Rock Climbing & Gorge Walking Sessions in Yorkshire. July 24th 2013

A few days after working in Church Beck with the Shrimpton family, Iain was back in Yorkshire working with children attending the second Village Camps activity session at Brimham Rocks and Howstean Gorge in Nidderdale.

The day starts with a morning at Brimham "bouldering" around the sites many gritstone outcrops, Bouldering at Brimham involves climbing up, over, around & down the rocks using hands and feet without using climbing ropes & harnesses. This means that people in the group (photo one) have to working together helping each other up & down so, bouldering can be a good teamwork exercise.

After just over an hour of bouldering, Iain and his group moved to the climbing area at "cyclops" - still at Brimham Rocks and on the edge of the bouldering area. Cyclops is so called because of the hole in the rock (middle of photo two) likened to the Mythical Cyclops Eye.

Here, the group got harnesses on and were shown how to belay before starting to climb using a top rope/bottom belay system.

In a top rope/bottom belay system, the rope is anchored at the top of the crag and the climber is attached to one end and climbs up whilst belayers (several in this case) pull down on and keep the rope tight in case the climber slips. On reaching the top anchor, the climber is lowered by their belaying team back to the bottom of the climb. In photo two, the three girls nearest are working together using this system and we use a similar system on all of our Introductory Climbing Sessions in The Lake District.

The final photo in this post shows Iains team having some wet fun in Howstean Gorge in Nidderdale. After climbing & bouldering at Brimham Rocks, the whole group plus instructors relocates to Nidderdale for the afternoon session where camp is set up so that the group can stay overnight. The afternoons activities consist of abseiling some 70 feet off a bridge in to the bed of Howstean Gorge followed by some gorge walking and, as this is a limestone gorge, some caving as well.

Kendal Mountaineering Services offer all of these activities here in the Lake District where you can try out your own half day Rock Climbing & Abseiling Session as well as Ghyll Scrambling and Canyoning all starting at £45 per person for a half day(four hour) session. Of course, we offer discounts for groups over five persons and for family groups - so do ask about these. We also offer caving half days in the Yorkshire Dales National Park at the same price but with the same discounts applied. Give us a call or email us to enquire about our prices and to book your session. We look forward to working with you.

Family Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Session in The Lake District. July 22nd 2013

It has been a while since we posted anything up at Kendal Mountaineering Services - not because  we haven't been busy, the opposite is true and unfortunately, because of that, Iain has gotten well behind with the blogging!

The Shrimpton family (photo one) booked  a ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning session in The Lake District with us with us prior to visiting the area on holiday from Hertfordshire. As you can see there was a family of five all needing to be paid for so we were sympathetic and discounted our price to £35 per person for this session.

We started the Shrimptons Lake District Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Session as always by kitting out the family in wetsuits, walking boots, cagoules, helmets, harnesses & bouyancy aids before setting off into the ghyll.

The children were particularly keen to get stuck into some wet fun and with the weather being warm and the family well equipped they were soon soaked from jumping into pools and crawling under logs and just generally making the most of every opportunity and challenge presented by Iain.

Photo two shows the family at the first big waterfall encountered in Church Beck on our ghyll scrambling (also known as gorge walking) ascent of this stream near Coniston Village.

Shortly beyond the waterfall in Photo two, we arrived at the bottom of the Chockstone Pitch  (also known as the "coffin slide") where we get out of the gorge and head upstream to begin our downward or Canyoning descent of Church beck.

This starts with our getting harnesses on as the first obstacle encountered is a lower down a 15 foot waterfall before a small jump in to a deep pool. Following this we have a 100m walk downstream under Miners Bridge to the top of the Miners Bridge Fall (photo three) scene of our second waterfall lower.

Many competitors avoid taking clients into the top section above Miners Bridge altogether but our philosophy is that we will do everything possible with you at any of the Lake Districts Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Venues. Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning is great fun - so you might as well make the most of it and get a decent session for your money as well!

After the Miners Bridge Waterfall Lower, we made our way downstream to the head of the "Top Jumps". Here, there is a part lower on a rope before jumping in to the pool at the top fall followed ( if you can jump out far enough!) a jump down the next fall in to the pool below or an easy climb down if you don't fancy the jump.

Swimming across the pool below brings you to the head of the lower fall (Chockstone Pitch, Coffin Slide - call it what you will!). Here, everyone sits on top of the big slab visible in photo four...and then slides down in to the pool below. Thoroughly exciting and exhilarating stuff!

The Shrimpton Family really enjoyed their Lake District Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Session with us. Other photos from this session can be viewed here and if you would like to book a ghyll scrambling & canyoning session for your own family whilst on holiday in The Lake District  then contact us here. You won't be disappointed!

Outdoor activities in The Lake District with Kendal Mountaineering Services, Summer 2013.

