Raft Building, Overnight Expedition and Climbing

Over the last two days I have been delivering raft building, Rock Climbing and assessing the students overnight expedition for their BTEC expedition skills unit.

Raft Building: On Wednesday morning the students were set a task to design and build a raft to transport them from one side of the bay back to the boat house. They got to choose their launch location, design and teams. After transporting their raft parts to the other side of the bay by canoe, the canoes were towed back and the students left to build their raft and paddle it back. The results were very opposite with one team succeeding and the other having a shocker!

Overnight Expedition: Following some previous training back at college and the completion of the mountain skills course over the last two days the students were tasked to plan a route from Wenallt back to the centre via the Aran Ridge. After being bused out to Wenallt both groups ascended Aran Fawddwy before dropping down to their chosen camp sites on the east side of the ridge. The following morning they made their way back to the centre in time for lunch.

Rock Climbing: Once the students had freshened up after their overnight Camp we headed to Barmouth Slabs for a spot of climbing in the afternoon sun. I took some of the students for some top roping on the lower tier, Gwilym took two students for a session on lead climbing and Rhys took the rest for some bottom roping on the upper tier. Rhys and I swopped our groups half way through the session. 

It was a great couple of days with the students really showing the skills they've learned over the past 13 months. All finished off with an ice cream in Barmouth before heading back to the centre. 

Navigation training in Llanberis Pass, DMM and Mountain Rescue visits.

Busy day today! Day three of the Bridgwater College level three outdoor education residential. 

The majority of the day was spent looking at mountain navigation and emergency procedures in the pass of Llanberis. We used some mountainous terrain under Dinas Mot due to its varied range of small features to test the students. During this session we also covered what to do in the event of an emergency, pacing, boxing and human impact on the mountain environment. Gwilym covered the same aspects of the mountain skills course with the other half of the students.

Late afternoon we headed over to Llanberis mountain rescue to meet some of the team. While at the mountain rescue base the students attended three presentations including: Rescue equipment, the callout process and vehicles. 

A good day covering different aspects of the use of mountainous terrain. 

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!!

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.