by
SRawlinson
on Wed 13 Jan 2010 16:07 GMT
2010
So the new year is well and truly started with a flourish of snow, in fact as i write this there is yet more snow falling in our car park! For good and bad the winter weather has had a fantastic effect on our local hills not only does it look like we live in the some alpine region but many climbers have been acting the part also with activities such as skiing, snowboarding and closer to my heart, ice climbing taking place in the hills of south wales!

A cold start for 2010
This weekend myself and a few friend headed up to Craig y Llyn (in the neath valley) only to find that we were not alone and there were 20 or more climbers tackling the various ice lines that were found across the steep escarpment.
Whilst we were enjoying the ice in South Wales a former Swansea based climber was tackling some very impressive mixed terrain in Scotland - Leanne Callaghan who is no stranger to hard routes in all disciplines of climbing and mountaineering climbed a famous mixed line in Glen Coe called 'Neanderthal' graded VII,7 and in doing so became the first known female to lead a climb of this grade, click here for the full story.
Enough of all the cold stories whilst this was going on the weather on the Gower was glorious and a Myself, Dan and a few fellow climbers got in some bouldering down at Rotherslade, near Caswell.
Donna watches on as Dan climbs high
The Bouldering near Caswell is Fantastic and is a great place to spend the day exploring and trying out new challenges just watch out for the tides, there is an on line guide for this area click here for more info.
Also whilst we were all enjoying the festive period one of South wales premier sport climbing destinations has collapsed. you may of read in the papers that Oxwich has suffered a major landslide and this has destroyed much of the crag. With most of the crag now on the beach the bouldering has improved no end. Unfortunately this has meant the loss of some of South Wales hardest Routes put up by Adrian Berry some years back.

The devastation left at Oxwich
On a more indoor note myself and Adam recently got back from London after completing a Coaching course with Neil Gresham who is one of the UK's top climbing coach's - so look out for some new coaching courses starting at the centre soon!

Coaching courses soon available to help you reach your goals
The BMC leading Ladder is back this weekend with 10 new routes from 5+ to 8a for you all to try plus we have a new set of bouldering problems to tackle so hope to see you all soon.
Also we are in the middle of revising all of our on line stuff from website to blog and as part of this I have taken all older articles away from the front page and into the Archive section of the Blog.
happy climbing
Simon