Monthly Archives: July 2010
← Older postsMIA Trainee Workshop – Navigation
This weekend I am running an Mountaineering Instructors Award workshop for the Association of Mountaineering Instructors, navigation & environment was the topic for today. Most of the lads on the course had popped down from Scotland and none of them had spent much time in the Lakes so we headed over the the Coppermines and spent the day quest from ring contour to re entrant. Three of the team had their Winter Mountain Leader so instead of looking at the detail of map & compass skills, we sent the day interpreting contour features and really understanding how they relate to the map. We used a Harvey’s 1:25 Super scale, OS 1:25 and an enlarged OS 1:50.
Enlarging an Ordinance Survey 1:50 map by 200% gives the same maths and scale as a 1:25 map but with out the detail that gets in the way using an OS 1:25.
Through the day the lads switched from map to map, set legs, and really got to grips with the land to map and map to land memory.
A top day was finished off with a pint of Blue Bird
Blizzard Survival Gear Review for AMI News
Blizzard, from Bethesda, North Wales, produce a wide range of lightweight thermal protection for survival and emergency situations. Used extensively by the US/UK militaries as well as UK Mountain Rescue and Search and Rescue teams, the Plas y Brenin instructors are recommending the Blizzard gear as part of your standard kit to carry. Over the past 2 months I have been testing Blizzard’s products to see just how useful they may be for what we do in our industry. Now I have not been in a true emergency situation but I have put them to the test.
Earlier in the month I noticed a day where the weather was forecast to start off warm and dry but then deteriorate to heavy rain. Perfect, out we went on the crag one of us just in shorts and t-shirt + the survival jacket the other with normal clothing for a rubbish forecast. Well the rain set in, winds increased and after a complete soaking the tiny lightweight packet was burst open and on went the shiny jacket.
With the jacket dried and stuffed into my caving instructor bag the next time it was worn was after a particularly excellent caving trip. One of the group slipped into a deep pool at the start of the day and by the time it came to the walk back to they where in need of a warm up, normally they would manage until they were changed however the Jacket came out and a smile was soon on their face, the lad could also undo his lamp set and take off his own wellies due to his newly recovered heat.
I tried the Blizzard Bag one night in the hills, I stayed alive (which is what is designed to do) but would prefer my down bag for comfort.
In conclusion, the Blizzard Jacket is really useful for those times that people just get a little cold during a day out, it seamed to heat people up quicker than a drop of hot liquid and a wooly hat and the pace of the day was not altered. The Blizzard Bag has its uses in the bottom of your sac for those real emergencies where you would normally be carrying a spare lightweight sleeping bag, maybe with this lightweight alternative, the bag is only 500 grams and the size of a video cassette (remember them?) we will be more likely to have one in our sac? It makes a great addition to your pack if you find someone injured or if you are stuck out for the night.
Mountain Leader Re-Assessment
Tonight was a Summer ML Re-Assessment, John had put in a huge amount of effort since his deferral earlier this year and displayed a really strong demonstration of navigational skill.
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Climbing with Graham
A Family where staying in the Yurts at Rhydal Hall, Ben at the yurts popped them in touch with us here are Real Adventure because they where wanting to do some climbing whilst they where here. The boys had been to a climbing wall a few times but had never been out on real rock.
Graham took them up Borrowdale and they had a great time learning the basics of outdoor climbing. 2 routes and a couple of abseils and they where keen for more.
We normally book courses in advance with people, this lucky family managed to find one of us free last minuite
Just finished with a school programme!
Real Adventure has just finished delivering a great schools programme, here is what the teachers said:
“Thanks to all the team who made our residential such a memorable experience. We had a fantastic time and enjoyed all the actvities. It was great fun to see the teachers joining in with us. Thanks to Mark for the experience of eating bananas wrapped in bacon and the delicious sticky toffee pudding on the last night. We have told the Year 5 pupils all about it and they are looking forward to next year already. Thanks.”
Lucie Phelps – Head Teacher, Lindal and Marton School
Mining Trip
Well after a long day in the office with Simon Fenna working on the report-ability of m office database, John Riley of Fired Up Design working on the new RA website and myself working on the content of the new site and future programs we all got a little itchy and needed to go do something.
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Simon’s Mate is one of the local mining experts, she popped a black bag over our heads span us round in circles drove us to an unknown location and took the bag off only once we had walked 35 min up hill and got into the entrance.
Wow… now both simon and I have done allot of caving over the years, but nothing just compares tonight. Vast man made chambers, hanging floors, stunning blue flowstone, worrying deads (waste rock stacked precariously) long abseils, deep blue water, filled shafts, etc, etc.
This was not sport, nor was it adventure – this is adventure exploration… You do not get that feeling that you have done a great deal due to the sedate nature of your delicate movement through the passages, any heavy feeling and there is the chance of falling through on of the false floors. There is also that missing feeling that you get in a cave of the awareness of water conditions (cave are made by water not man and his dynamite) however it was replaced by the inevitable collapse of what ever lies above or below you.
Towards the end of the trip our resident mine nutter noticed a place that she had been standing just last week was now a gaping whole in the floor dropping down past the distance of a really powerful LED torch!
This level of mine exploration is not safe, it is not fun, it is not somewhere I would choose to take people and it is totally bazar to be walking in the mountains wearing caving kit. However it is really fascinating, learning about the history of what went on to extract a bit of metal out of the earth and learning about the methods and seeing the old workings is just formidable.
New Website & Blog
The Real Adventure web site is being re developed as I sit here typing this post. The Old site is now 5 years old and with new developments in web site design and back end usability it was time to move forwards.
Real Adventure has also developed as a company over the years and the range of what we can offer increased significantly. The company has been a great journey for me and I am really exited to be pushing it forwards once more with this rather large step.
So by the end of the week, if all goes to plan, you will notice that the old site will have been changed a touch.
If you notice a lack of content straight away – apologies, there will be a time laps from when it goes live to adding the copy bit by bit.
The Website address will stay the same however the Blog will change from being a Word Press Blog to a blog with its own rights stylised under the RA site.
Once this is sorted you may need to change the path if you have the original set up in your favourites.
Dan Robinson
Head of Real Adventure
Winter Conditions
Happiness is a Good Piece of Ice
All old blog posts coming soon
See the old Blog site here
Family rock climbing taster day
Today Margret and her 2 kids came over to the Lakes to try there hand at climbing outside & see if it where something they would like to get into. Both Amy and James and their mum had been down to their local climbing wall a few times and really enjoyed it and where just curious to see what it was like outside. We headed to Borrowdale, One of the best places in the Lakes to take your first step on rock. At Brown Slabs we did 3 routes, 4 pitches and 2 absiels then headed to the cafe for tea & ice cream.
Learn to Climb – Day 2
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We headed over to the Limestone at a place I first stepped foot on a crag when I was 12, Hutton Roof. Sarah was still on the way to being 100% over her fear of “the edge” and heights so this venue with more careful coaching allowed gave her the head space to take onboard the technical aspects.
After a number of routes Sarah and Michael’s brains where full so we finished the day with some more coaching on movement and bouldering.
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