Published by admin June 4th, 2009
in Reviews, New books and Climbing.
Review for mlta.co.uk by Mal Creasey:
This is a real bumper fun book with over 120 different activities described and although there are some who will say many of the games and activities have been around for a few years, it is really nice to see all the ideas on the one volume. Especially at the price of under a tenner!
The icons on page 7 give a clear induction of what each activity will improve and as you progress through the book these become familiar and easily remembered. There are brief notes on the safety issues including spotting, wearing helmets indoors, supervising novice belayers before moving on to look at the fundamental skills such as balance, body awareness, handholds and footholds etc.
Many of the earlier activities described are those that we traditionalist would simple have called a ‘warm up’ however we are warned not to call it that now as certain groups may associated the term with schools days…..ah well, I will try but some habits are difficult to change after all these years!
The book progresses from these ‘loosening up’ activities to take a specific look at Traversing, Balance and Footwork before the last two chapters look at un roped climbing activities more suited to the bouldering wall before finishing of with activities which will help the budding leader adapt to clipping quickdraws as they contemplate the transition from seconding or top roping to leading.
The book relies on colour photographs with just a short paragraph to outline each activity and this is to me this is perfectly adequate, perhaps this has something to do with the clear layout that we have come to expect from Pesda Press.
All in all it is difficult to find anything to criticize about this little book, especially considering the cost and should be a must for everyone involved in working with novices, particularly in the indoor environment where it can often be difficult to keep younger kids enthused over longer period of time.
Published by admin May 20th, 2009
in Writing, Competition and Wales.
Visit Wales have launched a blog competition to find some of the best blogs written about experiences in Wales. Up for grabs is a weekend stay in a luxury boutique hotel in Wales. It’ll also be a good way to promote your blog (make sure you get Trackbacks from visitwales.com!) So if you write or know of a great blog about adventures in Wales, why not enter it? (Let us know about your blog by leaving a comment here too.)
Roger Pride, Director of Marketing at Visit Wales, said: “We are looking for great Welsh stories, posts and articles out there in the blogosphere and the rest of Web. We want to encourage more people to write about Wales and share their experiences with us and in return we’ll reward those that do.”
Blog themes and topics could cover; memorable visits; events (eg. literary, music or food festivals); places to stay; activities and things to do in Wales. The stories will also be published on the Visit Wales blog (presumably from all entrants, not just the winners). The list of nominees will be reduced to a shortlist and then an eventual winner will be selected. The closing date for nominations is 12pm 15th August 2009. More information here.
Published by admin May 14th, 2009
in Translation and Sit-on-top.
Sit-on-top Kayak, by Derek Hairon is now available in a French edition published by Le Canotier. Great work on the translation from Derek and friends; and congratulations to Patrice on an excellent edition. Sit-on-top Kayak (and Sit-on-Top Le Kayak Pour Tous) is the definitive up-to-date book for all your sit-on-top kayak interests.
We need your help – what should we call our next sea kayak guidebook? Our longest title is South West Sea Kayaking, Isle of Wight to the Severn Estuary. That’s a maximum number of twenty-three characters in the title and around thirty-five in the subtitle. Could you come up with the title for our next volume in the series to be announced? A copy of the book to whoever pens the title!
What’s the book? You’ll be excited to hear that it’s a guidebook to the stomping grounds of Douglas Wilcox, who’s exemplary photography you will no-doubt be familiar with. From Ardnamurchan point to the Solway Firth, Douglas’ book will cover in detail what was touched upon in Scottish Sea Kayaking, Fifty Great Sea Kayak Journeys. That book contained treasures from all around the Scottish coastline, but now we are able to divulge the bountiful sea kayaking waters of the entire Scottish coastline beginning with three forthcoming volumes, Northwest Highlands, Outer Hebrides and Douglas’ book.
Can you encapsulate Douglas’ book with a fitting title?