Last weekend, Iain was once again working for another provider of Lake District based activity sessions with a school group from Cheshire who were staying at one of the areas residential centres.

The weather was sunny and very hot and as this was an older group it was decided to leave the residential centre and go mobile for the day. We decided to take the group to Langdale for an Introductory Rock Climbing Session followed by a ghyll scrambling session in Stickle Ghyll and for this, we based ourselves in the National Trust car park near the Sticklebarn Tavern.

Photo one shows the group enjoying an introductory rock climbing session in the sun at Sticklebarn Crag. Ropes are anchored at the top of the climb and the climber is attached to one end whilst safeguarded by persons at the other end keeping the rope tight. These introductory climbing sessions really are a great way to get people working together and are ideal for people wanting to try out rock climbing for the first time. We offer introductory Lake District climbing sessions & courses for as little as £30 per person for a four hour (half day) session depending on your group size.

Sunday found us enjoying a kayaking session on the Lake near to the centre. Kayaking is a great way to explore the Lake Districts many lakes & rivers - you get your own kayak and a paddle - and off you go! It is however, best to get some instruction in how to use these craft before you do so and we can can provide you with the opportunity to do this for as little as £30 per person for a half day (four hour) session depending on your group size.

In photo two, the guys had been attempting to run around their rafted kayaks (well - two persons attempting to walk around the raft whilst everyone else clung on tightly!) As is often the case people fell in and as can be seen here, one kayaker had his boat sunk! All good fun and despite what you might think - safe too! It was just as well the water was warm though!

As part of this Lake District Kayaking Session, we took a journey up the Lake to a nearby island which is a popular summer spot for canoeing, kayaking, swimming and.......trying a challenge by jumping off rocks in to the water!

As can be seen in photo three our group took to this idea like fishes to water and many different ways of jumping were tried out. What a blast!

Finally, we returned to the centre and  grabbed a bite of lunch before heading down to the beach to build a couple of improvised rafts. All that is supplied for these improvised rafting sessions in The Lake District are plastic barrels,wooden spars and short lengths of climbing rope. The group were expected (with assistance from Iain) to come up with a design for a raft that would work and then build it.                                                              After both rafts were completed to a satisfactory standard ( we always ensure that your raft will not disintegrate in the middle of the lake!) it was off on the lake to test them out with a few competitive tasks thrown in to the mix to add a bit more fun. As always, the session degenerated into the usual waterfight before the group destroyed each others rafts. Boys will be boys!

The group thoroughly enjoyed their weekend activity break in The Lake District and we can provide the same sort of activity weekend for you and your family, your Stag or Hen Party or your corporate event. Contact us to arrange a bespoke package of activities to suit your needs. We look forward to working with you.

Lake District based Scrambling Skills Training courses. July 12th 2013.

A few days after working in Yorkshire, Iain was back in The Lake District mountains with private clients Heath & Alison Ralphson who had arrived in the area for a weekend of hill walking.

Heath & Alison are keen to spend more time in the outdoors and particularly enjoy hillwalking. They were also keen to learn the basics of scrambling to allow them to enjoy some of the more adventurous routes to the top of some of the Lake District peaks. Striding Edge on Helvellyn was mentioned as one future objective.

The pair only had one day available for their Lake District based Scrambling Course and as they were only intending to be attempting  grade 1 or 2 scrambles at the outset, Iain felt that he ought to be able to give them the basics skills for these grades in one day.

We started our scrambling day with Iain showing the pair the techniques of spotting (photo one) So what is scrambling anyway? Well, it can be described as a technique used midway between walking and rock climbing where one is moving largely on rock of an easy angle and requiring the use of one or more hands. On easy ground, one can often make good progress merely by the hands on action of assisting each other purely by holding each others feet in place or using hands & a braced stance to prevent the person climbing (or descending) from slipping & falling.

Photo two shows Iain demonstrating the technique of short roping to Heath & Alison. As a rule of thumb, once there is the chance of a slip turning in to something more serious one should consider using a rope to provide security and scramblers use a climbing rope shortened by taking coils around their body to reduce the length of the rope between them and any seconds - the shorter the rope, the less likelihood of a slip turning in to a fall!

Having coached the pair with regards to spotting and having demonstrated short roping and basic belaying techniques - it was now time to get the rope on them so that they could put all of what had been shown already, into practise.

In photo three, Heath uses a Direct Belay (rock anchor) to safeguard Alison who could be either climbing up or down the short steep step below. The rope is kept tight by means of using the rock spike (around which the rope is run) to provide friction & security and this was only one of a number of belay techniques that Iain showed the pair how to use on their Lake District Scrambling Course.

