Rachael Crewesmith - Mountain Biking, Mountaineering and Other Outdoor Stuff

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A weekend up in Northumberland at @the_dirty_reive

A weekend up in Northumberland at @the_dirty_reiver gravel event working with @komoot. It was awesome meeting all the participants, getting geeky about kit, parts and nutrition with the rest of the event team and eating too many chips. @riderrachy and I managed to sneak away for a spin whilst everyone was out and I did some esoteric swimming to keep my quota topped up. The midges though…

It was bad news for the continuing saga of the broken Diverge after it turns out I got some bad beta from a Specialized shop and I bought an incompatible mech. Back to the expensive shopping for me. I have great friends though: @hnorbbles leant me her perfect Diverge for the weekend (thank you) and Rach let me have a go on her incredible @julianabicycles Wilder. It’s the flashiest bike I’ve ever ridden and now I feel sad that I will never have something like that in my garage!

All in all a top weekend. Lucky me.

#komoot #adventurewithkomoot #gravel #keilder #event #wearerab #moveyourworld #themountainpeople

Sea Cliff Essentials for @pinnacleclubuk Women’s

Sea Cliff Essentials for @pinnacleclubuk Women’s Trad 100 at beautiful Rhoscolyn. Alex and Helen are already accomplished climbers so I loved giving them some cool tricks and tips, some different ways to tie knots and making them belay right above the water. Knowing how to ascend a rope when you have over cooked it and can’t climb out is imperative and we found a shady place to practice this. I took an umbrella but we didn’t need it because the clouds meant I didn’t totally melt.

Thanks to @adl_dangerlover and Helen for their great company and to the Pinnacle Club for employing so many @ami_professionals women to assist them with their centenary meet. The future is bright and it is trad.

#tradisrad #moveyourworld #thisgirlcan #rockclimbing #seacliffs #seacliffclimbing #womenstrad100 #wearerab #learnsomethingnew #adventurephotography #wales #liveclimbrepeat #timetoclimb

@pinnacleclubuk Women’s Trad 100 centenary meet.

@pinnacleclubuk Women’s Trad 100 centenary meet. Multi Pitch Improver day 2 and I was back at the Milestone Buttress for some adventurous trad with friendly moves. Daniela and Lydia are well on their way to independence and it was great to just hang around taking photos whilst they did their thing. There are over 80 women on this meet, it’s a pretty special thing. Now get me an 🍦!

#womeninspiringwomen #womenstrad100 #womenriseup #themountainpeople #getoutside #thisgirlcan #climbing #amiprofessionals #learnfromexperience #wearerab #themountainsarecalling #moveyourworld #learnsomethingnew #wales #timetoclimb #tradisrad #climbing #mountainadventures #mountainlife #mountainphotography

@pinnacleclubuk Womens Trad 100 anniversary meet k

@pinnacleclubuk Womens Trad 100 anniversary meet kicked off this weekend in beautiful, boiling hot Snowdonia. I was out with Lydia and Daniela brushing up their multi-pitch trad skills preparing them for independence. We started in the Moelwyns with the brilliant and airy Kirkus Direct. Just the right level of exposure, weird gear and bold slabs. We finished off with an ‘emergency retreat’ due to rain/lightening/ benightment/baboons/sharks etc…

#womenstrad100 #thisgirlcan #climbing #amiprofessionals #learnfromexperience #wearerab #themountainsarecalling #themountainpeople #moveyourworld #learnsomethingnew #adventurephotography #wales #liveclimbrepeat #timetoclimb #tradisrad #climbing #mountainscape #mountainadventures #adventureisoutthere #mountainlife #mountainphotography

On Friday I was out with Wigs and Becky tidying up

On Friday I was out with Wigs and Becky tidying up their multipitch climbing and abseiling. It was really chilly at the Milestone and I was grateful for my @rab.equipment Kaon (favourite ‘in the bag’ layer). This pair were such good learners, they looked like pros by the end of the day. Mega.

Thanks to @snowdoniawalkingclimbing for the photo at a very busy crag today.

#thisgirlcan #climbing #amiprofessionals #learnfromexperience #wearerab #themountainsarecalling #themountainpeople #moveyourworld #learnsomethingnew #adventurephotography #wales #liveclimbrepeat #timetoclimb #tradisrad #climbing #naturegram #mountainscape #mountainadventures #adventureisoutthere #mountainlife #mountainphotography

Oooosh it was cold on Wednesday night! Those north

Oooosh it was cold on Wednesday night! Those north-easterly winds brought low temperatures and some of the worst visibility I have ever experienced without snow on the ground. Bonkers! The Mountain Leader training team from @mountainindependence took it all in their stride: great learning, tricky nav, tactics and some surprise water (or was it a cliff?!). Wish I’d taken my big sleeping bag though. 🥶

#futureleaders #mountaintraining #hillwalking #mountainleader #wales #mountains #wearerab #themountainsarecalling #moveyourworld

“Keen for DWS, Rach?”
It would have been easy

“Keen for DWS, Rach?”
It would have been easy for me to say no. To make an excuse. I only had one pair of shoes. One chalk bag. I wanted to go climbing at Flimston Slabs. I’m not as good a climber as the rest of the team… but the truth was, I was curious to know what it might feel like. How I might react. I’ve spent a lot of time in water these past two years, would that make me braver? I said yes.

