Kayaking and Bouldering

Today has been one of those days where you really appreciate your job.
The day started with some more kayaking sessions in the school pool with the year 7 and 8 PE lessons. For these particular students it was their first of two sessions in the pool so today we spent a lot of time getting used to the boats, learning to safely capsize and playing a variety of games.
After a quick fire lunch break Jay and I opted to maximise the days weather by taking the senior games climbing group to Cuckoo Rock. It really is a pleasure to work with a keen group of young climbers. Due to the fantastic weather (T-shirt and shorts in February) I managed to take some really nice photos. Hopefully the weather will be as good next wednesday when we aim to take the group to Sheepstor for a top roping session.

 Working with some specialist climbing equipment from Equal Adventure

Jay preparing a piece of Elder for his whistle

The finished articles

It was a really constructive day today at the Institute of Outdoor Learning's South-west conference. I attended three very good workshops. The first was a session on climbing for people with disabilities. We were able to get to grips with a bag of specialist equipment supplied by the guys at Equal Adventure.

The second workshop was all about updates in health and safety and the move from AALS to Adventuremark, a very worthwhile session delivered by Pat Dollard from Kernow Training.

For the third workshop I decided to attend the "safe use of knives and saws" workshop. This was a really enjoyable session delivered by Richard Irvine. The workshop gave me some new bushcraft ideas and some useful tools to add to the tool bag. We spent the session making whistles from Elder, wooden butter knives from Hazel and learning how to effectively cleave using a bill hook.

Overall a really successful day, thanks to all the guys at IOL SW for all their hard work.   

Orienteering and Gold D of E Training

Another busy day at Plymouth College. The day started with a few jobs in the office before delivering a lesson on bearings for year 8 maths and an orienteering lesson for year 9 PE.
After lunch I headed out to Norsworthy Bridge with one of the Gold Duke of Edinburgh groups to work on their navigation in preparation for their practise expedition. We made our way up on to Down Tor where we spent time translating the map to the ground and navigating to small features.

Team Building and Climbing

I'm currently working from monday to friday at Plymouth College and will do so until the Easter Break. Today I have spent the morning delivering team building and problem solving to the year 7's and 8's as part of their PE program and the afternoon consisted of a trip to Dart Rock with the students who have opted for climbing for their games session.
After dinner I took another group of students to help out at the Plymouth and District Special Olympics, a community project set up to give disabled adults the chance to be active and try new things.

Productive day at Plymouth College

Today I have been back working at Plymouth College. It's been a busy and productive day for the outdoor education department.

The day started with some orienteering sessions for Year 9 girls PE, it was really refreshing to see the girls get stuck and their competitive edge drive the session.

During the lunch hour I took a select few students for a kayak rolling clinic in the school pool. Alex managed to nail his roll during this session and even rolled up after I tipped him over backwards in an attempt to make it more realistic.

The day was finished off by covering Jay's after school climbing club. Many of the students are climbing at a good level and representing the school in the local competitions.

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FOR SALE

VW Transporter T32 2.5 TDI 130ps, Metallic Green 176000 miles
Electric windows and mirrors, air con, tailgate.
Recent:
4 tyres
Brake discs, pads and shoes all round
Wiper blades
Drive shaft
Recon Gearbox
Clutch and flywheel

Great van, selling due to the purchase of a 6 seat LWB combi van instead.

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info@discovermoor.co.uk / 07725485434

Plymouth College Winter Skills - Day 6

Today was the last day of the Plymouth College winter skills trip. Due to the heavy rain and the tired legs of all the students Gwilym decided to take them on a gentle valley walk to Steall Falls and the three line bridge over the River Nevis.

As Mark and I were not needed today we took the opportunity to bag a hill day which will go towards our Winter Mountain Leader Awards.

We parked at the foot of the Lairig Eilde and made our way up to the major saddle on Buchaille Etive Beag. From here we hung a left on to the summits of Stob Coire Raineach and Stob nan Cabar. We then headed back to the saddle and onto the snowfields off of spot height 902 where we spent some time digging avalanche test pits and practiced cutting steps. A relatively short day but very productive.

4 am start tomorrow for the long drive back to Plymouth in the College Landrover, I think a stop for breakfast in Tebay services in on the cards!