The importance with any direct belay employed is that the rock used must be of high integrity, ie a solid part of the surrounding rock. it must not be loose otherwise there is a danger of it failing when loaded with a persons weight and also, there must be no chance of the rope being able to come off the anchor. The rock spike used in photo three satisfied all of these essential criteria and Heath was able to maintain the rope around the rock by holding it down on both sides of the anchor.

As with all of our skills training courses, it is crucial  to get plenty of practise an there is nothing to beat a " hands on" approach. Having given Heath & Alison the skills to move together on ground of up to Grade 2, it was only right that Iain gave the pair the opportunity to put it all together on on appropriate scramble and we chose to do this on The Spur - a great little scramble on Tarn Crag. Details of this route can be found in the Cicerone Guide Scrambles Lake District South by R Brian Evans. 

On this route heath had to employ a number of belaying techniques and the final photo of the day shows him using an indirect or body belay to safeguard Alison up what would be the second to last pitch of the scramble. The pairs plans the following day were to climb Scafell Pike which we hope thay achieved although once again, it was going to be a scorching day and as such the pair were advised to set off very early. Both heath & Alison enjoyed their scrambling course in The Lake District with Iain and plan to return in the future to gain the skills to progress to grade 3 routes. Other photos from this day can be viewed here.

Scrambling as a great way to get the the top of any mountain. If you would like to learn the skills for yourself then contact Iain here. The cost is only £75 per person for an eight hour day such as the one that Heath & Alison enjoyed with us.

Recent activity at Kendal Mountaineering Services, July 2013.

As well as offering activity sessions and skills training courses to the general public, on occasion, Iain is asked to assist other providers with running courses.

Recently, Iain was asked to assist with the running of a National 3 peaks challenge. These challenges are often done by organisations attempting to raise money for charity and that was the case with this group (photo one) from Acer UK who were raising money for the Mountain Rescue Committee of England & Wales.
So what is a National 3 Peaks Challenge? These events consist of climbing the highest mountains in England, Wales & Scotland, these are Scafell Pike 3210 feet, Snowdon 3616 feet and Ben Nevis 4406 feet.

Often these 3 peaks challenges are done over 24 hours but Acer UK chose to do the event over 3 days which made it a much more relaxed affair and in the process thay raised over £4,000 for the MRC - well done.

Photo one is taken from the groups final day - an absolute scorcher, with the summit of Snowdon and Glaslyn behind.

A few days later, Iain was off on what has become an annual pilgrimage to North Yorkshire to assist with providing activities for children on a visit to the area with Village Camps.

Photo two  shows Iains team during our morning session at Brimham Rocks near Nidderdale.

At Brimham, a ridge of gritstone runs from north to south and the exposed rocks have been weathered over the years into giant monoliths - an ideal place to try bouldering.

We spent an hour weaving inbetween rock outcrops, climbing up and down them, squeezing through cracks and holes - all great fun!

Following bouldering, we spent a further hour rock climbing at a short cliff close to the main boulders where a number of ropes had been set up. Here, the students were able to work together in teams of three or four climbing on what we would call an introductory Rock Climbing Session.

Following our climbing session at Brimham in the morning, we moved base to the fantastic Howstean Gorge in Nidderdale for our afternoon session consisting of Abseiling in to the gorge followed by a Gorge Walking Session (photo three).

The howstean Gorge is set in Limestone and is surrounded by trees which, at the height of Summer, allow very little light to get in to the bottom of the gorge - at times it felt more like caving than gorge walking! We enjoyed a 2 hour session in here after our exhilarating abseil in to the bottom of the gorge, we made our way upstream clambering up many small waterfalls, wading through many pools and swimming through the one in the photo.

Following this session, the children prepared for an evening barbeque on the campsite where they would be staying overnight, it really had been a truly glorious day.

Iain offers rock climbing & abseiling, caving and gorge walking sessions in The Lake District through the Kendal Mountaineering Services website. Prices start at £45 per person for a half day session - less if you bring more people! These activities are great family fun so if visiting The Lake District - give us a call and see what great activity package we can put together for you!

Lake District based Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Sessions. June 23rd 2013.

On the morning that Iain was due to be running Clare McGenity's Lake District based Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning session he also received a phonecall from Pete Burbidge.

Petes opening line was "Remember me? You offered me a half price Ghyll Scrambling Session if I got in touch again!" obviously, Iain had to think about this for a moment but then Pete refreshed his memory.

Unfortunately, when heading to Coniston to join  Iain for a prebooked Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Session last September, Pete & his daughter Kiera (photo one) had suffered an irreparable puncture and were recovered to Kendal from Kirkstone Pass by the AA. Whilst Iain waited  around it was getting pretty late by the time the car had been fixed and, as it was not their fault, Iain had indeed agreed to offer them a half price session should they return to the area again.

