Scottish Winter mountaineering courses. February 12th - 17th, 2012.

After the end of Iain's 12 day Scottish Winter Climbing Skills Training course with Benn Berkeley, he had but a days rest before starting working again, this time with (Left to right in photo one) Andy, Lucy, Martin & Dave who were all attending a Winter Leader Progression Course with The Cadet Centre for Adventurous Training (CCAT) based from the Joint Services Mountain Training Centre at Tulloch in Glen Spean near to Fort William.

CCAT run all manner of outdoor skills training courses to anyone involved with the cadets. Andy, Martin & Dave are all from the same school in Essex and regularly work with cadets at the school. So as leaders - having already attended the CCAT Winter Foundation Course (essentially a winter skills training course) previously and all looking to attain their Winter Mountainwalking Leader Award, they had booked on to this years Winter Leader Progression Course run by Iain on behalf of CCAT. Lucy is a student currently studying on an Outdoor Leaders Course in Cheshire.

Our first day out (Sunday) proved to be a long hard day as the other instructor Iain was co-running the course with appeared to be bent on providing his group with a mission - in this case a 20km hike over the Grey Corries - a ridge containing many Munros near Spean Bridge. Anyway, Iain (and his team) decided this was a bit much for a first day out but we still walked a long way from near Coirechoille up on to Stob Coire Easain and then east to Stob Coire Claurigh before returning to Coirechoille. The mild conditions from the previous week had remained and it was a damp walk up almost on to the spine of the ridge before we encountered what could be described as decent winter conditions as seen in photo one near to Stob Coire Claurigh. The day was cloudy for the most part but as can be seen here, we were close to breaking out above the cloud in to the sunlight.

Monday saw Iain, Lucy, Andy & Dave head up into a little known corrie to the south of Coire Adair near to Creag Meagaidh with a view to looking at some winter skills. The forescast for the day was for strong westerly winds so we wanted to try & find some shelter and Iain thought this little corrie might do the trick (he had had a look into it on his return with Benn from climbing Staghorn Gully the previous week).

In photo two Lucy, Andy & Dave are enjoying a lunch break having just finished practising all variants of Ice Axe Arrest technique. Creag Meagaidhs Great Buttress can be seen in the background and there were lot of climbers around on this day. Conditions were thinner than the previous week - indeed, Iain watched as a party backed off the initial ice pitch of Staghorn Gully and took an easier line up to the right.

After lunch Iain went through more winter skills looking at winter belays, bucket seats and snow belays before we all packed up and climbed up out of the corrie and descending via Sron A Ghoire back to the minibus at Aberarder. A useful day out.


Tuesday found Iain & his team heading for a fantastic Grade II winter Mountaineering route - the East Ridge of Beinn A Chaorainn(photo three). This great little 300m scrambling route leads on to the North top of Beinn A Chaorainn via series of rocky steps which makes for interesting route finding.

Once on the top, most people return via the south top to Glen Spean - a plan which has often led to the demise of not so careful navigators! Between the north & south summits the rim of the eastern corrie bites deeply into the ridge and anyone taking a bearing straight between the two tops is likely to fall through the cornice in poor visibility - straight to their death. Iain is experienced in dealing with Beinn A Chaorainn in such conditions using a technique known as "boxing" the corrie - if you want to learn more about navigation techniques then come on one of our mountain navigation skills training courses - the next one is running during March 31st & April 1st 2012 and is only £80 per person for the weekend course.


Once arriving at the summit of Beinn A Chaorainn we traversed to the south top - marvelling at the massive overhanging cornice on our left before descending south via a series of connecting snowpatches and snow filled gullies which went a long way towards easing our descent off the south side of the mountain. At one point, we found a gully with an overhanging snow bank and as Lucy really wanted to dig a snowhole we let her set to and Andy joined in as well.

Eventually the pair "holed through" into each others snowholes and as we were all big kids really (apart from Lucy) a bit of fun ensued. In photo four Dave had entered via the rh snowhole and then exited via the lh entrance on what can only be described as a toboggan run. Clearly, Lucy found the whole thing hilarious as Dave slid down the bank face first, what a laugh.

