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MIA Reference

Here's a reference written by a long term climbing partner Tom Nichols for my MIA assessment:
CommentsJames is technically one of the most competent people I have climbed with. His rope work and mountain awareness is brilliant. As is his ability to judge different situations on their varying merits. He is extremely competent at moving efficiently and safely through the mountains. He adapts his leadership style in the mountains to best suit the situation and group. I also know first hand that he is very adaptable and handles highly pressurised and tense situations, such as accidents with competent and measured approach.

Feedback from a mountain skills course:

I spent 3 days improving my climbing and leading skills a variety of climbs in north Wales. Due to the slightly dodgy weather, James made sure that we went to the best possible location to avoid the worst of the weather, this attention to detail worked as a day that started with rain in snowdonia quickly became blazing sunshine on Holyhead mountain. James was very thorough in his explanations and took the time to review what had be taught during the day to cement those ideas.

This was a really enjoyable 3 days climbing on a wide variety of crags, including my first ever sea cliff climb and multi pitch climbs. I learnt a lot over the 3 days and surpassed my expectations, I would thoroughly recommend James as a climbing instructor.

1 day Navigation feedback

I thought James was a very effective instructor. He listened to my objectives and guided the day accordingly, so I now have the confidence to go out and continue with my plans. His enthusiasm for the outdoors was obvious and very contagious. He was able to keep the day light-hearted and fun whilst still covering all the technical aspects I was after.

In terms of after service care, I have also been impressed. James has sent me several links to books that might interest me about navigation in general, and also specifically on the Tour du Mont Blanc which I'm doing next month.

Many thanks for the day, it was one I would recommend to anyone looking to improve on their navigation skills.

Regards

Ellis

Learn to Lead Climbing course

This weekend I ran another "Learn to Lead" Rock climbing course in the Peak District. The course was a great success, and by the end James (My Client) was leading VDiff, with solid gear placements, and good belay building skills.

Here's what James had to say:
Thanks very much for a great couple of days. I really enjoyed the course. I have learnt so much and have followed your advice and started to make notes. I appreciated how clear you were with your instructions and the right amount of detail was provided. Also a bonus that you checked to make sure I understood what it was you were telling me. Hopefully I will have most of my gear sorted in the next few weeks and will be able to start ticking off all the VDiffs! Thanks also for the advice and pointers on improving my overall climbing, rather than just leading, plenty to think about.
-James Broomhead. "Learn to lead course"

Four days private Climbing and Navigation Tuition

Over the Last four days I have been working in Snowdonia, (North wales), with One Client, teaching Rock climbing and Navigation, Here's a few Photo's:

Cambodia and Vietnam Youth Development Expedition Work

It's always nice to here back from Clients, especially when I have managed to affect positive change in a young person. Here's an email I received recently from a Challenger I had on an expedition to Vietnam and Cambodia:

Hello James Gybbon Monypenny, 

it's Maddie from the Davidson world challenge team :) Remember us?!?!? 

Although it has only been 5 days since we returned home to Sydney, it feels like so much longer ago that we were at the airport saying goodbye to you in Siem Reap. We were literally in floods of tears leaving you behind at that airport... I'm not sure if you are used to that sort of reaction hahah! it was just so sad to see the trip finally coming to an end and having to say goodbye to you. It's been great coming home and seeing my family and telling them all about our amazing expedition, but it was quite strange at first to realise just how different Australia is, compared to the cities that we visited in Vietnam and Cambodia. It was also strange getting used to not seeing you and the team everyday... However, this trip has definitely taught me to really appreciate what i have here at home and i'm so glad i've had that experience.

I'd just like to thank you again for leading us on such an incredible trip, I had the best time of my life and I wish I could do it all over again. And thank you for not only being a great leader, but for being so open and funny and weird just like us and also for never getting sick of us.. i know we were probably alot to handle. You definately taught me alot about passion and drive and going for what you want in life, you really inspired me to chase down my goals and to work hard for what i want in the future. Life lessons that i'll keep forever. I remember something you told me about, what defines you as a person is the way that you act, and i always seem to keep that in the back of my mind now... 

We miss you so much Monypenny!!!! pleassee come and visit us soon in Australia!!! We'll take you climbing on the harbour bridge and we can paraglide into the sunset xooxoxox

Hopefully speak soon! 

Love, Maddie

Also here's the link to some Photos from the Expedition:

Post by Gibbon Adventures.

Some excellent feedback :)

Here's a copy and paste of some feedback from a 1:1 mountain skills week from a few weeks back:

I just got back from a fantastic 4 days of 1:1 private guiding in North Wales with James.

I wanted to learn as much as I could about climbing with ropes to move on from my bouldering background and to brush up on my navigation techniques. I hoped to come away being able to set up top ropes on single pitch climbs, not only did I learn this but also how to second and to lead myself. I now feel confident to go out and practice my leading on some really easy climbs. Highlights were leading my first climb and seconding James up grooved arête on Tryfan.

By incorporating some navigation training into each day on route to and from climbs helped to keep the subject in an applied context which was far more appealing to me.

James is an excellent and very adaptive teacher, prior to the trip we discussed my expectations and what I hoped to get out of the experience. At the beginning of each day we would discuss my goals and James always gave me a variety of options to help consolidate my climbing skills. During breaks and at the end of each day James would review everything I had learned to help cement the new skills in my memory. 

James really takes the time to explain everything he teaches; how to do it, why you do it and when to do it.

I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending Gibbon Adventures to anyone wanting to learn more about climbing/mountaineering. James is a really friendly guy with a wealth of experience in the field.

Roy Ibbotson. (2014 North Wales)

Mountain skills (rock climbing) Course -Snowdonia

Last week I ran a three day Mountain skills course in North Wales. Olly, my Client wanted to focus on Rock Climbing, as he is working his way towards doing his SPA training. Having recently done a learn to lead course, we focused the three days on consolidating and building on his lead climbing and transferring (& adding skills) to a multi-pitch environment. We had mixed weather forecasts, but managed to find dry rock each day, by visiting Holy head mountain / gogarth, Tremadog, and Tryfan. We had a very sucsessfull 3 days, here's a few photo's from the last day climbing 2nd pinnicle rib on tryfan......

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