DWS stands for deep water soloing. It’s really popular in places like Majorca where the sea is warm and the sangria delicious but there are some great spots in the UK that, when caught on a good day with big spring tides, can feel as good as any Mediterranean destination.

The first day I felt pretty intimidated by the no-fall traverses with rocky reefs just below the surface of the water so I mostly swam about below the team, which they generously said made them feel better that there was someone there ‘as safety’. I had a nice day but it felt unattainable to me. Day 2 and with the encouragement of the same, psyched crew, my first proper DWS left me buzzing and excited for more. The joy of finding that ‘flow state’ on relatively easy climbing, with great support and the crystal sea below was a drug I can’t wait to taste again.

Having some serious post-Pembroke lows this week and already scheming for a DWS holiday.

🎥 @johnnyboysie 💙

#climbing #dws #deepwatersoloing #rockclimbing #new #wales #pembroke #sayyes #sunshine #thisgirlcanclimb #themountainpeople #wearerab #moveyourworld #outside #ukclimbing

More Pembroke 🏖 scenes. Including @johnnyboysie

More Pembroke 🏖 scenes. Including @johnnyboysie and @mkmckenna89 on The Perfect Pitch, @danbaileyukh scrambling out of Saddle Head, belay scenes in the cooker, Napoli pizza and the @ukclimbing send train in Mother Carey’s Kitchen.

#wales

A week of r&r in sunny (too sunny?) Pembroke with

A week of r&r in sunny (too sunny?) Pembroke with the crew from @ukclimbing and @rockfax was just the tonic after this mad, mad summer. I arrived at 10pm and was greeted by a beer and a readily put up tent, what a crew! Having barely put my feet in rock shoes for eight weeks, I was never going to whip out a big send train but it was great to be hanging (literally) with my pal @rob_greenwood for the first couple of days. He had forgotten that I still hate big traverses (cue the “panic straws” of tunnel vision) but his encyclopaedic knowledge of guidebooks meant we found some pretty special things to climb. We also did some danger-paddle boarding, some slow running and stopped a lot to look at butterflies. Perfect!

📸 @andyyovens
#rockclimbing #rockfax #thesearemypeople #friends #wales

This week is #nationalallotmentweek and so we had

This week is #nationalallotmentweek and so we had a get together yesterday evening. I only took on my plot in April and it was just virgin bracken and nettles. It was a lot of hard work digging up all those rhizomes but I had some great help from friends and neighbours and I feel very proud to have produced what I have in quite small window around working and life. I’ve always grown stuff since I was a child and so it is exciting to have a bigger plot of my own to work on. I’ve got a great sequence of before and after shots to share but for now, put your sound on and enjoy the ambiance brought to you by Angharad, Tim, Klaire and Teg.

#allotment #growyourown #friends #neighbours #summer #feelslikesummer

Neil got in touch about a refresher day for his tr

Neil got in touch about a refresher day for his trad climbing. He hadn’t really climbed trad for 15 years but before that he was active and climbing some quite hard grades. He and brother-in-law @stewartlightfoot climb regularly indoors so Stew wanted to feel competent and safe as a second. It was clear that Neil had a good climbing background so it was fun to refresh things with him, iron out some little bad habits that had crept in and get them working efficiently and safely as a team. @endurobiker and I know each other from bikes and he has helped me out more than once when something mechanical has flummoxed me so it was nice to repay the favour with the shoe on the other foot. The Milestone Buttress was the perfect classroom yesterday and it was nice to see other @ami_professionals out on the crag hiding from the strong south westerlies. We were treated to an air show too from a Typhoon, a chinook which hung around for ages, a lynx and an osprey (the plane/chopper, not the bird!). The trouble with choppers is that nobody concentrates when they pass by!

That’s the last day in my big chunk of work in what has proved a very busy six weeks. I’m looking forward to a bit of recovery time and some riding and climbing in the Lake District next week. Yassss!

