We have a collection of ambassadors who make up Team Troll.
They cover a range of climbing and mountaineering disciplines, each with their own unique aspirations.
We're checking in with a few of them to see what they've been up to lately, and what they're working towards.
Jonny Bird
'This year has been my first full season working as a Mountain Leader and has packed in a little bit of everything! From guided munros in Glencoe, to navigation courses in the Cheviots, charity walks in the dales and a fair few nights in tents. It's been a real pleasure to be able to share the places I love with people, and get psyched together about being in the mountains. A personal highlight of this season was running a bespoke course for a couple of aspiring Mountain Leaders, who went on to pass their assessment - it was awesome to be part of their journey.
Next up is my Rock Climbing Instructor assessment later in the year, so hopefully pretty soon I'll be taking people climbing as well as dragging them round the hills!'
@bird.jonny @wild.mile.adventure
Sallyann Parkinson
'Things have changed a lot for me recently as I gave birth to our daughter, Ariella in February this year. As a result, climbing over this past year has had to ebb and flow around growing a baby and subsequently recovering from this.
In short, I'm working on learning how to climb again. When I reflect on this, there is a lot to unpick. Climbing is for me, somewhere where I find a sense of achievement and satisfaction. I have always enjoyed being outside and working on problems that are a good balance of technical, powerful and somewhat crimpy (one can always hope). Now, however, I am having to pull right back and work on myself. Who would have thought that you have to learn to breathe again, stand with the right posture, and regain the strength of your core muscles? Now I've gone full circle, from working up to climbing particular grades and challenging myself to go further than I ever thought possible, to going back to the basics. These are my biggest and most important aims at present. It's great to be back bouldering, I love the problem solving and the collective social aspect that climbing brings. You will see though, that I am still climbing down from every climb, not working problems if there's a chance I will fall off and climbing on areas that have very little overhang.
And if I'm lucky, I find the time to post on social media!'
Ciaran Tolan
'I'm currently in Artic Norway on a big walling trip, weather's been pretty bad so just getting the odd day in here and there. Sort of letting the difficult projects take a back seat for a while as I want to build up general mountaineering skills while I work towards qualifications which will let me earn enough money to move to Norway in the next couple of years. So far we've mainly been catching mackerel but did an amazing 500m e2 up one of the most impressive walls I've ever seen (Presten on UKC) Got our eye on a few more routes up this and some equally big and committing walls but we'll see what weather the westerlies bring (mainly sideways rain). As I said I'm not doing anything really hard at the moment just need to get really solid leading low-mid E grades onsight and save up so I can move to Norway and make a career out of it.'
Stephen Keir
'Life is pretty busy these days! Currently training for British champs and getting outside climbing whenever I can. Trainings been good lately and really enjoying working towards my goal of making finals at British bouldering championships at the end of the month. It’s a struggle sometimes to stay motivated training so remote from anyone else and also with the heat it’s felt a drag some days but that’s when discipline comes in and I have been getting my head down. I am currently based in Dundee, Scotland but hoping to get down south soon to train on some comp blocs before the real thing! Aside from climbing, life is pretty busy too going into the final year of my law degree so it will be a busy year ahead but I’m looking forward to it and I have my sights set on competing on the senior international circuit a next year.'
Solly Kemball Dorey
'Currently I am working on a few first ascents yesterday i managed to tick one of these of down cape Cornwall 'A Reason to Live 8B' as well as a few hidden projects including a potential new 8C but my main focus is training for an upcoming trip to Switzerland for the end of September which is hopefully as fruitful as the last one.'
Keep an eye on our social media where we post frequent updates and new projects from our ambassadors.
Published August 2022
Written contributions from ambassadors, edited by Alethea Lund-Wright, Marketing Troll Outdoors