March seemed to become a month of bouldering and saw a lot of progression. At the beginning of the month a trip to the Lake District produced some good results. The weather was on and off all week but between the showers of rain, sleet, hail and snow I managed to get in a good session at the Bowderstone, the Langdale boulders and the Chapel Stile Circuit.
Following a night of heavy snow in the mountains, the Bowderstone was chosen as our first bouldering venue of the week. After some nervousness about the damp conditions on the topout I quickly completed 'The Crack' f6c, 'The Crack Direct' f6c+ and 'The Crack Super Direct' f7a. We then moved around the corner and began working on 'Picnic Sarcastic' f7a+. This was the first time I had tried a problem of this grade and I didn't really expect to succeed on it. However, after some advice from a local and a good rest it went within an hour.
Later that week I managed to get in a quick session with James Forbes at the Langdale boulders where I flashed 'The Pocket' f6c+ as well as completing several other problems of the same grade. A couple of days later we managed to get to the Chapel Stile Circuit with Noodles. James had success on a tough f6c+ that I couldn't get close to getting. The rain and darkness seemed to arrive at the same time and just as I thought it was going to be a bit poor session for me, I completed my second f7a+ with 'Snatching the Rough', a great, short problem with fantastic friction.
At the end of the month I returned to Clodgy Point at St Ives, somewhere that I had visited briefly a month earlier. The weather was miserable and the rock was pretty greasy so I had little hope for much success, however as the morning progressed I became more optimistic. After climbing 'Uluru' f7a pretty quickly I then went to have a look at 'Bloodlust', also f7a. Despite it being pretty wet I surprised myself when I flashed it. This gave me the confidence I needed to go and work on 'Boomerang' f7a+, a problem that I had tried before. On my previous session on Boomerang I felt as though it was quite far off but this time things felt better. I spent most of the morning trying to get the bottom wired and spent a brief amount of time working the top but the part I was struggling on the most was linking the two. After numerous failed attempts, some within touching distance of the top, I finally completed the problem, much to the joy of the rest of my college group who by that point were freezing and ready to go home!

One of the most important roles of a leader is to provide feedback to the individuals in the group.  Upcraft (1982) cited in Effective Leadership in Adventure Programming (1997) defined feedback as; “exchange of verbal and non-verbal responses among group members based on commonly observed behaviour”. By providing feedback, the group members can develop the skills that they have learnt and work on improving weaker areas. The need to provide feedback and the style in which it is given will depend entirely on the group and what they are aiming to achieve. On a recent trip to the Lake District I found myself leading a group of four young adults who hoped to go for their ML training in the near future. It was essential that I provided thorough feedback on all aspects of their leadership at the appropriate time so that they could take the most from it.

Crinkle Crags

Priest and Gass (1997) highlighted 8 points to make feedback most effective. Whilst on the top of Crinkle Crags I tried to follow some of these points when providing feedback to one group member who seemed to be struggling slightly with taking the best route down to the saddle at the top of The Band, our descent route back to the valley.

Firstly, Priest and Gass (1997) suggested that feedback should be descriptive and not evaluative. Whilst on the top of Crinkle Crags I was able to say ‘you keep taking us away from the path but you’re following a bearing. Do you have a route in mind?’ This gave the group member time to think about why they were taking us away from the path and whether or not it was the best decision. We continued along the path a little further before leaving it again and heading across a large area of scree. As we came off the scree, I stopped the group and asked the leader whether or not he thought it was the best route to have taken a group across. This provided very specific feedback as well as it being immediate. By providing feedback straight away and making it specific it gives the leader time to analyse the decision they just took and think about a possible better option.  This was also a useful time to involve the group and see what they would have done at that point. It was important however, to make sure that the feedback that they were providing was useful to the leader and it didn’t come across as though the group were ganging up on him.

Whilst I provided regular feedback throughout the day to the whole group, I think that one of the mistakes I made was stopping to provide it every time. This meant that the day took a lot longer than planned and we were unable to climb Bow Fell. I felt that most of what I was saying was being taken in, however, there were times later in the week when I felt that some of the points I had brought up had been forgotten. This may have been due to the group becoming tired and the deteriorating weather. Overall I think that everyone learnt something, myself included.

 References

Priest, S, Gass, M, Effective Leadership in Adventure Programming,  Human Kinetics, 1997

Leap Year Lizard

Today is a day that only comes around once every 4 years, so it seems appropriate to do something special on it. This afternoon I made another trip down to the Lizard with Martin to have a crack at the 4 star route, 'The Cull'.
I first visited the Lizard about a year ago and was dangled (against my will) off the top of The Cull by James Forbes. He was working the route at the time in preparation for the lead and seemed to take great pleasure in watching the horror on my face as he lowered me off the top, hand clenched around my knot with knuckles as white as snow, to have a go at top roping it. I attempted to climb only the upper third of the route and upon reaching the top swore I would never want to lead it.

