountains. And for this one you can get to the mountain bike as well, which is nice. So if you're brand new to this, you're thinking about, you know, where do I even start? Well, for, you know, a very first starting point, a good start point is climbing walls. So I don't know if there's a climb wall nearby you. But often you can meet new people that are even go on a course, or you can maybe just register the climb wall, and they'll give you some starting points. And then you can start going to the climb wall on your own or with friends. But that's a really good place for things to start. It might also be that you've got friends or family that you can climb with. And they may even introduce you. That might be the case for you right now. I don't know. But that's often nice and I had a little bit of that when I was younger. But not family, it was more friends. Another way to start is maybe a club. So there might be a climb and a mountaineering club nearby. And in that club, you'll get a lot of people who will look after you, but also teach you aspects of climbing as well. And you then will probably that will develop into maybe lots of trips or meets that the club will organize. And your climbing will hopefully develop from that point with, with meeting people in the club as well. And you can also decide to go down a different route and that might be to just go into into a climbing course. And these these will be run throughout throughout the UK, obviously in the climbing areas in the UK. It might be even in the, in the climbing wall, but if you want to get, you know, get stuck into climbing outside, then they'll be in the climbing areas of the UK. And where the areas, the climate is more concentrated and already well developed. So we're talking about places like North Wales, South Wales, Devon and Cornwall, Peak District, Lake District. I hope I haven't not mentioned many awesome one, but also then Scotland as well. And also there's, there's many people, many qualified instructors that will advertise for this as well. But obviously if you want any advice for that, we were here to give you some advice on where to go for this. There also may be an individual climbing instructor or mountain guide. So these people will be offering something very tailored and maybe individual as well. So that's, that's some good ideas on where to start. Moving forward also, you know, you may be asking, this might be your very first time and it might be just an intro to it all. And you may be actually testing the water a little bit. Well, I'm here to reassure you that anybody can go climbing, literally anybody. I think it's a great life skill and skill set to have it compliments many things. You're constantly risk assessing and meeting new people outside. It's exercise and great adventure as well. If you're wondering, I think a good level of fitness does help. It's not absolutely important, but I think you will get more from it and you'll probably enjoy things more. So any, any tips I can give you for that just keep up your basic gym fitness running or any basic conditioning and, you know, and you're healthy. Then I think you'll enjoy the climate even more and be in a position to develop from as well. I think the next point is really important the sense of adventure I'm sure we all have that. If you've signed up for this and you've definitely definitely got that. It's a good sense of adventure. Yeah. And let me remind you as well. It's never too late. You know, I, I love teaching climbing to all ages and meet people from all over the world. Teaching climate so it's never too late so it doesn't matter how old you are. Yeah, it's, it's a great thing whenever it's really good for building teamwork and friendships. So that's fairly automatic that they become really good friendships because you're often experiencing, you know, quite unique experiences. So you have that really nice connection, you know, when climbing, you have to trust people really well but also it takes you to some really special parts of the UK. Experiences can be quite vivid at times and, you know, it's nice to share that with people and, and you've always got that to share together as well. So it's very good for that. And like I said, you know, you can take it to some of the most amazing parts of the world if not the country. You know, we're very lucky in this picture here. This is Reef over on the west coast of Scotland in the northwest of Scotland, and you can see the mountains and background and it's a really nice little sitler. It's a beautiful place. So, you know, going, so if you already do a little bit of climbing wall, you know already, or it's maybe been due to COVID times it's maybe a long time since you've been climbing. And you're going back out to outside rock rather than in the climbing wall. Then, you know, I think the challenge is, is one of the best things about this. You know, there is more adventure than, than, than your climbing wall obviously and, you know, and nature as well. You know the climb walls are great and I often use them as well but you know I think if you're using the climb wall all the time I think there's maybe that ambition to work to start moving outside to go climbing as well. I'd say, you know, how to do all this, how to and what to expect. Well, again, like I said, you know, one good way is to go with experienced friends or family, and they can look after you obviously they'll have to be, you know, climbers. Very lucky if you have that in your family. That'd be really nice. Maybe an instructor or a mountain guide. There's going to be other equipment that you're going to need more than maybe at the climb wall. So