After 35 years climbing…

… I have just attended my first ever climbing coaching programme run by Trevor and Desiree Massiah in Spain. It turns out (as I expected) that I had loads to learn and improve in just about all aspects – shoe selection, safety considerations, route finding, body movement… The programme was run in a sport climbing context but I think most of the skills are entirely transferrable to trad and also scrambling/ mountaineering. Trevor and Desiree are great coaches and doing something focussed on climbing outdoors on rock not indoors – and there are some huge differences which they explain clearly. I am sure I will be climbing better and hopefully harder in the coming months/years.  And I do not need to spend hours in the gym getting fitter or stronger for this – which is very welcome.