Friday 6 July 2012

Ghyll scrambling courses in The Lake District. Friday June 29th 2012.

It's been a little while since we've posted anything up on the blog but that doesn't mean we've not been busy at Kendal Mountaineering Services.

The latter part of June has been abnormally wet - so much so that offering suitable venues for our ghyll scrambling & canyoning sessions has proved interesting at times. However, we are all about being adaptable; and having a good local knowledge of all the available ghyll scrambling & canyoning venues makes all the difference between giving customers an average day out or the great session that you really want!

Photo one shows our group from Friday 29th June in Stickle Ghyll in Langdale. The party had come for a day out from Manchester and were looking for  an adrenalin & action packed session. They all work for a company specialising in PPI claims and make a point of getting out once a month to have fun in some shape or form. Previous days out have included doing things such as go-karting, whitewater rafting & snowboarding!

Photo two shows the team really getting stuck into the wet stuff in Stickle Ghyll.

The session had been booked by Jack (orange bouyancy aid) at the start of the week and originally, the plan had been to take the team into Church Beck to do our ususal ghyll scrambling & canyoning session there.

However, it had rained so much the day before that Iain had concerns about water levels. Scott who assisted Iain on this day went and checked out Church Beck in the morning and it was found to be way too high to be safe for our planned session.

Iain made sure that the group was aware of the situation early on and arranged to meet them on the Friday morning en route for Ambleside. It seemed pointless sending them to Coniston knowing we were going to have to go elsewhere and it was looking like our alternative ghyll scrambling & canyoning venue (see previous post) was going to have to be the place.

However, driving into Langdale, Iain noticed that Stickle ghyll was not as high as it might have been and thought that it might work for this group of adults.

So, what started out as a compromise due to the weather turned into another great session for our customers and everyone thoroughly enjoyed wading upstream in the powerful flow, climbing up waterfalls and swiming through pools. Jacks expression in photo three says it all!
The final shot in this blog post shows the team at the foot of the final fall in Stickle Ghyll. It had been a truly "full on" session and they had all had to work hard together to look after & help each other throughout the entire time.

The level of water had made this ghyll scrambling session a real challenge and Iain & Scott had thrown on various extras along the way to make it as exciting as it could have been.

By now, people were starting to get tired cold & despite the equipment we provided - so it was as well that we were finishing here - not everyone elected to climb the final waterfall.

The feedback that we got was that the session had been excellent despite it being an alternative and that it was one of the most exciting things they had ever done. Other photographs taken during this session can be viewed here.

Our ghyll scrambling & canyoning sessions are ideal for a corporate activity day, stag or hen event or just as a way of adding some outdoor excitement to your weekend away in The Lake District. Remember - if the weather is wet this is one thing that you can still do! To book your ghyll scrambling or canyoning session with Kendal Mountaineering Services contact us here. We look forward to working with you.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

absolutely brilliant day out, that good we are to book again for end of this month. awesome.