you can need a simple climbing rack and a rope as well. So, and this equipment, you can't go out and buy it by overnight it can all be very expensive. So over time I would say, you know, just generate this equipment slowly over time, and that will allow you to go to different places. And, you know, with the equipment and borrow a bit from friends, reliable friends who are maybe climbers, borrow this equipment and acquire over time or maybe combine it with a team of friends, who some people may have more equipment than others, and that'll help going outside. This is all great because it's often new equipment and something good and new to learn that might be different from the climb wall. So if you do a crag will involve more planning. You'll obviously have to get there and need to know more about a crag that than a climb wall. You'll have to have a look at the weather forecast. Maybe read a guidebook. And what comes with visiting different crags is all the different rock types, climbing styles and history. You know, these places have in the UK we have some of the best climbing history in the world. And we love writing about it. So in all the climbing guidebooks that give you a general overview of the climbing history in the area, which is really nice. Also what to expect is, you know, the challenge of, you know, navigating and climbing around rock and, and all the sort of the risk that comes with that. You know, you assess the risk, you know, very carefully with friends, and, you know, a different place will have different levels of risk. And I see that's part of the challenge as well also part of the reward, you know, in doing the job well. So and share that as well with friends and not something new to learn when going outside climbing outside. Very different from a climbing wall is the weather. So the weather can can often be a bit of a challenge depending on where you are in the country. So, you know, good luck with that. And it may involve traveling sometimes, or maybe a little bit more planning around days off and grabbing the best chance of the weather. So the last few days of the day, it's, it's started when it's decided to start to go a little bit more summary. So it feels a little warmer today, which has been, which has been really, really very welcome. The last last few days. So what types of climbing skipped ahead. I'll just, we got. I don't know, I'm not sure if you know of these types of different climbers, I'll try and summarize or describe them. Baldwin is very popular. And that's here in this picture here you can see requires very little equipment. It's normal for people to have a bouldering mat nowadays. And it's normally to a crag that's very small or even a set of boulders. That you can climb comfortably. And it allows you maybe to focus more on the technique and the difficulty of climbing and, and you can often use it for training but also a bit fun. The great thing about Baldwin is it doesn't require much equipment. And you can get a lot done in a very short amount of time. You also, you know, you can go out on your own. If it's an area, you know, well, for a bit of fresh air and a bit of adventure. You know, I think if you're on your own a bouldering mat would make a bit more difference. I'd say a lot more people are using the standard anyway. And these can be bought in most shops as well. So this bouldering. This is the Trad Climbing which which is getting a lot of really good profile now you know it's it's it's the most probably old fashioned style of climb we've got but it's but it's also well respected throughout the whole world. Our view on Trad Climbing. And that is that we place gear into the crag. And so you can be very creative and inventive in make and the challenge is more to make it safe by putting wires and cams in and making your own belays with no fixed equipment in the in the roof. I would say most of the climate in the UK is Trad Climbing. And then there's the Sport Climbing and Sport Climbing this is where there will be bolts in the crag. And it's probably in the UK it's been accepted that crag is okay to bolt. And there'll be metal clips metal bolts. And there will provide your safety and your sport climate, just like in a climate more as well. Single Pitch Climbing is where all of this climbing this can be sport climbing or track climbing, but single pitch means that it's a small crag that you can operate on the crag with, you know, a rope length very very easily. Also normally a single pitch climbing has easy access to the top and bottom. But this is where some of the biggest adventures are in the UK. And this involves more than one rope length. So you'll have to stop mid route and make a belay at a stand source somewhere where you can't carry on. There'll be a natural ledge maybe normally sometimes really good ledges and you make a belay and repeat the process. In the UK some of these routes could be, you know, even up to eight, nine, 10 pitches, pitches long, you know, on average you get a lot of crags and maybe two to three pitches high in the Lake District in north Wales, but also like I said some of the biggest adventures in the UK can be a lot more than that if not double. So that's multi pitch climbing, big adventures. So here here's some images. This is on the main image on the left there that's a route called savage slit here in the kangaroos and that's a three pitch route multi pitch route. And it's a granite rock type. And it's here in the kangaroos. It's in the, you know, the grade of that is, is VDF severe. Really nice multi pitch time. And then you've got top right is the old man of hoy. Very, you know, obviously differing seriousness