Hill Skills course - Day 2 on the Quantock Hills

Back out with the six volunteer rangers from the Quantock Hills and Mendip Hills AONB services today delivering day 2 of their 'Hill Skills' course for Wet and High Adventures. 

We headed to the Quantock Hills today for a full day practical session which started and finished from Triscombe on the western side of the hills.

Todays route covered 18km taking in Wills Neck (highest point on the Quantocks), the managed forests of Cockercombe and Ramscombe and the northern commons around Black Hill.

The weather continued with blue skies and great visibility but once again struggled to get above freezing. This gave us the opportunity to look at appropriate clothing and the benefits of layering, especially during the 'movement on steep ground' part of the day.

Over the course of the day we covered the rest of the hill skills syllabus and continued to work on the basic navigation techniques. 

The day finished with well earned refreshments in the Blue Ball pub in Triscombe.  

Hill Skills course- Day 1 on the Mendip Hills

Today I was working for Wet and High Adventures delivering Day 1 of the Mountain Training 'Hill Skills' course. The candidates are six volunteer rangers from the Quantock Hills and Mendip Hills AONB services who are training to lead walks as part of their role.

We chose to deliver day 1 on the Mendip Hills using Charterhouse Outdoor Centre as our base. The day was broken down into a six hour practical session on the hill followed by 2.5 hours in the classroom covering all of the theory.

The practical session covered basic navigation skills, affects of weather in the hills, the hill and moorland environment and walking pace management. This was delivered while taking in a 16km route over Black Down, around Rowberrow Warren and through Velvet Bottom. 

The classroom session consisted of; a weather lecture, appropriate clothing, footwear and equipment for hill walkers and the use of guidebooks and the internet for researching good days out on the hill.

Although the temperature struggled to get above freezing we were blessed with a beautiful blue sky day with views as far as the Gower and the snow capped Brecon Beacons. 

Wet and Windy day on Tryfan

Today I was working for Bridgwater College delivering the first day of a Mountain Skills course with Gwilym Starks under his provider-ship. 

We spent the day ascending the north ridge of Tryfan and coming down via the Heather Terrace. During the day we covered movement on steep ground, route selection, the mountain environment, equipment choice and the layering system for clothing. 

The forecast weather was for very high winds and constant rain. We got the constant rain but the wind had eased enabling us to make a safe ascent to the summit. The pictures reflect the days rain, plenty of water on the lens!!

Hill Skills Day 1 on Dartmoor

It was a stunning day on Dartmoor to be delivering the first day of a Mountain Training Hill Skills course for the FdSc students from Bridgwater College. I took 8 students and Gwilym the other 8 around the Cramber Tor area to work on various parts of the syllabus. 

During the day we covered:

Collecting and Catching Features

Hand-railing

Contour recognition

Aiming Off

Grid and Magnetic Bearings

Pacing and Timing

Measuring Distance

Equipment 

Moorland Environment

The day started overcast but quickly cleared to a blue sky day, great for teaching map to ground navigation but not ideal for teaching bearings. 

Snowdon Horseshoe in Memory of the Colonel!

Having been up Snowdon and Crib Goch countless times I was still yet to complete the Snowdon Horseshoe circuit until today.

The Snowdon Horseshoe was a favourite route of my late grandfather, he spent many days there with young people from North Herts while working in education as well as taking my grandmother and father on this route. He even pushed for the building of the North Herts centre at the foot of the Watkin path.

So with that in mind Lou and I thought it appropriate that we to complete the horseshoe in memory of him.

To avoid the summertime crowds on this popular mountain we headed out of the Pen Y Pass car park at 05.30 hoping to also get the best of the days forecast weather. The weather unfortunately didn't play ball and we spent most of the day in the cloud and drizzle but with little wind which was a slight bonus.

Our route took us along the Pyg track from Pen y pass before hanging a right onto the Crib Goch route to Carnedd Ugain (grade 1 scrambling), then onto Snowdon and onto Y Lliwedd before descending down to the Miners track and back to the Pen y Pass car park. The early start paid off when we arrived at the top of Snowdon to be the only people there, pretty unheard of for Snowdon.

We were back at the Van by 12.30 so headed into Capel Curig for a spot of lunch at the Pinnacle Cafe.

A really good day spent in the hills completing a route that i've been meaning to do for a very long time, its just a shame the Colonel isn't around to hear all about it but i'm sure he was watching!

RIP - Colonel Colin Brice 

First Time Scrambling for Louise

With a few rare days off together Lou and I decided to jump in the van and head up to North Wales for a couple of days hill walking.

Lou has done plenty of walking in the moors and mountains but never tried her hand at easy grade scrambling so we headed over to Tryfan and the Glyders today.

We started with an ascent of Tryfan's North Ridge, A nice grade 1 scramble with multiple options to make it harder if you wish. After summiting Tryfan we dropped down to Bwlch Tryfan before taking on Bristly Ridge (Grade 1) on Glyder Fach. After reaching the top of Glyder Fach we headed over to Castell Y Gwynt and descended via Y Gribin.

A really good day out in the mountains with intermittent weather. 

Mountain Training, 'Hill and Mountain Skills' tutor workshop

Over the last two days I have been in Claverham, North Somerset attending a training workshop to become a tutor for the new Mountain Training Hill and Mountain Skills under the provider-ship of Wet and High adventures.

The Hills and Mountain skills courses are aimed at those wanting a non-assessed training course giving them the skills and confidence to go and enjoy the upland areas of the UK.

The first day was spent indoors at Claverham Village Hall pulling the syllabus apart and designing sessions plans for the 16 hour Hill Skills and the 18 Hour Mountain Skills courses.

Day two took us on a 10km walk around Goblin Combe giving us all a chance to deliver aspects of the syllabus and draw from each others experience.

A good couple of days with some great people. Also a good chance to catch up with a few people that I haven's seen for a long time.