Dave Rudkin Guiding

22/03/2026

Luke and Mike’s annual pilgrimage to Aurland for ice climbing. This is the fourth year on the trot we’ve climbed together with . As always with ice, every year it forms differently, and we enjoy exploring the area more and sniffing out the stellar lines, sometimes even climbing new routes.
This year was no exception, the cold snap before they arrived opened up some of the lower level ice they’d not seen before, then rising temperatures forced a venue change so we day-tripped to the higher area of Hemsedal (1hr15 away) to keep the mercury below zero. A bonus for us all was that friends from home in Wales .barclay and shared our cabin for the week, so we had a great social in the evening, and some braved a swim in the fjord.

18/03/2026

05/03/2026

Derek and Andy bringing the Scottish holiday vibes to Aurland! They come every year with Paul and Rob aka The Falkirk Mafia. Every year they get better at ice climbing, technique tuned and more familiar each year, that little extra confidence kept over from the year before. It’s great to see the progress.
On top of that, almost every moment is surreal and hilarious. See you next year!

08/02/2026

Great to be back out ice climbing with Abdul after a couple of years. Last time we climbed together was in Aurland where we tick stacks of the classics in the area. Last year Abdul was climbing with Donald in Hemsedal and managed to climb many of the gems in that area too! So this year we warmed up on some of the remaining routes local to Hemsedal that Abdul hadn’t done, then we started branching out a little to explore some of the less frequented areas further afield. Psyche is high with Abdul, with a week of ice and a week of alpinism each year, and endless training in between, he really makes the most of it, enjoying the local skiing on his rest days.
We were reflecting last night that each day had felt special for one reason or another, but our stand out day was climbing on Seltunfossen over in the Lærdal valley.

01/02/2026

Guiding Andy McRonald () for this week in Hemsedal. Ice conditions are pretty good here at the moment, but 100cm’s of fresh snow the week before and temperatures fluctuating between -22 and -30°C meant many of the classics were either inaccessible or super fragile. Obviously this didn’t stop play, just even more careful consideration was required to find safe and enjoyable climbing. In the end, an hours drive over the stunning high level (1100masl) Mørkedalen (reaching temperatures of -34°C) to Lærdal took us into a different world, barely any lying snow and a solid 15 degrees warmer. Lærdal has fierce and monstrous lines that were shaping up nicely, standing proud without the snow that usually surrounds them. Råsdalen, a subsidiary valley to Lærdal is usually snowed in, with the ice climbs that lie deep within its steep wall normally out of sight and only accessible by a long ski, however this time they were easily reached by a dusty track and a 4x4. As we turned the final bend our jaws dropped. World class ice climbs to climb and plenty more to come back for. I definitely plan to get back up there again this winter as you never know if the track will be snow free next year.

11/01/2026

Climbing with Marc in Rjukan last week.

26/07/2025

Quiet ridges & remote corners 🇨🇭⛰️
Exploring Switzerland with Will — from alpine bus stops to big granite lines.

✅ Alplistock
✅ East Ridge of Gross Diamantstock
✅ Conquest of Paradise on Hannibal
✅ SE Ridge of Poncione di Cassina Baggio

Topped off with nights in some truly spectacular huts (, , ).

Solitude, movement, and memorable times.

📍Custom alpine adventures available — DM to plan yours.

26/07/2025

Suzie’s introduction to alpinism, and her first steps toward the bigger Alpine objectives.
A week of mixed weather, but we made good use of the windows—climbing Petit Flambeau, La Vierge, traversing the Aiguille Marbrées and d’Entrèves, the Grand Perron, and finishing with the Weissmies via the Rotgrat and Sudgrat.
Plenty of variety and steady progression throughout.

28/06/2025

Exploring rocky ridges, new summits, and quiet glaciers with Andy and Chris who’ve climbed many of the major alpine summits between them. Over six days we visited the , , and the .u.m , enjoying fabulous weather on summit days and making the most of some long hut walks when the weather was a little unsettled. All supported by the amazing setup .

22/06/2025

A privilege getting together with a psyched team of new alpinist supported by , set up to support them with a solid set of alpine mountaineering skills. Plus a right laugh. Enjoy the summer team!

05/06/2025

The past few days guiding.

22/05/2025

Want to take people climbing, then I've got a couple of spaces on this Rock Climbing Instructor Training next month...
👉20-22 June
👉North Wales
To book your space and for more details pop over to here
https://www.paulpoolemountaineering.co.uk/rock-climbing-instructor-training