MIA Training Skills

Recently,  I had the pleasure of working on a AMI (Association of Mountaineering Instructors) trainee members’ workshop.

The students attending the courses are in prep for their MIA award (Mountaineering Instructors Award). This award is the UK’s professional and industry standard for teaching rock climbing within the UK.

The day was focused on improvised rescue skills and avoiding problems on multi pitch climbs. With rain forecast, we headed to Tremadog, giving us quick access to the routes and a variety at VS 4C.  The day based around the guys climbing pitches, with me throwing in problems for them to solve. 

Using routes such as Grim Wall, The Brothers, Meshach and Hail Babe gave us plenty of situations to practice what ended up being a long list of problems. These ranged from

• Student cannot undo Krab on belay plate when leader is safe.
• Student falls off and gets finger caught in crack. 

Up-to more demanding problems

• Students gets knocked out by a rock ( dislodged by a sheep ) whilst seconding and is left hanging upside down. The instructor is approx 20 m,s away belaying and has tied into anchors with the rope and these anchors are out of reach. In addition to this, the context is, they are 3 pitches up on Cloggy  with another 2 pitches above and they are the only climbers on the crag !

The eagled eyed of you, may spot minor things which may have been done better. But they are minor and at the end of the day it is about sorting the problem out safely and as quick as possible.

The day was topped off with a visit the Eric’s as always, for once the boys could relax without the fear of what was going to happen next. 

The AMI has trainee workshops running from April until October each year. They prove a very valuable resource where trainees can share knowledge, practice skills with like mined people and gain some first hand advice. 

With all aspects of AMI,  the sponsorship from Mountain Equipment and DMM is very valuable to the association and it is great to see students supporting both these companies within their equipment purchase. Some nice new looking kit last weekend.

Finally

Twid Turner has been back to  one of his favourite haunts in Alaska with yet another new route to his CV. Mind you,  seems like this time it was hard work, check out link for full details. Also,  with Bullock out in the range things look like another good haul for the Brits out in Alaska. 

Day at the seaside

Saturday,  I ran a combined rock and water workshop for the Mountain Leader Training Association ( MLTA ).   The workshop looked at both sea level traversing and coasteering.  It introduced both these activities and looked in detail of all the areas required to run a safe session. This included; spotting, group management, clip lines, tyrolean’s, jumping in, swimming, site risk assessments, current good practice and technical advisors for these activities.

The workshop was full with 8 delegates and we used the SW coast of Anglesey.  There was a really good atmosphere with all candidates firing questions off and taking to a chilly sea with enthusiasm.

Providing technical advise for these 2 activities is something that I offer as my professional outdoor services.  So please get in touch if you would like to discuss this further.


Finally Caff has been at it again, this time knocking out some wild trad climbing in the pass, follow the link for full details.