It was a pleasant afternoon and we finished the day by walking back to JSMTC - arriving early, for a change.

On Wednesday, more strong westerlies and wet, mild conditions were forecast. The other instructor decided to set off early and go as far west as possible to traverse An Teallach - a strange choice given the conditions!

Iain and his team chose to stay local and decided to have a navigation skills training day in Ardverikie Forest (photo five) Forest is hardly a fitting term for the area - it is bare apart from some recent Forestry Commision plantations - however the evidence of previous forestation is evident everywhere with tangles of ancient tree roots in every peat hag gully.

Anyway, we practised map orientation, walking on a bearing between grid references, back bearings, pacing, timings and any other aspect of navigation techniques that Iain could think of before we had to get back to our dropoff point. We later heard that the other party had turned back from An Teallach - no surprise there!


Thursday saw us dropped off again at the same point for our Mountain Navigation Skills Training Day the previous day.

However, this time we were carrying much heaver packs in preparation for our expediton which basically involved hiking about 12km east via Ardverikie and Ben Alder Forests to Culra bothy.

The weather was again, mild & wet with a westerly blowing again as we climbed to cross a bealach at 750m in thick cloud. However as we descended east, the cloud disappeared and the sun came out and after managing to cross a rather swollen river without getting wet feet, we arrivied at Culra at 13:45 having left our dropoff point at 09:15. Photo six shows Culra Bothy in the distance beyond the surging Allt A Chaoil Reidhe. Ben Alder, with its famous Long & Short Leachas ridges lies beyond.

The final photo shows Dave, Lucy & Andy as we departed Culra the next morning. An ascent of Ben Alder via one of the ridges would have been great but time did not allow this on either day as we had to be back at our dropoff point in Glen Spean for around 13:00 today.

Iain had a walk up towards the head of the Allt A Chaoil Reidhe the previous evening on a path that eventaully leads to Loch Ossian. It was clear in the time he had that a round trip to the summit of Ben Alder from Culra would have taken around six hours, so it was as well that we hadn't attempted it.

This post quite probably ends Iains winter season in Scotland this year. For the short time he was up he ran some great winter courses for people. Hopefully the mild, wet spell will end soon as climbing conditions must be getting desperate even high up. To check out conditions go to the MWIS forecast for climbing conditions in any of the UKs main climbing areas and be sure to check out the avalanche forecast before going anywhere. Happy climbing!

Our next posts will be about upcoming courses and activity options with Kendal Mountaineering Services as Iain now looks to what he hopes won't be a too distant Spring. Bookings are already coming in - to book an activity for your family or a skills training course for the Spring you can contact us here. We look forward to working with you.

Winter climbing skills training courses in The Cairngorms with Kendal Mountaineering Services. February 7th - 10th 2012.

On Tuesday Iain from Kendal Mountaineering Services entered the final phase of his Scottish winter climbing skills training course with Benn Berkeley.

After the previous week's days out around Ben Nevis, both Iain & Benn moved to the Aviemore area as part of Iain's plan to introduce Benn to at least four of Scotlands main winter climbing areas.

The first day of our final phase of Benn's winter climbing course saw us all get a very early start and drive back the way we had come to go into Creag Meagaidh. Despite the long walk-in Meagaidh is a fantastic winter climbing venue and is remowned for its ice routes on the Post Face in particular.

We weren't looking to do anything too hard and Iain thought that Staghorn Gully would be a fitting intro for Benn to Meagaidh as it is a 3 star grade III. Here, in photo one, Benn looks on with the entry pitch of Staghorn Gully behind - it proved to be steep! Benn thought it harder than our previous day ice climbing on Green Gully on The Ben at IV'3. Anyway, Meagaidh proved to be a long (the route is 400m) but immensely rewarding day out. Cold, clear, great!


