Stag Events in The Lake District. June 16th 2012

Mark Powell had booked a stag event with Kendal Mountaineering Services quite some time previously - having perused a number of local outdoor activity provides and events companies and liking what we could offer him. Initially, Mark had booked for us to provide a half day canyoning session followed by an afternoon of raft building.

By the time Iain & his associate Al met the group on the Saturday morning, it had been raining in The Lake District for almost 24 hours and all streams were very much in spate. The rain showed no sign of abating and clearly, it was going to be a difficult day.

Iain felt that we had to offer alternatives to the Church Beck ghyll scrambling & canyoning session that the group had been looking forward to. Church Beck was massive and it would have been an impossible and dangerous place to work.

So, we offered the group an abseiling session which would be followed by a ghyll scrambling session at an alternative venue which we hoped would still satisfy. We would then finish off with the raft building session as originally planned.

Photo one shows the group kitted up and ready to go at the abseiling venue in Hodge Close Quarry.

In photo two, one of the stag party abseils down to his mates below. It was still raining and we were also getting attacked by midges. The guys enjoyed the abseil alternative and for a few, it was a brand new and very challenging experience - well done!

The abseiling session took us up until almost lunchtime and then we were off over to Great Langdale to our alternative "wet weather" ghyll scrambling venue.

The weather was still appalling. The rain had continued to lash down throughout the morning; and the alternative gill was, well - huge! Photo three shows the remainder of our team, down to six by now, next to the gill - stag resplendent in pink skirt provided by his mates

The other three had decided to retire to the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel to sit next to a roaring fire and have a pint out of the rain - a wise choice!

We spent the first part of our alternative ghyll scrambling session more on the bank of the ghyll than in it. It was in full flood with a huge volume of water pouring down it and we could hear the occasional rumble of boulders being moved along the stream bed - so not an ideal place to be.

Eventually we reached the tributary that we always head up as part of this ghyll scrambling session and that, too, was massive. So, we bore left on to what is usually an insignificant trickle. As can be seen in photo four - it wasn't today!

Once at the Pike O blisco footpath, we moved back on to our original route following the other tributary up through its gorge climbing up what waterfalls we could climb safely and getting out where it was considered just a bit much!

The final photo from Mark Powells Stag event in The Lake Dstrict shows the group at the get out at the head of our alternative ghyll scrambling venue. Usually, we invite people to enjoy a shower whilst we take this photo but today, the sheer volume of water coming over the fall behind the group would have severely battered anyone attempting to stand under it.

After this, we returned to the vehicles and then went to the ODG to collect the rest of our party before intending to go back over to Coniston Water to finish off with the afternoon raft building session.

The weather had not improved any during the day and the group made a decision that enough was enough. They therefore declined the offer of raft building, and so we called it a day at about 15:30.

It was a real shame that the weather was so bad for the guys as many had travelled a long distance to help their mate celebrate his stag do - they were also camping as well! We hope that they will remember the fun that they had with us despite the conditions and that if they ever return to the area that they do get much better conditions next time. The rest of the photos from this Stag Event in The Lake District can be viewed here. To book your Stag or Hen Event in The Lake District with Kendal Mountaineering Services, contact us here.