levels and adventures and I would say the old man of hoy is probably one of the biggest and best track time and adventures you can have in the UK. So it's a big stack upon the north of Scotland in the alchemy islands. And then lower down is a sport climb on slate in Clamberris in north Wales. So it's just an example of different climbs in different places throughout the UK. So that is, this is all going to be new. Like I said before, the equipment required and a bit of care and maintenance. So if you look after this, if you look after this gear and carefully monitor it, you know, every time that you go out, keep a good eye on equipment because the rock, you know, the rock and the ropes, you know, you do put them through, you know, quite a lot of hard work. So, you know, do keep an eye on it and constantly monitor any sort of like wear and tear. Yeah. But there is quite a lot of equipment to be bought or slash acquired. And with all this, I would say it's quite expensive, like I said to buy all in one. So, you know, I would acquire it over time. And what will happen is you'll, you'll see where you want to go next or and you'll think how we need this piece of equipment. Well, that's fine. And that means it allows you to maybe visit somewhere else. So you buy it over time, and when you can afford it. But you know, obviously, you're going to need a helmet harness and rock shoes and chalk bag. Well, you can build on, you can build on what you already have maybe for the climbing wall, for example, and the rope is, you know, so the rope that you go to the climbing wall with, you can use at a crack as well. Slightly different, you're going to need a small climbing rack. Now, this is going to be dependent on the place that you want to go climbing or wherever is more local or somewhere that you particularly want to climb for the first time. Your climbing rock rack often has to suit where you're where you're starting out climbing. But there is an average rack that you can start with. And actually, you know, you can get lots of advice on this, you know, it's going to be a set of wires, you know, one to 10, and then a few cams, some quick draws. And then maybe some hexes and some slings, some 120 slings and some screw gates. You know, with with that, you could climb most things on small single pitch cracks. And then in time you'll, you'll learn a little bit more about what equipment is needed in different places. Like I said, it will last a long time and check it, check it regularly. Yeah, because different rock types can really affect the equipment a bit more. You know, the slate, for example, our sharp edges granite here in Scotland has quite a lot of crystals so you can watch out for the rope and so on and so on. If you're climbing by the sea, you know, nearly all the time then do maybe wash and rinse your gear just simple wash and rinse in the bath with no no just clean water will be will be enough. I mean, I would say that if that is the only place to climb. So for example, Pembroke in South Wales, if you are climbing there all the time, even just the, you know, the wind, wind off the sea will be enough for you to maybe do this quite regularly. Yeah, just keep good care of your equipment. Climate partners. This is the best bit, because these people really make it the easier friends. So some advice on this is, first of all, pick people that you like being with in the mountains and climbing. Yeah. And that might be not because they know lots about climbing is that you have fun with them, and you like being with them and. But it might also be that a really good climber in a role model, and, and you feel safe with them. And I think that as well as if both of you know very little you can learn together as well which is a nice, a nice thing. Similar ambitions is often nice. You like going to the same places and want to climb the same routes. And you're like I said learning from each other and learning together is a brilliant way. You know, and often this can be done reflecting, you know, after you climb consider how well you did, what could have been done better. And, you know, it's, it's, it's a really, really good process. And it goes without saying that, you know, that you trust these people that you're climbing with, and those people are honest as well and what I mean by that is that they're quite good at sharing how they feel and what they're thinking, which is nice. They're safe and reliable so you know, be selective with these, you know, and do go with people that you do feel safe, safe with. Now, this doesn't happen overnight. And like I say on the slide, this can take time so. So don't don't rush it and start, start on small climbs, and then get slowly get bigger and bigger when you when you're ready to do this together. This was quite an issue, and maybe still is as well, you know, I'm back to work and, and I'm starting to sometimes remember things slowly, you know, like, I sometimes forget, not obviously not when climbing but just going back to work after a while. You do forget the little things the normal things so you know I understand this. For me I'm quite lucky, you know I get to climb most of the time, so that you know that that's really nice but, but I think when we've taken a step out of doing something for a very long time, it does take time to get back into it. You know, so just be aware of this yourself, and maybe for others as well. Keep an eye on each other. And through being aware of this then what advice I can give you is just start slowly. And, you know, start on easy climbs, but aim to do them well. I often find that's a very good way for me to start season I'll go on a