Plymouth College Winter Skills - Day 5, Ben Nevis

Day 5 of the Plymouth College winter skills trip to the Scottish Highlands. Having looked at the weather forecast Gwilym and I opted to take the students up the tourist path on Ben Nevis for a winter experience on the UK's Highest peak. Most of the way up the weather was wet and not very wintery until we crossed 1000m of height gain when the visibility dropped and we reached the snow line. Only axes were needed today with the poor condition of the snowpack.
After a short stop at the summit for a photo and some information about the mountain we headed back down the same route. The weather treated us to some views toward Stob Ban and on return to our accommodation the whole of the Ben was visible through a break in the cloud. All of the students did really well and kept their spirits up even when wet and cold.

Plymouth College Winter Skills - Day 4

Today Gwilym and I took the Plymouth College students up into Coire nan Lochan to continue teaching winter skills. The venue was chosen to try and escape the forecast high winds which didn't materialise to the extent of the forecast.
Once in the coire we had a look at avalanche test pits and got the students to dig their own and review their findings. After probing the slope we found some deep snow and gave the students the opportunity to dig a shallow snow hole which turned out to be a tunnel in the snow. It still gave them an understanding of the strength of snow and a perspective of how long it takes to dig. While the students were digging, Mark decided to challenge himself and dig an emergency shelter in under 30 minutes with just his ice axe.
To finish the skills session off I delivered an extension to the ice axe arrest work we covered on sunday, getting the students to arrest after sliding down the slope in different ways. Gwilym spent the last ten minutes making the students use all of the different arrest techniques in a more realistic situation. A brisk walk out in 1hr 45 mins finished off another productive day.

Plymouth College Winter Skills - Day 3

Today we let the Plymouth College students have a day off the hill and took them to "The Ice Factor", an indoor climbing venue that hosts the worlds largest indoor ice wall. Gwilym took two students at a time into the ice wall while Jay and I took them climbing. All the students had a productive day having not ice climbed before, Matt and Rhidian learnt to lead, George and Toby took part in some simulated lead falls and Abi and Libby learnt the basics of tying in, safe belaying and movement skills.

Plymouth College Winter Skills - Day 2

Back out on Aonach Mor today with the students from Plymouth College.
On our way up to the Summit we spent some time revisiting and improving crampon skills and looking at route choice. From the top of the ski tows the visibility had dropped considerably so Gwilym split the students into three pairs and we did some poor visibility navigation to find the summit cairn at 1221metres. The summit of Aonach Mor is a long featureless plateau so good pacing and bearings are a must.
After a quick bite to eat and a few photos at the summit we descended the mountain via the Nid ridge testing the students crampon work on some steep ground.
Another successful day with all of the students enjoying themselves and getting stuck in to the cold conditions of Scottish winter.

Plymouth College Winter Skills - Day 1

After a long drive to Fort William from Plymouth it was great to get out on the hill today. For the next Six days Gwilym and I are working with six sixth form students on a winter mountain skills course.
We parked at the Nevis range ski centre and took the Gondola up to the cafe at 650m. From here we travelled south east toward Aonach an Nid and taught various skills on route (crampon use, ice axe arrest and bootwork).
A quick bite to eat and we then set off up some grade 1 ground onto the ridge which we followed up to the plateau. A leisurely stroll back down to the cafe with a few skills along the way and a successful first day was completed with six happy students.

Scotland take 2!

Back up to the Scottish Highlands for the second time in as many weeks. After the 16 hour journey home last week due to the weather I was a bit wary of out trip up today. We left Plymouth College at 5.30pm in the college Landrover and eventually arrived in Fort William at 9am the following morning. Jay and I decided we wouldn't bother going to bed for a few hours so assisted Gwilym with a few chores that needed doing, one of these being the food shop. As you can see by the pictures Jay was finding it very difficult to stay awake and found comfort in the loo rolls.
After taking the students to West Coast Mountain Guides to hire their winter boots we taught them how to fit their crampons and even tested them by making them do it in their gloves and goggles.
Having eaten a good meal and chatting through the following days weather forecast with the students I packed my hill bag for the next day and climbed in to bed for a well deserved sleep (40 hours since the last)