On the wednesday, we knew the weather was changing, warming up and probably wild on The Cairngorms. Nevertheless, we headed in to Coire An T Sneachda for a look - battling into a not uncommon Sneachda head wind as we did so. The MWIS forecast said considerable buffetting and they were not wrong. Sneachda was a maelstrom of whirling snow and Iain decided that playing around on ice (the original plan) was too dangerous a proposition and anything else would be at the least, most unpleasant - so we were on our way back out by 10:30 passing MIC's heading in with clients, groups from Glenmore Lodge and others who felt they had to be there regardless of the weather.

Iain, however, knew another place where we could go and practise ropework skills on a sheltered crag on a valley bottom not too far away -he's not letting on where it is either! Anyway, Iain & Benn spent the afternoon there looking at various climbing techniques such as anchor placements, abseil retreat as seen here in photo two; and self lining as these were all things that Benn wanted to look at. It wasn't an ideal day, but at least we managed to salvage something out of it.


Thursdays MWIS forecast was for a thaw to have set in over the Wednesday night and for temps at 900m to be 1 - 4 degrees.

The weather was uncannilly calm on the Thursday as we walked in to Sneachda - as compared with the previous day; and it was clear there had been a big thaw. The buttresses were black, the coire floor grassy and the air alive with the sound of stressed Ptarmigan trying to find cover as they flew around like airborne snowballs in a largely snowless backdrop - poor buggers!

Anyway, after being led on all of the various winter climbs over the previous two blocks, Iain was confident that Benn was ready to lead his first winter climb and here he is in photo three at the top of pitch four on a fine little grade II buttress route between Central Gully (II) and the Runnel (II) in Coire An T Sneachda. Due to the heavy thaw and lack of cornice debris Iain wanted to keep out the gullies, so this seemed a good choice of route.

A chap on MIC assessment seemed to agree too as he followed us up our route and suddenly Iain found himself surrounded by familiar faces - he felt like he was back on assessment himself!

Anyway, Benn led his first five pitch winter climbing route in fine style, climbing well, placing good running belays and building solid stances. Once finished on the climb we descended back into Coire An T Sneachda to practise crevasse rescue at a handy little icy spot Iain knows; and take a look at an Albolakov Thread too. All in all, another excellent day.


Finally, today, we started early again to get ahead of the crowds and by 09:30 Benn was leading off on the first pitch of Goat Track Gully (II) as seen here in photo four.

We had looked at this route yesterday
and as Benn had expressed a desire to do some lead climbing on ice Iain felt this would be appropriate for his ability. The second pitch was also a fine little ice pitch as it often is and then the following two pitches were easier with lots of opportunities for placing anchors in rock.

We topped out on Goat Track Gully shortly after 12 midday and were back at the car by 2. We have had a fantastic, progressive 12 days of winter skills, winter mountaineering and winter climbing in four of Scotlands main winter climbing areas with Benn having gone from following Iain to being able to confidently lead pitches of up to grade III and walk on any slope - whether it be snow or ice, with confidence.


Finally, one of our last photos from Coire An T Sneachda today taken from the moraines popularly used as a snowholing venue. We are looking back at a cloud cap hanging over the Coire An T Sneachda face with the triangle of Fiacaille Buttress poking through the cloud just right of centre. Blue Sky above and the sun trying to get through. Just awesome!

Iain has been coming to this place now for over 40 years and it is still one of his favourite places. Thank you to my parents, particularly my Dad for introducing me to the mountains - I have never looked back.

If you would like to book your own bespoke winter skills course, winter mountaineering course or winter climbing course with Iain from Kendal Mountaineering services you can contact him here. We look forward to working with you.

Winter climbing on Ben Nevis with Kendal Mountaineering services. February 2012.

Wednesday February 1st saw Benn start the second phase of his Scottish winter climbing skills training course with Iain from Kendal Mountaineering Services.

Iain had arranged that this would take place around the Ben Nevis, Aonach Mor or Creag Meaghaidh areas as appropriate. As happened, the weather became gloriously settled - still, cold and although snow cover on The Ben was thin conditions were good enough that we didn't need to go anywhere else!