climb that I maybe know really really well, but I'll aim to do it in a good style. That's my way of starting out going to a place that I've climbed already before. Another way is looking after each other a bit of teamwork and understanding each other's strengths and weaknesses. You know we all have good and bad days. And, you know, this might be one of those times as well so help each other out with a bit of teamwork around this. Maybe set a bit of a time scale to this timeline. You know, maybe, you know, without making too big of plans too soon. Yeah, you know so you know I would give this some time and maybe allow a bit of practice lead up time to some of the bigger adventures. And a good reminder throughout all of this as well it's you know have fun along the way all the time. Yeah, so maybe plan in some smaller clips. I like the one in the image there just to get warmed up and get back into it before bigger roots. So when you when you're going out to your climbing it's going to be important that you will know where to go. You know, I was I would say, this is all down to venue choice. It might be that it's a venue closest to you. And that's great. I can give you any advice I can give you this map and you might have a guidebook for it, you can find this all online. Just, you need to just Google the area and you probably pop up on a website of some sort, or sometimes a website called UK climbing. You might pop up on that and that'll give you a very good index of the climbs and the tracks in your area. Yeah, so that's, that's always a good, good thing to look for. But you'll nearly always come across that that website when Googling something depends how far you do want to travel. You know, maybe in an area where you're very, very lucky, for example, like the Peak District. You might be in the Highlands of Scotland. Never to be aware you do have to travel a bit be you've got lots of choice. So it's up to you, you know how far you want to travel. Also, depending on where you want to climb. You need to where whether it's going to be single or multi pitch. That's up to you. And what you decide to do. I would say, for example, starting out, I would go single pitch. Again, if you're a place like Peak District, then the single pitch everywhere. So you may in time actually feel that you want to build a longer climb somewhere, like in North Wales. Or Devon and Carmel, for example. So wherever you go, there's, it's going to be up to you what sort of thing you're after what sort of style of climbing you have to. Yeah. So all these, they will have guy climbing guidebooks for the areas and climbing guidebooks again better and better every day. So I would just keep your eye out online or in shops. And, you know, pick up a guidebook and the one that you like reading or the one that makes climbing look really, really good. Get that one and use that one. I think the ones with top photo toppers and good route descriptions combined with those that they're the best ones to look out for. So the ideas you can get for for where you're going to climb the things like articles or even some coffee table books, and they can maybe give you some some ideas and places to climb in the UK. Word of mouth, as well. So you might, you know, hear this from a friend, wherever they're going climbing or you've heard about it chatting in a group or the club that you're out of the climbing wall. And then you can look this place up and do a better research. You know, maybe it might be very, very interesting for people but each venue might be a different rock type. Just be aware that that rock type will climb slightly different to a place that you might be used to. Again, I think that's one of the, the, the beauties of rock climbing is that the rock type can change the style of climbing required. So the gear can be slightly different as well. So this all adds a bit of variety to our climate, which is, which is really nice and fun. So here's a few images of different places and rock climbing. So the main image here is on is on sky. It's a really interesting sea cliff called Kilt Rock with lots of vertical columns that you can climb. And this route's called Grepanther, a real classic there. And the top top right image is stack poly in Scotland, really nice rock to climb, really, really, really beautiful place to go and outstanding views and then the bottom right is is the on various slides. Yeah, so again, very accessible. And again, really cool rock types climb. It's very, very different from anything else, which when all these different rock types make for makes for adventure, but also fun and a little bit of kind of like challenge along with it as well. Just a little word on on access. You know, this is really important. I think it's important that we respect this as well. All of these climbing areas will probably have some sort of access already agreed. But just double check this and make sure. I think most of the main popular climbing areas in UK it's all been agreed either this is by access throughout Scotland, or the BMC for England and Wales will have already agreed some sort of access and advertised and any issues have normally been normally been sorted out for us. But it's still always if you're unsure it's always good to ask. So you can look at this in the guidebook or online as well. Yeah, there may be some local restrictions so just look out for these that might be a signpost somewhere. But again, do respect that it might be because it's birds nesting or some sort of temporary closure in that area. Yeah. So be respectful and consider it for others at the crag as well. And I think it's a really good, a good habit. And, you