Long time no see.

It has been while since the blog has seen any changes, not because I have not left the house but because I do not seem to have spent much time in it to let you know what has been going on. Weekend of the 16/17th was spent in Stoke catching up with friends over there and a day’s biking in Cannock Chase with my brother.The last week I decided it was time to run a week long course and worked with a Princes Trust team taking them climbing, up in the mountains and teaching them bushcraft plus plenty of emphasis on team work.

The water on to boil during a bushcraft session.

This weekend has been spent in the Fricsan running the sound system for two different nights. Saturday was the busiest of these with Byd Mawr and their global grooves with guest DJ Bethan Elfyn from Radio 1. I tried to take a picture but the camera was too cold and the lens suffered from condensation. After collecting all the remaining sound system I have been lucky enough to spend the rest of Sunday afternoon in the workshop cutting the panels for my new speaker build.

Using the router to cut the front baffle.

It’s still snowing.

It really is a winter wonderland in Llanberis today. The snow falling at the minute is heavy enough to obscure the view of Llyn Padarn from my office. This morning’s footsteps on the driveway have disappeared under the fresh snow since I took the pictures below.

A picturesque day.

I decided on a nice easy day today, a short local walk in the snow with the camera.

The Llanberis Pass at Night.

I had been wanting to take some pictures of the mountains in the snow as they have been looking so beautiful for the last few days but am obviously still in holiday mode as I didn't seem to get out while there was enough light!

The end of the Year.

After it seeming like ages since I managed to get out and play in the outdoors I was not going to let the snow stop me. Amongst lots of New Years drinking Kelv, Pete and I managed to get two bike rides in, as nothing else took our fancy. On the 30th we managed to get around some of the loops in Beddgelert forest as most of it was below the snow line and on New Year’s Eve we had a short ride in the hills just outside Conwy. The Conwy ride was really good fun in deep snow but very hard going not being able to see what was under tyre, this seemed to lead to more time rolling in the snow, or more painfully the gorse bushes, than on the bikes. We did start to think it was not the most appropriate route choice when on our decent we went past walkers with their ice axes out! As an additional note Kelv also discovered that SPDs do not work when frozen up with compacted snow.

Kelv happy with his chocolate break.

Pete apparently enjoying himself on the Beddgelert trials.

The rest of the world stood still.

For the last two days it seemed as though the rest of the country was focusing on delays caused by the predicted cold snap. To us this just presented a greater challenge to prove ourselves worthy Bushmen.

Boulder was hosting a Stone Soup course with Totem to provide staff skill updates. A Stone soup course allows each participant the chance to present to the others on a given topic and in our case to then promote discussion on best practise in delivery. Ten people presented on a variety of topics broadly summarised by: tools, shelters and fire, followed by the associated topics of safety, appropriateness and environmental considerations. What really surprised me was how much can be learnt from people you work with everyday if prompted in a suitably hosted atmosphere. Thanks to Sam from Totem for the idea and to all the hard work that went into the presentations.

Sparks being used to light fire.

Claire, Ivan and Matt making use of a wire saw during shelter building.

Claire and Kelly in what looked like a 1 man shelter for most.

Presentation Night.

Thursday night I was fortunate enough to have been invited to a presentation night for one of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services EARLY courses. This was the second celebratory presentation I have been able to go to this week in Liverpool; both very heartening. Boulder Adventures delivers week two out of the Team’s 12 week development course. The EARLY courses are just like the Prince's Trust courses which the fire service also deliver. They are designed to improve the lives of the participants by building up confidence, reliability and personal motivation leading to greater employability prospects. In fact four of the team who had started the course had managed to find jobs so did not make it to the end of the twelve week course, a quicker turnaround than anyone could hope for - well done them.I am very proud to have built up such a productive working relationship with the fire service as the skills that our courses can highlight are so well reinforced by the rest of their hard work and values. I really feel we are part of something worthwhile. Hopefully I will be in the position to witness more of the remarkable transformations these courses can make soon.