Photo one shows Benn short roping on Ledge Route - a long grade II winter scramble - the best of its grade on Ben Nevis. After a few pitches of roped climbing, Iain allowed Benn to take over and use the rest of the route to be coached on and consolidate his understanding of short roping - a technique commonly used by competent climbers and instructors on either scrambling routes or on the approach to steeper climbs.

In photo one, Benns stance is braced away from Iain. His axe is planted in the snow in his uphill hand ready for "self belay" and he has a reservoir of hand coils in his downhill hand locked off but ready to be deployed if necessary. Note how his arm is bent - ready to absorb any shock load should Iain slip - thus prevent Benn being pulled off balance.

Once at the top of Ledge Route, we ascended to the summit of Ben Nevis via the crest of the North Face where Iain was able to point out the names of all of the gullies and classic winter climbs this fantastic mountain has to offer. The weather was truly great and the first of three such good calm settled days.

This particular block of days was a fairly steep learning curve for Benn. Grade II on Wednesday and grade III on Thursday. As it is Benn's aspiration to be able to climb grade III winter routes, Iain decided to introduce him to a Ben Nevis grade III classic - Number Three Gully Buttress.

The climb takes a route up a steep and poorly protected snow couloir before trending right to cross other classic lines such as Quickstep (V'5) and Two Step Corner (V'5) ascending a ramp and finishing as an exposed traverse above Gargoyle Wall.

Photo two sees Benn belaying Iain from across part of the traverse, he climbed the route with ease and thoroughly enjoyed it. Three parties were involved climbing Two Step Corner which looked entertaining indeed whilst another pair climbed a grade VIII on Sioux Wall and another team - Gargoyle Wall. Everyone, it seemed, were out enjoying the good conditions.

Once at the top, we descended in to Number Three Gully by way of a snow bollard and walked out, tired but happy.

Checking the MWIS forecast on the Thursday night suggested that Friday might be another good day for climbing so Iain decided to "notch up" the climbing grade again and guided Benn on Green Gully IV'3 - yet another "Ben Classic".

Green Gully ascends to the right of The Comb in Coire Na Ciste and is a fantastic introduction to grade IV winter climbing - with four; or five great little ice pitches depending on which exit you decide to take at the top.

The route was "thin" ie lacking in the large quantities of ice ususally found there, but there was plenty to climb on and it was the usual "friendly ice" which accepts ice axe placements without shattering and makes ice climbing a pleasant and secure experience rather than a tenuous proposition.

In photo three, Benn can be seen approaching Iain at his stance at the top of pitch two. Benn had climbed ice before but learned on this day not to bash too hard with his axes - he already knew the effects of kicking too hard with his feet from a previous trip - bruised toes - ow! Anyway he thoroughly enjoyed Green Gully. So far this week, Iain had exceeded all of his expectations of what he thought the course would provide; and that's great news.

Sadly, this run of great, cold hard weather ended during Friday night with the approach of a frontal system bringing mild conditions and much rain today (Saturday).

Both Benn & Iain were rather pooped after three great days of winter climbing on Ben Nevis and as conditions today weren't going to be favourable, Benn was happy to look at Improvised Rescue Techniques - ie how to get out of tricky situations when climbing goes wrong.

We went to Polldubh in Glen Nevis where with the help of a few trees for belays, Iain was able to get Benn problem solving. In photo four Benn has "escaped the system" in a scenario where Iain, as the second" has fallen off, injured; and Benn needs to go and get help. We looked at a number of scenarios of increasing difficulty until rain and strengthening winds stopped play in the early afternoon.

We now each have two days off before our final phase of Benns winter climbing skills training course with Iain from Kendal Mountaineering services - watch the blog for a final report.

If you would like to book your own winter skills or winter climbing training course with Iain, contact us here.

Scottish Winter Skills & winter climbing courses with Kendal Mountaineering Services. Jan/Feb 2012.