know, I think, I think it also makes for a really nice environment for other climbers to constantly visits and feel, feel like it's a nice happy place to go climbing. A little tip is, you know, you look after the places that we go climbing so, you know, maybe aim to improve. Not just leave it as you found it but if, if there's any way that the area that you climb in it can be improved, then then even better, you know, conserve that area, you know, for climbing for the future for everybody. So look out for the climbers and just be be respectful and aware of other climbers at the crag. And, and how equally they are there for a nice adventurous time climbing in nature, just just like he snarls. Yeah, it's always nice to say hello as well and be polite and have a little chat with the climbers because often, nowadays, it's really nice to see other people outside in the mountains. So, so do say hello to each other as well. It's a really nice thing to do. All of this is kind of what we call crag etiquette. So that all comes underneath this subheading. Ultimately we're aiming for minimal impacts as regards to, to how we use these areas. Okay rope systems you're going to need to practice these and all of these again this doesn't happen overnight. Different rope systems you can read books about these and practice in the front room, practice in the garden and practice with your climbing friend as well. But it's all, it's all so good just to get used to a couple of rope systems that you know well and that can work in most places. The top rope is a bit like what you would see already set up at the climbing wall. And this is where, you know, or in this image here where that person's already climbing be led at the top and the second is climbing up this this system needs to you need to get used to this. So you're looking to progress on to lead climbing where you've already made an anchor at the top, and you're bringing your friend up with the rope, because this is the system that you would need to set up. If you will need climbing. The bottom rope is like what you would see a climbing wall, where you're all be laying at the bottom of the climb, you know, and the ropes going through a belay at the top. So that's a bottom rope. Again, that does need a different rope system to be set up as well. Now all of these need really good anchor and placements and judgment of those anchors as well. Take time to learn about these and understand what makes a good belay and less so good belay and how to make it better as well. So take time to learn that and respect it and judge the equipment that when you've placed it in the in the in the rock. Yeah, practice a rope systems in safe places. And, you know, again go to smaller venues first venues that you feel a lot more comfortable at. Yeah, and the books reference books can help with this and things online as well. The gear placements can this all can be practiced at the crag in a safe place maybe at the maybe at the top, but it can also be practiced at the bottom of the crag especially if it's a safe area with, you know, not underneath any climbers as well but that can be a good way to place gear and just have a little practice in a safe way. And all this time as well. You know, constantly reflect and and judge what you're doing you know challenge yourself as well and you know and this is how we learn as well so, you know, take time to practice this. So you can see here some images of people already be laying at the top of the crags or in the main image. This is a is a traumatic. And this climate has been set up and you can see that he's connected to to to to anchor there to anchor belays. Yeah and he's bringing up his, his climbing partner. North Wales traumatic and then again the top right is coincidentally traumatic as well so you can see somebody there be the top and bringing up the second as well. And then this person in the bottom right there setting up a bottom rope system so you can see him practicing there with the ropes and equalizing the system that's what he's about to do that by putting a knot in the rope. Good. Now so lead climbing I would say lead climbing is probably the purest form of climbing that we all practice and focus towards. What this means is that you are as you are climbing you are placing gear and and you are judging that gear and the challenge is to make it safe. What I'd recommend with this is starting on easy things first and this these might be things you've climbed on a safe top rope stuff with as well. Yeah, but focus on the technical aspects of placing gear. Yeah, focus on the technical aspects placing gear rather than the difficulty of the climbing. Yeah, so maybe start on easy easy climbs first and can concentrate on doing a good safe job. And that might help give you the confidence of your confidence of your climbing as well. Yeah. I've just had a question come in from Facebook. So there's someone who's looking to progress from qualifications RCI to MCI. Yeah, any tips okay okay yeah we can answer that I would. Yeah I would say, so the other question about coming in from one person who's going from RCI to MCI. Yeah, I would say, because you need to have your ML mountain leader, and then from that mountain leader, which which takes a little while. From that mountain leader you need to do lots of multi pitch fun, because RCI is mainly around single pitch. So, towards the MCI, you need to collect at least 2020 multi pitch routes before you can go into your MCI. And some of those have to be at VS. Yeah, so. So yeah, that's it's a big step, but it but the MCI is quite a big qualification as well and allows you can do to do many things, all