#outside #climbing #goclimbarock #tradisrad #tradclimbing #skills #wearerab #moveyourworld #themountainpeople #adventureisoutthere #climbingpicturesofinstagram #rockclimbing

Day 2 of Izzy’s Adventure saw us joined by Sam f

Day 2 of Izzy’s Adventure saw us joined by Sam for a day of bikes. Wheelies, manuals and purposeful shoving of the bike was the order of the day. We topped it off with a cheeky swim in some wild winds, Izzy and me in swimming costumes and the boys getting FOMO and taking off their wetsuits half way through! These dudes are so hardy.

#adventure #thisgirlcan #smithoptics #sheshreds #girlswhoridebikes #mtb #wildswim

When Jonny got in touch in June, he wanted his dau

When Jonny got in touch in June, he wanted his daughter Izzy to see a woman doing the same job as the various instructors he has been out with before. “We want to go climbing, scrambling, mountain biking and wild swimming,” he said. Well I am his woman! We had a brilliant day ticking off three of the list with a slimy shuffle up Ordinary Route on the Idwal Slabs, a scramble to the top and a gnarly abseil back down (Izzy’s first!). We capped it all off with a swim in some wild wind. All that warm water has washed off down the river now and we had pretty chilly feet.

In the wake of the ground breaking @womenstradfestival , it feels exciting and so relevant to be out with Jonny and Izzy, even if pulling the ropes through the belay plate felt like sludge today! Tomorrow we are off to ride our bikes, I can’t wait!

#gladihadmymagicplate #wearerab #themountainpeople #moveyourworld #getoutside #thisgirlcan #thisgirlcanclimb #snowdoniagram #wildwales #wildswimming #swimming #adventurephotography

Women’s Trad Fest 2021 has been a long time in t

Women’s Trad Fest 2021 has been a long time in the making. Two years in fact. In the last couple of months I have been helping the team with the recruitment, briefing and co-ordinating of the @ami_professionals mentor team. This culminated in a few late night, final detail planning sessions amongst a busy spell of work and finally making it to the event weekend. I felt pretty emotional as all the Mentors were teamed up with the Leaders, they collected their Learners and off they went to the crag. Everyone returned safely with huge smiles so my job was done. Right now I need a long sleep before I collect my thoughts on what has been a positive, uplifting, emotional and tiring weekend.

#womenstradfestival #tradisrad #womensupportingwomen #diversity #getoutside #themohntainpeople #moveyourworld #sleeptime #festival #grassroots #sustainability #inclusion

Shredding with my rad crew at Coed Y Brenin today.

Shredding with my rad crew at Coed Y Brenin today. The @plasybreninofficial Young Person Summer Camps are some of my favourite work and this year is just as good as always. Great trails, great craic and every mechanical you could throw at me.

We joined up with the team riding with @bruton.james and @rafe_hoile for a big send train down the Adams Family. Yeeeow 🤘🏽

#mtb #rideyourbike #mountainbike #shredz #smithoptics

*Tickets Out Now!*

The event previously known as

Back from five glorious days in the Central Fells

Back from five glorious days in the Central Fells assessing a great group of potential Mountain Leaders for @adventure.expertise. It was a waterproof-free assessment full of great views, fun journeys and excellent environmental chat. It was blinkin’ boiling though so I put my feet/face/full body into water whenever I could. Hot days are not for Rachael but I learned a lot from the candidates (the way it should be) and from fellow assessor Jake. It feels great to be back stomping around the mountains with nice people.

#mountains #outside #hillwalking #futureleaders #getoutside #hiking #mountainleader #themountainpeople #moveyourworld #themountainsarecalling

It’s not for leaving here.

I was coaching David and Jen today on core skills

I was coaching David and Jen today on core skills to give them more confidence when out mountain biking together. It was also an introduction to trail centre riding for them so we spent a bit of time on the berms getting speed, body position and line choice right before heading out onto some blues and reds to put it all into context. It was a stifling hot day for riding so to manage 20km felt like an achievement. Looking forward to seeing these two out again, and also to it raining soon!

Pen-blwydd hapus yn 40 oed Jen. Have a lovely birthday in the sunshine!

#mtb #mtbcoaching #rideyourbike #learnsomethingnew #getoutside #mountainbike #smithoptics #thisgirlcan #sheshreds #christmaspresent

A small but perfect pile of broad beans and a red

A small but perfect pile of broad beans and a red onion. I got an allotment this year for the first time and after weeks and weeks of digging up bracken rhizomes I was finally able to plant. These are some of the fruits of my labour. As a small child, Granny Freda would sit us down next to an enormous pile of broad beans and we weren’t allowed inside until we had finished podding them all. I can’t decide if the pile was enormous or if I was tiny but I’ve never lost the love of these delicious British garden treats.

#igrewthismyself #garden #broadbeans #sweetpeas #growyourownfood #growyourownveggies #allotment #borage #nasturtium #spinach

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