Since I got back from the USA the time has flown by. October was a month of daydreaming that we had started our trip to the RRG a month later as I witnessed, from afar, just what the cutting edge climbers can do with lots of time and lots of good conditions. Back here in Scotland I have been busy and ill in about equal doses. Though the schedule all involves climbing, it is amazing how little climbing it leaves you time for yourself. The playful fun of coaching the TCA Glasgow Youth...

The Scottish summer continues to be mostly wet and I am fighting hard to be fit and strong for my first big trip of 2012: the honeymoon/climbing road trip from Rumney and the New and Red River Gorges. I simply cannot wait! I have still been getting out on rock far too infrequently for my liking, work and other commitments remain high on the agenda but things are switching in the right direction. My work days are also the hard training days. Perhaps inspired by the recent London Olympics, I have been putting a lot...

The weather and work-life balance has been rubbish of late but I still have managed to get out and grab a few personal firsts (and some lasts). The last time I blogged for the 5.10 Community website it was spring; and you know Scotland, the weather is nothing if it is not erratic, it was super hot.  The conditions were beyond what you would want for hard sending but it was fabulous to get the warmth after a long cold winter spent indoors working my socks off at TCA Glasgow.

One of the things that is truly great about British climbing is the vast variety of climbing styles that are practiced on this one island. The variety of rocks that we have here are absolutely incredible and nowhere is the variety of geology more profound than in North West Scotland. This is the most beautiful corner of the UK. Bays of silver sand beaches look out to archipelagos of small islands in one direction. In the other, heather clad rolling hills turn into dramatic mountains that climb steeply up from sea level to 1000m. ...