Monthly Archives: July 2010

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Learn to Climb – Day 1

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Sarah and Michael arrived from Colchester on Thursday night and stayed in Ambleside. Michael runs a private medical practice, we spent most of our time chatting about business and databases, I popped them in touch with my database engineer and anorak Simon Fenna.

The first day we headed to Middle Fell Buttress in Langdale and looked at multi pitch climbing & abseiling, they are now well on there way to overcoming fears of heights and being able to second a leader with confidence of what they are doing and understand the bigger picture of multi pitch.

In the afternoon we headed into the valley where the exposure was less and did a spot of bouldering at the Langdale Boulders.

Sarah likes bouldering…

River Kent

Just as I get in from work (1845) I get a little txt from Gareth “get yourself to the get in on the kent at Morrisons for 1845″

Straight back out the door for and to the get in to see no sign of any boaters, back to New Road and the crowds of onlookers gave a clue as to what was going on under the bridge, on went the dry suit for another little fix whilst the water is still here.

“There ain’t no such a thing as bad weather – just the wrong choice of toys”

River Leven

Back in the Lakes it had been raining too.

The kent was a little high so we headed over to the Leven to catch a cheeky run before work.

Kat Mclennan, Gareth Field and I ran it twice, it is such a short section at the moment as Backbarrow Falls has a large quantity of scaffolding acting like a mincing machine for any unaware kayakers whilst they repair the bridge after the Floods of November.

Kayaking the Conwy

Well as it was raining lots and the rivers where up and Sally (one of RA’s staff) was in wales and we all had our boats it seamed a shame to go home without stealing a before breakfast run down the river.

We started at about 6 in the morning so we could all get to work on time.

The river goes at about 3+ and has a great little s shaped drop on it. It was a shame we did not have much time to play on each wave.

Off back to the lakes for a 1030 start!

I need to get a waterproof camera – any suggestions?

MIA Trainee Workshop Day – Teaching Leading & Climbing in Parallel

The second day of the weekends workshop – Rain lots of.

Steve and I decided the best venue would be Milestone Buttress sue to the grades and angles of the crag allowing for climbing in the wet.

When people are at this stage in there knowledge it is possible to hypothesise various methods and perceived methods before trying them out on the crag, this allowed another cup of tea and postponed the inevitable soaking we where going to get that day.

We looked at and discussed; when it is appropriate to let students lead, choice of routes, issues associated with students on the sharp end, types of rope systems and managing the system, stuck worried weak leader, appropriate use of parallel rope systems, slick and efficient application of parallel systems and methods of skill checking clients before committing them to the risks of climbing above there gear and belaying a pier.

Cream

After the workshop, as we where at the crag and it was dry and we still had some daylight  it seamed a shame not to go climbing again.

Steve Long, one of the lads on the course Liam, and I headed off after the debriefs and climbed Cream – E4 5b, 5c, 6a

Liam lead the first pitch, I lead the second (E3 5c) one of the best E3′s I have had the pleasure to climb, and Steve lead the last crux pitch. A good effort to the lad as it was still a little damp from the early morning rain!

AMI Trainee Workshop Day – Instructing Climbing

This workshop was in North Wales, I ran it with Steve Long. The Days kick off at Plas Y Brannin National Mountain Centre where we talk through the aims and goals of the people on the course.

Today we had 4 really cool people who are working towards there MIA Assessment this year.

This refresher day  looks at the how to structure and plan a day teaching/coaching/instructing climbing. The area we covered during our day at Tremadog were; information gathering, choosing routes for your clients, what to teach before you leave the ground, differentiation of clients, goal setting, teaching progression at stances and teaching non beginners.

Staff Training Day – Lindale & Marton Primary School

In May 2011 Lindale & Marton Primary are coming on a Real Adventure Residential. Many of the staff had never been caving before so wanted to see what it was like before being there with the young people so we headed out on a staff training day to have a look at the accommodation and give caving a bash.

What Fun!! and what a way to finnish the end of a School Year.

We will be staying at Gearstones Lodge and doing a mixture of Caving, Ghyll Scrambling, Mountain Walking, Rock Climbing and other fun stuff.

Once again our chef Mark will be cooking for us all, a must after the food we where all eating at the last residential at Rhydal Hall. The banana’s wrapped in bacon and sticky toffee pudding will have to be on the menu again!

It was raining a lot in the morning and we had to make a safety decision as to which cave we went to, one that was confirmed as we got closer to the caves and saw the level of the water in the rivers! These decisions can only be made on the day, normally we can just choose a cave that will be safe and only occasionally we have to postpone the day.

So back to Inglesport Café for a brew and slice of cake and chin wag about the day.

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St Chris’ Lakes Summer Program

This week we had 52 young people, 9 really helpful helpers (the Otters) and a team of really great staff stay at Great Tower Scout Camp.

The weeks activities consisted of a mixture of Caving, Climbing, Mountain Scrambling, Gill Scrambling, Abseiling, Kayaking, Climbing, Canoeing and a days Team Task with a who load of fun in the evenings, a visit to the beach and some of the best food you could wish to consume.

St Chris’s Programme 2010 Blog to have a look at the program.

Thanks to the dedicated team of teachers for bringing the team away, this course has been running for many years due to their commitment.

“Pat and I organised the trip again this year: I can honestly say that it was one of the absolute best ! Dan the Man got together a fantastic set of instructors and locations / activities, and combined with our own team of superb staff and Otters we all created a week that I know the kids will always remember. Thanks to everyone – especially all the kids who were up for some pretty scary stuff – for a fantastic week.”

Ben Wall – Head of Department at St Christopher’s School

St Chris’ Lakes Summer Program

This week we had 52 young people, 9 really helpful helpers (the Otters) and a team of really great staff stay at Great Tower Scout Camp.

The weeks activities consisted of a mixture of Caving, Climbing, Mountain Scrambling, Gill Scrambling, Abseiling, Kayaking, Climbing, Canoeing and a days Team Task with a who load of fun in the evenings, a visit to the beach and some of the best food you could wish to consume.

St Chris’s Programme 2010 Blog to have a look at the program.

Thanks to the dedicated team of teachers for bringing the team away, this course has been running for many years due to their commitment.

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Please feel free to write a comment if you where with us during the week.

Dan

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