This weekend myself and Nick have been working on the BMCs Rescue For Climbers course. Seven keen climbers with a huge range of experience turned up in a sunny Lake District to experiment with the tools of self rescue. We spent the first few hours at Long Scar fine tuning folks ropework and stance management in an effort to prevent problems in the first place. The afternoon focused on escaping the system and assisted and unassisted hoists.
Sunday saw us enjoying the delights of Tilberthwaite Quarry ascending and descending ropes with a variety of equipment and casualties. The group then had a chance to put it all together working through some common scenarios, such as stuck karabiners, a second climbing past a runner or unable to make the crux moves, and some not so common ones with injured leaders falling off traverses into space above a very rough sea! 

Tilberthwaite Quarry photos from Nick Cannon-Jones at More Than Mountains

This weekend I'm working for SkiAscent helping prep Mac & Andy for a trip to the Alps with Mont Blanc firmly in their sights. We spent Saturday battling the elements on Pinnacle Ridge which had turned into a waterfall. Despite this we made a smooth ascent looking at a variety of different techniques for moving together on alpine terrain by themselves and with a guide. We were buffeted around by some strong downdrafts and we were pretty chilled when we got to the top so we quickly bagged the summit of St Sunday Crag and left the planned technical descent of Pinnacle Ridge to another day.
If anything the weather on Sunday was even worse and we decided discretion was the better part of valour. Scratch plan A of Corvous and bring on plan B - Cam Crag Ridge in Langstrath. After a quick splash up the valley we had an early lunch in the howff before braving the torrential rain and gusting winds on the ridge following the crest throughout. We finished the day by retreating to Shepherds Cafe to practice taking coils over a coffee and slab of carrot cake.