As the summer passed my confidence grew and I was becoming much more used to the exposure of Cornish sea cliffs. I scraped my way up a few more E2's and then made it up a couple of E3's and suddenly my mind was wondering back to The Cull. A little bit of coaxing from my friends and it wasn't long before I was heading back down to The Lizard.
This trip was different to the first, the sun was shining and I didn't feel anywhere near as nervous as I lowered off the top to have a practise run. The only problem was the huge swell battering the bottom half of the route and completely engulfing the belay ledge. I would be unable to lead it this time but I came away happy, knowing that I could do it.
Due to poor weather, large swells and belayers only being available at high tide, it was another 6 weeks before I could get back on the route. This time I got in a quick top rope before the light disappeared. I was lucky to be on it at all considering it was the middle of December.
Frustration was setting in and I had started to feel like the route was going to be an anti climax as I had only wanted to top rope it once or twice and then go for the lead straight away. I had almost forgotten about the route and then the end of February arrived, the weather was unusually warm and the tides and swell were just right. It had to be done today.
I raced down to Helston and picked up Martin and headed for the Lizard. Whilst Martin was setting up the abseil, I warmed up by doing some bicep curls with his Lizard warm up rocks. 15 minutes later I was sat on the top of the crag, more pumped than I have ever been. My affair with The Cull was over and I felt bloody relieved.

Mr Motivator

A recent trip to Snowdonia got me thinking about motivation. What motivates a person to climb a hill? What motivates an unfit person to climb a hill? What motivates an unfit person to climb a hill, in February, in thick mist and driving rain? I’m sure that many people have very different reasons to climb a hill. Maybe it’s a love for the scenery or a desire to get fit, perhaps they want to prove something to their friends or themselves. With this in mind, how does it affect me as a mountain leader? How do I ensure that my group members remain motivated and get the most out of their day?

Do we really have to go up that? Maintaining group motivation levels on Snowdon.

It is suggested that motivation comes from reward. This can come in the form of praise from another person such as a coach or teacher, or it could be a prize or trophy. This is known as extrinsic motivation. Sometimes the reward can come from within oneself. It could be the satisfaction of reaching the top of a hill or walking that extra mile. This is known as intrinsic motivation. Deci (1975), cited in Woods (1998) suggests that intrinsically motivating behaviours are: ‘those which a person engages in to feel competent and self-determining’. Deci (1975) also noted that extrinsic motivation can have an effect on intrinsic motivation. This is something that the mountain leader must be very aware of and something that I had to think carefully about whilst climbing Snowdon.

From the moment that we left the Pen Y Pass car park and started our way up the Pyg track I had to think about how I was going to keep the motivation up of one particular member of the group. I knew that for her, reaching the top of Snowdon would be a major achievement but also to keep up with her family would be a reward in itself. I had to consider that if this person was left at the back struggling to keep up with the rest of the group then her motivation levels would rapidly decrease and it wouldn’t be long before she wanted to turn back feeling defeated. By putting her at the front of the group it allowed her to set a pace she was comfortable with and it kept her motivation high.

It was important that I didn’t give too much encouragement as I felt that this could have had a negative effect and come across as patronising. Every now and then we would stop and I would say ‘how are you doing?’ or ‘I’m enjoying this pace, it’s just right for me’. Too much encouragement could have singled her out and made her feel like she was being helped up the hill.

Woods (1998) suggests that extrinsic motivation must be appropriate to the individual and applied intermittently. I think this is very important for the mountain leader to understand as the amount of reinforcement they provide could work the wrong way and single out a member of the group, demotivating them and resulting in them failing at what they hoped to achieve.

References;

Woods, B, Applying Psychology to Sport, Hodder and Stoughton, 1998

Wild Wild West Cornwall

On the 26th of January I made the first ascent of 'Reap the Wild Wind' at John Wayne Memorial Crag, near Sennen in West Cornwall. I first visited the crag a couple of months earlier and spotted the route which follows a short arete. I was back a few weeks later and decided to top rope the route first as there wasn't many obvious gear placements and the landing was horrible. It turned out to be a little bit harder than I was expecting but I managed to do all the moves and work out the gear (one 0.4 Camalot). Despite this I bottled it and went and led one of the routes in the guide.
I returned a couple of weeks later to have another go on top rope and see how I got on. It felt harder and one of the crucial crimps was seeping. Whilst practising the moves on the crux my hand popped and I shot off the route head first. This really unnerved me as I knew that if this happened on the lead I would definitely hurt myself.
As it got towards the end of the day I knew I either had to just get it done or come back again and set up another top rope which I really didn't want to do. I decided to just go for it. The first few moves felt easy to the jug and then came the unprotected crux moves with the wet hold. I made it half way across and suddenly felt like I couldn't do it. The nerves took over and I began to reverse the crux, desperately trying to get back to the ground. My foot popped, I held it, I had made it back to safety.
I sat there for a few minutes contemplating the route. Was it my nerves that had got the better of me or was it too hard? I had to do it today. I wasn't coming back again. Camera rolling, spotters at the ready, off I went again. This time the crux felt good. I cut loose and made it to the big jug on the arete. Cam in and a quick shake before the final moves. I nearly blew it reaching for the next good hold. I recomposed myself on the jug and went again. I latched it. Last reach to the top and it's all over. Relief and joy all at once. I'd given myself a great adventure in just 7 metres of climbing.
Thanks to Martin, James, Noodles and Jake for the support.
Short clip to follow soon.

