“I’m in trouble Chris." I hadn’t been “in trouble” on a VS since the late 90’s. However in the late 90’s I didn’t have a wife, two kids, a mortgage and I definitely did not drive a Volvo (even if it is a 4 wheel drive estate, it’s still a Volvo). I was currently on my 16th VS pitch of the day, it was 14:00 and we were late as we still had 20 left to do. I could really do with not being stuck on a route called Wall Buttress, both hands were only just jammed in the upper offwid

I was a climber before I was a parent and a parent before I was a fully qualified Mountaineering Instructor (MIA). If my children didn’t want to climb then I would be ok with that (if they didn’t want to ski then there might have been issues…). I climb, my wife climbs, so you can’t help but notice if your child shows an interest. “He seems to have quite a good sense of balance” “She is happy clambering over stuff” “Did you notice how he ‘mantleshelfed’ onto the garden wall?”