Iain from Kendal Mountaineering services is busy up in Scotland at the moment running various winter courses for people. His particular client at the moment - Benn Berkeley, wanted to learn everything about winter climbing from putting on crampons and using axes for the first time to being able to lead grade three winter climbs by the end of his twelve day bespoke winter climbing course.

This sounded like an exciting challenge indeed. Iain suggested that Benn first undertook one of our basic winter skills courses. Part of these courses entails using an ice axe to arrest a slide and on day one of Benns course, Iain took him into Coire An Lochan in Glen Coe to teach him basic step kicking & cutting plus ice axe arrest techniques as Benn demonstrates here in photo one. It was a cold and windy day but we had a good time and Iain got Benn to consolidate what he had learnt by taking a walk around the corrie afterwards practising all we had covered - a good start to the course.


Day two found us back in Coire an Lochan we where we looked at avalanche prediction & snowpack analysis followed by all of the various types of snow belay and the techniques required for ascending or descending easy grade one or two climbing routes.

Having practised all of the ropework skills, both Iain & Benn alternately lead a few pitches up a long snow slope using bucket seats backed up with various snow anchors. In photo two Benn belays Iain from a bucket seat using a buried axe belay.

We also looked at dynamically arresting a fall when belaying from a bucket seat where a falling climber is gradually slowed down rather than being suddenly stopped - often resulting in the failure of the belayers bucket seat & anchor.

The weather was good on this day and we managed to cover almost every aspect of one of our basic winter skills courses over the two days.


Day three saw the next progression on from basic winter climbing skills. Iain decided to introduce Benn to winter mountaineering techniques otherwise known as winter scrambling. The Zig Zags on Gearr Aonach in Glen Coe proved as always, to be a useful route for practising these techniques.

We ascended The Zig Zags with Iain demonstrating appropriate belay techniques from basic direct belays through to techniques more associated with rock climbing and short roping on easier ground - Benn even got to practise short roping Iain on the easier upper section of the route - both up and down.

In photo three Benn is anchored to a rock spike that Iain has just used as a direct belay to protect Benn on a short climbing section of the route. Iain has left Benn secured to this spike - simply by wrapping the rope around it a number of times whilst he moves on to an easier piece of ground to commence some more short roping (a scrambling technique).

Having reached the top of Gearr Aonach, we then reversed the route to look at techniques used for abseiling and lowering people on the more exposed & steep sections to be found on scrambling routes. Great weather and for Benn another very useful day.


On the final day of our first four day block, Iain decided to introduce Benn to his first winter climbing route.

Dorsal Arete (II) in Coire An Lochan fitted the bill perfectly as it often does for our introduction to winter climbing courses. A nice easy angled route with lots of good belays and opportunities to learn rock climbing techniques and how to climb with two axes and use crampon techniques appropriate to steeper winter climbing routes.

Dorsal Arete's arete is a nice ( or not so nice) sting in the tail to this seemingly easy winter climb. After climbing a pleasant easy angled broad buttress, the ridge narrows and rears up to a knife edge crest (the crux) - easy to protect but challenging for a winter climbing newbie with its feeling of exposure. One has to first surmount the arete - no easy task; and then walk along its crest for 30 feet with a seemingly bottomless void on the right into Y Gully and a fair drop on the left in to Broad Gully. Only a short distance remains from here to the top of the route. Photo four shows Benn at the belay below the arete, Iain has taken the photo from the top and you can see the queue of people mounting behind us!

Dorsal Arete is a well known and very popular first winter climb. As a result, it is wise to get away as early as possible in the morning to avoid being "stuck in the queue" at the foot of the crux. Be away from the car park in Glen Coe before eight am, be fit and fast and first!. We made sure were were.

For more information about our range of winter courses - contact Iain at Kendal Mountaineering services here.

Winter Climbing and scrambling in West Coast Scotland with Kendal Mountaineering Services. January 2012.

Welcome to Kendal Mountaineering services first blog post of the 2012 season. Iain is up in Scotland and will be winter climbing and scrambling most of the time as well as running some winter skills courses for various people and organisations including The Cadets. The weather could be better, but there is snow and winter conditions to be had - here's a run down of what Iain has been up to so far.

