Rock & Ride Outdoors: The road ahead.............

(Paul) Where do I start.........

Well I guess to start with I have been pretty slack on the blog front for well over the last 6 months. Ian has pretty much been holding the fort with interest on both the blog at the website so I guess sitting here on a rainy Saturday afternoon in early February listening to some whack playlist on spotify I should put a few words together.

The book that will dictate life for the next 3 years!
All I need are a few more signatures...

Back in June 2013 life changed for the best and my lifelong ambition of becoming a IFMGA Guide became reality when a letter of acceptance arrived. Having completed my rock and ski inductions along with 3 days of very enjoyable ski lessons and a 5 day European Avalanche School course I now have a reasonable understanding of the road ahead. The road is going to be long, challenging, exciting and ultimately rewarding.

Climbing on this wall...

There is a huge time commitment needed to complete the scheme and this forced me to resign from my Youth Development role with Mountaineering Ireland that I have enjoyed for nearly the last 5 years. MI has been a great association to work with and to see the changes over the last 5 years in how kids are supported in climbing has been amazing. The MI job opened a huge amount of doors and they have been very supportive throughout.

...with these kids! Saul cruising Kleptomaniac (E3)
in the Burren, Co. Clare.

In her cage....

My understanding, beautiful and very supportive wife also landed on her feet in August 2013 when she got a new job that she completely loves. Ellie had worked for 3 years in a position with a local outdoor company and her new role is quite different - it's great to see the career opportunities available for someone as motivated as her! Well done wifey! We also have the best dog ever, make taking long periods of time away from home easier for Ellie!

My super cool wife and her super cool Mum!

Ricky and Carson hanging!

The road ahead is very exciting. On the cards is a trip to America with good friends Mr Bell and the Hillerberg. Just waiting on Epic TV to come good! We hope to go and climb as much as we can on El Cap. There should be plenty of good pictures and hopefully a bit of video footage as well! I also have a cheeky little trip to Spain with a few of the super strong and psyched young climbers I've been working with for the last few years. We are hitting up Siurana and Margalef for some pocket and edge climbing! This could well be my most exciting trip to date with this inspiring group of super-keen young and promising Irish climbers! They are are growing up a bit, improving at an alarming rate and starting to crush stuff that I am falling off and not too far off Mr Bell! Ricky being well hooked up in the polish scene has got Ola Taistra on board for the trip; 4th woman to climb 8c+ and she has a wiki page - 'nuff said I guess!

The Stone King crushing at last weekend Rocfest 5.0.
Good skills on making the final wee dude!

Last weekend was a pretty nice way to finish off working with MI by taking a crew of kids over to Manchester for the Rocfest 5.0. It is hugely rewarding to see the positive impact you can have on young people lives simply by introducing them to what some people would only see as climbing up some rock or plastic. The relationship that Climbing has helped me developed with this group of awesome people is so rewarding, I hope I inspire them half as much as they inspire me. A wee hero of mine Carson Carnduff also made the final - in a few years time he has promised to take me up El Cap!

And so it is, a change of career, new direction and the realisation that life is too short to worry about other people's attitudes and opinions. I can not wait for the next few years ahead. My diary is already totally full so I guess it could be a lot worse!