Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning sessions in The Lake District. May 3rd 2012

The first half of May 2012 has been fairly busy for Iain from Kendal Mountaineering services with a number of activity sessions being run in recent weeks.

First on the list was returning client Nucleargraduates with seven new graduate apprentices and Jen the Deputy Programme Manager fron Nucleargraduates all joining Iain in Church Beck as part of the first 2012 welcome workshop.

Photo one shows the group at the foot of the first big waterfall on our ghyll scrambling (or gorge scrambling ascent of Church Beck.

All of the apprentices have been selected by Nucleargraduates to join their graduate apprentice scheme and all are currently in their final year at university. Many of the undergraduates here are reading for degrees such as BA Honours in Mechanical Engineering amongst other subjects and will be sponsored by one of the Stakeholder Companies in partnership with Nucleargraduates such as Rolls Royce or Sellafield Ltd.

In photo two, the group cool off in the big pool at the entrance to the upper gorge.

The welcome workshops allow these successful applicants the opportunity to get to know others with whom they are likely to be working alongside during their two year Nucleargraduate Apprenticeship training.

Nucleargraduates came to Kendal Mountaineering services last year having seen our business online and we were asked if we could run ghyll scrambling sessions for them.

This is now the fourth ghyll scrambling & canyoning session we have run for this organisation and last October we also ran a very successful corporate Team Building Event for them in Borrowdale.

The Nucleargraduates team sees our ghyll scrambling & canyoning sessions as a means for impelling the apprentices into a situation where they have to work together, look after each other and support & encourage each other - in other words an "ice breaker".

However, our ghyll scrambling & canyoning sessions also allow the apprentices the opportunity to assess their reaction to challenge but of course this is done in an environment where safety comes first, comfort second and enjoyment third - only when those three criteria are satisfied can learning and self relection take place.

In photo three, we have already tackled the first lower on the canyoning part of our Church Beck session. Jen, the Nucleargraduates Deputy Programme Manager, is nearest in this photograph.

The final photograph taken during this ghyll scrambling & canyoning session shows the last graduate apprentice about the take the final plunge down the chockstone in to the pool below where the others who have already dealt with this challenge are waiting.  Iain would normally go first on this pitch but we had a few in our party who very were nervous and Iain felt he needed to be there to offer support & assistance.     In the end, everyone in the party managed to complete the whole canyoning descent with the support of others and hopefully everyone in the group will have a better idea of what is really possible for them if they try a little harder.

Lessons applicable to life skills can be learned on any activity session or skills training course provided by us so, if you have a training objective, let us know and we will facilitate the session to match your requirements. We look forward to working with Nucleargraduates a little later in the year when they will hopefully return for another session with us.

To find out more about our ghyll scrambling or gorge walking sessions contact us here. To see the rest of the photographs taken during this ghyll scrambling & canyoning session click here. We look forward to working with you.