aspects of mountaineering. So, good luck and and have fun doing that and and and I hope, I hope you have a great time doing it as well because it's an amazing pathway and a superb career step as well. I look forward to seeing you. Thanks Jack, thank you. Good so back to Lee climbing on single pitch. You know, I think Lee climbing also you have to have an understanding of the risk and involved and and this is why we place runners as we climb, but also not just the risk for you looking after your second as well. But don't worry, all of this can be fun. This is why we want to go climbing but I think we do in the background risk assess a lot of the time when we're when we're climbing. It will help if you understand climbing grades. So that could have been done right from the very start, just to ensure that you know what you're climbing and the fact that you're not climbing something that might be too hard for yourself. So that's on a grade or on a climb that is good for the grade. Make sure it is that climb as well. So you're not climbing on a different route by mistake, for example. So, understanding the grades will help that make sure you don't get something too hard too soon. Yeah. It will help if you're climbing well. What I mean by that is you've got good, good technique you're feeling strong you're feeling fit. And that means that you'll enjoy the climbing and you can concentrate on placing the gear. Yeah, so climbing well is one of the biggest aspects actually, probably slightly more than understanding how to place kit. If you're climbing well. I think that's a really, really good place to start. Yeah. So, combined with that is belay making, you're going to have to make a belay at the top of the climb. This is, I would say practice this to get to a stage where you can do this unprompted for lead climbing and going into lead climbing. And risk assessment, I don't want to make it sound like it's too big a thing, but I think you're just looking after each other and the people around you but also just mainly your second and yourself. And asking the what ifs, we're very good at that as climbers, and they need to prevent in the what ifs or protect them, protect them somehow and put lots of gear in if you get scared. That's one little tip. And then, yeah, combined with lead climbing as well is you will probably at some point want to learn how to upsell. This is quite a good technique for climbers to know, not just from getting around but also you may be able to retrieve some gear that has been stuck, or it might be access to a certain climb, you have to upsell. But it also is a very useful thing to know how to do but also to feel comfortable with it as well. We don't do lots of it as climbers, but it's a really good, simple and important technique. And employ safety measures as well by using a prusik. And this can again safeguard the upselling technique. And make it feel a lot more comfortable. Yeah. But lead climbing multi pitch. I would say, you know, on the previous slide was the textbook, so I single pitch craig standage in the peak district. And then this is a very key wall in Scotland. Going into any advice I can give going into multi pitch. Go and do a climb that you really want to do that you've that you feel inspired and motivated to do, but make sure you're doing it the right time and not too early so I would say lots of single pitch climbing will help. Not just by making belays, but also that you're climbing your route finding is is on form. And you're feeling confident and you can do this a very local smaller place closer to home maybe, or easy access or somewhere you know well. So go on the multi pitch climb that you really want to do, but at the right time. Yeah, because it is going to employ a lot of route finding skills, and also belay construction on often really small ledges. So you have to be able to make a belay mid route. And what comes with that as well is managing that stance, and also the rope. So, you know, it was dependent, I would aim for big ledges or, you know reasonable ledges to start off with. And any tips I can give on route finding is I would look for ledges, almost first. Yeah, so keep an eye out for ledges on the route and consider those. The guidebook will normally tell you and describe or even point out a photo where the belay should be or where it normally is. Yeah, but at those stances you are going to have to sort the rope out and organizing it in a very structured manner. So do practice that, so that your rope works not slowing you down or making it feel really difficult. And a lot of all that depends on how long your climb is, and is also how long it's going to take. So a bedtime management is really quite important. Any tips I can give on this is do, you know, do jobs well and do them once. So things are well practice, for example, help each other out with route finding. So, you know, gear changeovers at stances, not fast, but they're done well and done once. Yeah, so nice and nice and smooth. Yeah, trying to rush things because you often make mistakes rushing and have a really fun time along the way as well. Yeah, so taking the views and take lots of photos and have a nice time. No, all of this on top of all this, you know, you know, placing gear, the risk assessment. All this can be made so much easier by good climbing technique and strength and efficiency and confidence as well. Yeah, because with good climbing movement, this can be practiced bouldering or the climbing wall or just general good conditioning at home but it can improve your efficiency. You can feel better, you can feel stronger, you know, and you perform a lot better. So keep