Reflection in the Snow

Following our few days in the Cairngorms we headed over to Fort William just as the snow began to fall and the winds picked up. While the majority of the group headed off on a luxury one night expedition, I chose to stay back and gain some further leadership experience, taking the four members of the group that didn’t want to go on exped into the Mamores.

At the time of leading, decisions that were made either by me or by the group as a whole seemed to come about naturally, as the day dictated. It is only now, upon reflection, that I can see how my style of leadership changed throughout the day.

 In 1939 Lewin, Lippitt and White carried out a study on Leadership styles. They concluded that there are three distinct approaches to leadership and that the most effective leaders will adopt all three as the situations affecting them change. For the majority of the path up from Achriabhach towards Lochan Coire Nam Miseach and most of the way down I was using a Democratic style of leadership. As a whole the group made decisions about the pace, when to stop for breaks and some of the route finding, but I always had the final word.

As we headed into the Coire and we neared our high point I suddenly had to change the style of leadership that I was using. With height, the conditions underfoot had changed from damp to icy. In a very short space of time the weather also changed and we quickly found ourselves in full white out conditions. At this point I adopted an Authoritarian Approach to leading the group. We were within ten minutes from our high point and everyone was keen to get there but from where we were stood we should have been able to see the Lochan and we couldn’t even see ten metres ahead of us. On top of that it was becoming harder to identify the path in the rapidly building snow. Realising that we could be in trouble if we continued, I stopped the group and told them that we had to head down immediately. I put the strongest member of the group at the front to set the pace and I remained at the back to usher everyone along. Before long we were back below the cloud and the snow and everyone was relaxed again.

At the beginning of the last century, sociologists and psychologists were starting to look into theories of leadership. It is now widely recognised that there are 8 leadership theories. The one that relates best to Lewin, Lippitt and White’s is the Contingency Theory. This suggests that the leader must adapt the style in which they lead the group depending on situational factors. It goes on to conclude that there is no one method of leadership that will work in all situations. I certainly feel that this is true. Whether it’s changes in group dynamics, weather, route or activity, a leader must be able to provide a safe and enjoyable experience that everyone can gain something from.

References

Lewin, Lippitt and White, ‘Leadership Styles’, 1939

Woods, B, ‘Applying Psychology to Sport’, Hodder and Stoughton, 1998

Misty Eyes

In October this year I headed up to Scotland with college as part of the Mountain Leadership module. We spent the first few days of the trip in the Cairngorms with the intention of completing a one night expedition over Ben Macduhi and sleeping under the Shelter Stone. As one of the stronger members of the group I was to use this time as valuable leadership experience.

The expedition was not a success and in retrospect it is possible to see how it came down to one moment in that day which caused the trip to fail. By looking at Martin and Priest’s Adventure Experience Paradigm (1986) it is possible to see where, as a leader, I made a mistake.

We had reached Coire an t Sneachda by late morning in thick mist and rain. The plan was to head out of the back of the coire via a steep path to the summit and follow the long plateau to Ben Macduhi. Leaving the coire I made a navigational error which left us attempting to pick our way up the steep slopes and gullies.

As can be seen on the diagram below, Martin and Priest’s (1986) theory suggests that the more competence and experience a person has, the more they can push the risk levels to increase arousal. The arousal levels will go through several stages before that person has become over stimulated, feels out of their depth and becomes frightened.

The big mistake I made was to keep pushing on, for me feeling little more than the start of an adventure but for others feeling high in misadventure.

We realised that we couldn’t find a way up the way that we were going and so made our way back to the coire and eventually found the path. By this point it was too late. Several members of the group had become quite scared and shaken by the experience and just wanted to head down.

This theory can be very useful to a leader provided that they are always conscious that what might feel fine to them may feel very frightening to someone else. In the future I will make a big point of finding out what experience group members have and never pushing on in difficult conditions and terrain with people that are unhappy with it.

References

Priest, S, ‘The Adventure Experience Paradigm’, 1986