Return they had and this time they were staying at Kirkby Lonsdale. So, for a mere £45 (plus a little for diesel) Iain gave the two a lift from Kendal & back and provided them with a half day ghyll scrambling & canyoning session which they thoroughly enjoyed.

Last weekend was somewhat chilly & a bit damp - not that the damp matters but the cold can make all the difference between a fun Lake District Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Session and one where you just want to get it over with as soon as you can - we try to avoid those however by making sure all of our clients are kitted out in wetsuits, walking boots, a cagoule and bouyancy aid - just as Kiera is in photo two!

Different people like a different level of challenge and in this particular Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Session it was decided that as well as doing the ghyll scrambling ascent, we might just also do the Top Jumps too. However, Kiera was not too sure about this.

Before attempting the top jumps, Iain decided that the pair should try the Miners Bridge Waterfall Abseil and if they were happy with that, then we would attempt the Top Jumps as well.

In photo three, Pete approaches the top of the Miners Bridge Waterfall.

Having managed this successfully, Kiera, encouraged by both her Dad and Iain successfully managed to complete the challenging Top Jumps section of Church Beck and photo four shows the pair at the foot of the bottom Chockstone Pitch and very happy with what they had achieved.

Despite previous disappointment, Iain had still made sure that the pair still got their session, received good customer service and value for money; and this is what we pride ourselves on giving all of our customers.

Pete & Kiera had a great time on their Lake District based Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Session and you can too by contacting us here to book yours. Other photos taken during Pete & Kieras session with us can be viewed here.

Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Sessions with Kendal Mountaineering Services - so what do you get for your money?

In the current economic climate things are tough. Everyone is finding themselves with less money with which to enjoy that odd treat, weekend away or that exciting & challenging activity session that they would love to try out.

Obviously as a result, people are going to try & get a better deal when booking and paying for anything, but people need to be aware that a cheaper deal is not necessarily a better deal overall.

In photo one, we see two persons who are attending one of our Lake District based Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning sessions - only two persons!! We recognise that not everyone wants to come as part of a crowd and as such we are happy to work with as little as two persons on these sessions. On this basis £45 might sound really expensive - but is it - considering for that you will have your very own instructor working with only you! This means more time moving, keeping warmer and less time hanging around getting chilly whilst you have to wait for others. The people in this photo selected our business for these very reasons!

A Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Session in The Lake District with us might sound expensive at £45 per person but we do apply discounts as group size increases.For example bring a group of six and the price drops to £40 per person, for 11 - 15 persons we charge £35 per head and over 15 persons the price drops to £30 each and you still get all of the equipment you see people wearing in photo two!

So what equipment do you get on our sessions? Walking boots for your feet to provide good grip, ankle support and crush protection, a wetsuit each to provide insulation and abrasion resistance, a cagoule (pullover top with neoprene cuffs & neck seal), a bouyancy aid to keep you afloat in deep pools and provide protection if you fall over, a helmet to protect your head and a harness - required if you wish to abseil any sections where an abseil down a waterfall is possible.

All of this equipment costs in the region of £250 per person and has to be replaced regularly.

Also, we are covered for £10,000,000 of Public Liability Insurance in the event of an accident where we are at fault and all of our instructors are experienced & qualified professionals who take pride in providing you with a top quality Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Session in The Lake District.

We also give you a free copy of all photographs that we make a point of taking during your session with us.

As well as all of the equipment provided, we try to make sure you get value for money in other ways. Take the chap in photo three for example who is getting to try part of a gorge that many other users avoid - not for reasons that it is dangerous but for the fact that it makes for a longer session.

Here, there is a waterfall lower and pool jump that many customers don't get to know about; and many customers don't get to do the 30 foot lower at the next waterfall 100m downstream either! Indeed we know that some of our cheaper competitors actually add £5 each on to the price if you wish to abseil this fall!

As part of your fee per person with us you will get to do everything possible at any given venue - unless you choose not to do so or conditions render such a plan unsafe. We like to - wherever possible, add value to your experience and exceed your expectations!

We recently had an enquiry from a person interested in booking one of our Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Sessions for a Hen Event and for eight persons we quoted £40 each. 

After a few days the person got back to us and asked why there was such a big difference between providers, as some had offered her the session at £20 per head.

We outlined what we offered and asked her to go back to the cheaper providers and ask

What equipment was provided as part of the session and what were the clients expected to provide themselves?

Was the business appropriately insured? If you are working with the general public at any time then you must, by law, have appropriate Public Liability Insurance in place .

How experienced were the instructional staff?

Would her party be expected to join a larger group to get the cheaper price.

What was included in the session for the price?

Several days later, the enquirer contacted us again to ask us to arrange the Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Session for her Hen Party.

If after reading this you still want to pay less for your session then contact us and we will do what we can. However, we will not compromise on your safety & comfort.

Photo four is from one of our Esk Gorge full day trips - a bargain for two persons at only £75 each!