your cardio training up. And if you go like going into the mountains, keep scrambling and keep doing those ridges and that will help with all of your climbing and judgment as well. And all of this will be important, will help you progress into the next grade or whatever climb you want to do on next big adventures. Some different rock types will require different techniques. For example, you know, on grit stone you'll do a lot of jamming on slate climbing you climb a lot of sharp edges and and require very, very good balance. Whereas limestone is often quite strenuous and very technical. So that's, again, part of the, you know, the beauty of all of this is the fact that you get so much variety, but it does require different strengths and techniques, which is a great thing. Many tips are also you can give you is watch other climbers and maybe, maybe learn from others as well. And friends as well, you know, really good role models, but keep up the good simple strength and conditioning at home. Yeah. Good. Right so thank you, thank you everyone. I've just had some questions come in. I just hope you hope you did enjoy that talk and hopefully it was useful. Just just by the way, this is on Bozegren Commando Ridge in, in North, North Cornwall. So yeah, you'll, that's an amazing place to go climbing. It's beautiful. So I've had a question from Kate. Thanks so much. By the way, everybody for your really nice questions. Do I need, do you need to be a member of a club association for insurance to climb in certain places, both in the UK. Do you need to be a member of the club of insurance. So insurance to climb. No, no, you don't need to know you can, you can know you don't need to be in a club. I mean, if you want insurance for your client, any tip I can give you, you don't have to be in a club to go climbing. You don't really need to be associated with with anything really. You know, you can be just a group of friends. Depends what you mean by insurance. If you're a member of the BMC, you can. You can be a third part insurance by being a member of the BMC automatically so that's one good, one good reason to be to be a member of the BMC. But other than that, you know, personal insurance that can that has to be bought. If you are looking, looking for insurance. And as far as you don't need insurance for rescue here in the UK. If you go down that route, you can get climbing insurance through the BMC and some other companies as well. So hopefully that helps answer your question. Okay, and, and then I've had another question from Chris on Facebook. When I'm sailing do you touch the person to your leg strap. Yes, yes, I do. Yeah, that can be a really simple, efficient way of touching the project. The only small risk with that is you don't want to proceed too close to the be a device when up sailing. And often with the leg loop attachment, it can come quite close. So what you can do is extend the up sale be a device with a sling from from your, from your be a loop. Yeah. Hopefully that helps. But there's a lot of information on online and in books. But yeah, I do use a leg loop. It's a very comfortable place to have the process attached. By the way, some people do use the be a loop to clip the process into. But that is essential, absolutely essential that you need to extend the, the be a abseil device with a sling because the two wouldn't fit in the be a loop together. Yep. Good, hopefully that helps. And Nicole is asking about beginner courses are they well more are they day or week long courses. Well you can have a look on their website. It's really nice. And that'll give you a full range of the rock climbing courses. There's a lot of rock climbing courses that are just two days, weekends, and also five day Monday to Friday rock climbing courses. And also, for example, today I'm on a three day rock climbing course from Wednesday to Friday. So full range, Nicole of lengths of courses and times of the week. I hope that helps. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Steve. Okay, come back out and pop back into into zoom. There we go. Great talk. Thank you, Steve. That's everyone's everyone's kind of asked their questions. But if anyone has any more, please fire away but I just wanted to say before we close up that student managed to cram in a lot of information and space of 50 minutes it was brilliant. So if any of you want to watch it again, or get any of your friends to watch it then it is on Facebook it's been recorded and we'll have it on our YouTube other sprig of YouTube channel tomorrow as well so Like you say, Mark, I think it is quite a lot there. I kind of aim to maybe scrape on the surface of most things. So hopefully it's helped everyone and inspired folks to to get out and learn more. Fantastic. Yeah. No, just, there's one or two people saying they couldn't couldn't stay till the end but they were. Yeah, the heads were full of loads of information so they wanted to revisit it so I just thought I'd throw out that the recording will be available. Thank you tomorrow so but I think that that's it. I mean, people have been asking questions as we've been going through and really appreciate your time this evening. Yeah, enjoy enjoy the rest of the shine and yeah. Thank you. And thank you to everyone as well for attending and I hope we get to meet one day climbing or wherever so thanks for a much guys. Brilliant and do do check out Glenmore Lodge's courses because they have got hundreds of courses and you'll never regret doing a course up at Glenmore Lodge believe me, they're fantastic and instructors are all brilliant so thank you. All right. Thanks to you. Thanks everyone. Okay. Thank you.