Messing around in boats

Spent the past three days grappling with the canoe in preparation for L1 coahing course which is coming up. The BCU has recently changed its award scheme to make L1 and L2 coach courses cover both kayaking and open canoeing which I found quite frustrating being into sea and surf kayaking but not the slightest bit interested in open canoeing, infact quite opposed to the idea of open canoeing. It seems to be the opinion of some influential people that every coach would benefit from teaching both craft and it is certainly the case that most centres round here mainly use canoes to introduce people to paddlesport. I tried to keep these positive messages in my mind through my struggles over the past few days.
Despite still being of the belief that canoes are complete pigs to paddle, learning to paddle them has been a worthwhile enterprise. Firstly the hard technical skills will be really good for teaching taster sessions but its mainly the experience of learning something relativly new. I think new learning experiences are much rarer as we get older and we tend to just do what we can do already and not try too hard at things we find difficult. Trying to control a canoe in the wind for a beginner is very frustrating, the turns and strokes that seemed to work so well in the calm become non functional and furious paddle strokes seem to amount to nothing. Its a lesson in keeping calm and being able to think what you might need to do with your trim, with your edge, with your strokes. There was alot of thinking about how the paddle blade is working in the water and how your sitting position affects the crafts reaction to the wind. There was alot of trying to control frustation and lots of high stress situations which are exacerbated by the painful sitiing position. Taking fairly regular breaks seems to be a good idea where you can regain your composure, unaffected by the wind!
From that to another major frustration of mine at the moment - finding climbing partners. You would think that this might be an easy task at the weekend in north wales but not so it seems. After an exhaustive ring round I still had no luck and had resigned myself to some lonesome bouldering sessions. But the one of the final people I text turned out to be keen so hopefully off to the Orme tomorrow. Just shows that perservering can be worth it sometimes.....

Moongroves

Back on reception in slightly damp baselayers once again and inexplicably removing bits of turf from my nose, after climbing what was possibly Moongrooves on Pen Y Ole Wen.
I unfortunately managed to lacerate my fingers before even leaving the layby which proved somewhat of a messy inconveinience. I didn't feel like I had enough time to go and get a dressing for it and still be back in time for night porter and it was a gloriously clear day. So I called Rob in a panic and asked him for advice. We decided I probably wasn't going to die of a bloody finger so to go and get on with it. Firstly I applied a wad of tissues to the hole then wrapped it in duck tape, put my gloves on and forgot about it....
The dump of fresh snow has given everywhere an alpine feel and I might be correct in saying a layer of surface hoar was making the snowpack sparkle so I felt lucky to be out and have found a partner - Marshy. Its pretty difficult to find people keen for winter and I spent much of yesterday pestering everyone for various trips. Sometimes you just want someone to turn round and invite you on an exciting adventure and not feel like you are not having to persuade people the whole time. Ho hum.....
the route itself had no redeeming features in its current condition. The snow was poor, the rock underneath generally slabby and devoid of positive edges or any protection, the turf was often airy and rippy. Pen Y Ole Wen is not Ben Eighe. On the positive side however, it did give me a heap of practice of leading adventurous easy, run-out pitches as quickly as possible, as is neccessary on longer harder things on say, the Ladders. We also topped out in time to get back for work and I have explored another new climbing location.
I got back to the brenin and my finger had quite alot of flesh poking out of it so was quite hard to stick back together. Rob Spencer did a good job with some steri strip but it might still need a stitch or two if that doesn't do the job. Looking forward to some serious chill out time and some sleep tommorrow to fire myself back up to full energy.