As we start the new year as we hope to continue it, exploring the mountains, I can't help but hope that this year sees us awarded some funding so we can continue to use climbing and mountaineering to inspire others. The trustees have submitted an application to the National Lottery Community Fund and we will hopefully hear back from them soon!
Watching the last sunset of 2019 it was nice to reflect on what we've achieved in the year: From Lee Chivers and Vincent Forder becoming qualified instructors, to having Clean Ascent registered as a CIO with 3 committed trustees, there's a lot to be grateful for.
Florence Clayton on the edge of the Glyder's as the sun sets behind the Snowdon group. It is a great pleasure to introduce trustee John Sheehan, the latest member of the Clean Ascent team. John is keen climber and outdoor activities enthusiast, with a background in government welfare departments and teaching. Thank you for joining us John.
Trustee David Irons, instructor Florence Clayton and I headed out to the French alps for my birthday, and to visit friends. I was lucky to start climbing in the alps many years ago, after an early spring brought a ski season to an early finish. Substituting healthy outdoor activities for my own harmful addictive tendencies was the precursor to first trying climbing as a therapy for addiction. James, who wrote the Addiction page of this site being the inspiration for the Clean Ascent project.
Ponies are a regular fixture when climbing on Dartmoor, particularly at Haytor. Whilst they are lovely to see and generally very friendly, care must be taken with lunches left lying around. Our bags were raided for carrots and cake during a teaching day at Haytor, with no one able to get to the bags before the ponies due to being either up a cliff or belaying. Tourists are kindly asked not to feed the ponies by Dartmoor National Park Authority but that does not seem to stop many of the visitors from offering snacks...
Trustee David Irons and managed to squeeze in a few of the excellent routes at Bosigran in West Penwith between teaching climbing down at Sennen. Next year we hope to take Clean Ascent clients for trips to Cornwall to sample to the golden granite which is quite distinct from Dartmoor granite, and much longer routes...
This Laurence Coleman of Radventures Outdoors, about to abseil into the start of Seagul Salad on the Exmoor Coast. Laurence has been with me since the start of my climbing instruction and coaching and helped out at the first Clean Ascent taster day.
Clean Ascent is not operational at the moment as we are finishing the charity registration process. We are still keeping our skills current and enjoying climbing. Trustee David Irons and I spent a great day at Baggy Point near Croyde, climbing some classics, including Midnight Cowboy, one of my favourite routes. The Crux of Midnight Cowboy is the step down to get below the small overhang in the photo.
Once I have passed the Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor qualification (MCI), we will be able to take Clean Ascent clients on sea cliffs like this and will no longer be limited to inland crags Trustee David Irons, Instructor Lee Chivers and myself headed to Luckey Tor, set in a beautiful location on the banks of the river Dart, to assess its suitability for future courses. Here David climbing Black Jam Crack.
Once again Portland offered the best weather and a convenient place to meet James for a climb. James' climb out of addiction inspired Clean Ascent, and I was really happy to hear that he has just secured a job as a Care Coordinator at Change Grow Live, a charity in Hampshire working in addiction intervention.
Anyone who follows this photo blog will know that this is a place I visit regularly. The reason being that Tryfan is an iconic mountain covered in top class scrambles and rock climbs.
This is Clean Ascent instructor and former client Vincent Forder stood atop Adam or Eve (not sure which is which but I'm guessing Eve), on the summit. Clean Ascent has always valued continued improvement and development of participants and instructors skills and experience, so we make time to get together and play in the hills, introducing people to new adventures and techniques. Blue sky days on the rock are always welcome but even more so in January!
Here's freelance instructor Laurence Coleman belaying Clean Ascent instructor Lee Chivers on a route at the excellent Vicarage Cliff. Although access isn't easy and the routes are tidal, Vicarage Cliff is an excellent introduction to the adventurous Culm Coast, with great traditional routes through the lower grades. This little trip enabled me to log the final routes I need for the upcoming Rock Climbing Development Instructor qualification due to be released this spring. December was a quiet month for Clean Ascent. The Instructors did manage a couple of trips to Portland to make the most of the unusually good weather and work towards prerequisites for upcoming qualifications.
The image above is one that will be familiar to climbers from Devon, being the view from the B3157 coast road commonly taken by those headed to Portland from the west. I have been meaning to stop and take a picture from this view, looking down towards Chesil Beach and St Catherine's Chapel, since I first made the journey many years ago. On this day I finally did, unable to resist the colour of the sky and its reflection on the calm high water inside the beach. The clean Ascent instructors took advantage of a sunny day and headed down to Portland to tick sport climbing routes towards up coming qualifications. We were lucky enough to be climbing in t-shirts for part of the day. This is Lee towards the end of the day when the temperature had dropped, climbing on Battleship Edge.
On the 8th of this month Robin attended a Disability Awareness & Adaptive Climbing Techniques workshop hosted by Climb Cornwall director Jay Jackson. This will help us to provide climbing services for a wider range of participants.
Sam Bentley, who has been climbing with Clean Ascent on a weekly basis for the last few months, today completed his first 3 lead climbs at Irish Man's Wall on Dartmoor. Sam had done some indoor climbing before joining us and his solid progress towards being on the 'sharp end' of the rope has been impressive. Sam can now call himself a climber and is fully competent to climb single pitch route independently of Clean Ascent.
Lee Chivers, who's been with us from the very early days of Clean Ascent as an idea, has passed his Rock Climbing Instructor assessment. Lee started climbing on the Clean Ascent Pilot back in May 2017, which makes his accomplishment all the more impressive as some people take years to gain the experience and ability necessary to pass this qualification. Top work Lee
Clean Ascent founder Robin Jacob and Trustee David Irons spent 5 days in North Wales, working on David's multi-pitch trad climbing and sampling a variety of what this excellent part of the UK has to offer. The highlight of the trip was climbing at the awesome Gogarth on Anglesey, considered by many to be the best cliff in the British Isles. Here's David very close to the top of Wen HVS
Today we took some new Clean Ascent participants up to Hound tor and introduced them to climbing on real rock. After some easier routes we set up bottom ropes on the classic lines of Limbo Dancer and Anaerobic Wall. Here is Clean Ascent instructor Vince Forder on the hard moves of Anaerobic Wall.
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AuthorRobin Jacob Archives
December 2022
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