The first photo shows Ken Applegate, an MIC Trainee from Fort William on Curved Ridge (III), Buchaille Etive Mor. Iain arrived west coast Scotland on Jan 17th and the next day went out with Ken to scout Curved Ridge near Glen Coe. Two reasons - to scout it out as a winter route for use with clients and a way to get hill fit again!

We had a good day out. The weather was initially mild but as we ascended towards Curved ridge the temperature dropped and snow patches began to appear. Photo one sees Ken on the lower part of Curved Ridge, Easy Gully (right) is full of snow with Rannoch Wall looming above. The snow however, was not hard until we reached the top of Curved Ridge and although we didn't use crampons until descending via Coire Na Tulaich, an axe was handy to help us get get to the summit safely. A pleasant but short day, Iain dropped Ken back at his van in Glen Coe at 2pm!!

Photo two was taken on Thursday by Iain in Coire Nam Beithe and boy - was it windy! Iain had met Ken & his mate Scott with the intention of climbing North Buttress on The Buchaille (IV'4) but as there was virtually no fresh snow on it we decided not to bother.

Iain decided to go for a walk into Coire Nam Beithe and solo Summit Gully (II). The weather was looking changeable with cloud around the summits and a North Westerly wind blowing. This turned into a full gale as Iain topped out on Stob Coire Nam Beithe.

Despite the gale & whiteout conditions, Iain continued around the skyline in the photo over Bidean Nam Bian and descended to the bealach in the left of the photo. Getting back down Coire Nam Beithe was interesting with the wind trying to blow Iain back uphill as well as picking up every bit of loose snow available and seemingly throwing it in his face - ow!

All in all, it was an interesting day out.


Photo three shows Scott & Ken (green helmet) after the three of us had climbed North Buttress (IV'4) on Buchaille Etive Mor on Friday.

Both Guys have booked MIC assessments this winter and wanted to get out and practise winter multi-pitch climbing/guiding two clients. Iain was happy to go along and help as well as be guided up five pitches of mixed climbing - rock and snow but not much ice!

Thee was a fair bit of discussion on stances about managing ropework and Iain hopes it was a useful day for the lads - he certainly enjoyed himself. North Buttress is good at it's grade of IV'4. Some of the pitches certainly felt harder and were steep.

Anyway, good climbing, good conditions and thanks Ken & Scott. Best of luck with those MIC assessments guys.



Saturday 21st January was extremely stormy, indeed, Iain was woken in the night by the wind outside the accommodation. Getting up at 07:00 confirmed that this was not to be a safe hill day so Iain settled in at the Ice Factor to catch up online.

He wasn't in there long before an old mate - Ash St John Claire arrived with two friends in tow and Iain was asked to join them on the ice climbing wall. Photo four shows Iain getting some climbing in on the wall - great fun but flippin hard on the forearms!


Ash had plans on Sunday to get out with the girls on Ben Nevis and asked Iain if he would like to join them. The avalanche forecast was considerable for east facing slopes and Iains concern was the strength of the westerly wind that would be encountered at the top of the proposed route - but!

The weather was good the next day, light wind and a little snow, blue skies & views on occasion - just right for tackling Ledge Route (II) on Ben Nevis.

Photo five shows (left to Right) Ash, Sarah & Emily enjoying some exposure on the arete on Ledge Route. Ledge route is a fantastic introduction to winter mountaineering on Ben Nevis - there being opportunities for teaching multi-pitch climbing in the lower part and short roping further up. The route was well banked out with snow throughout and was a truly pleasant climb. Iain & Ash coached the girls in the techniques of winter multi-pitch climbing and then, as he has his MIC Training coming up soon, Ash decided to practise short roping techniques as seen in this photo. Once at the top it was clear that descending via No4 Gully was not an option as the cornice overhung the gully head by ten feet!! So down via the Red Burn and back. A truly memorable day out.


The final photo in this blog post shows Kate Gilliver
who was out for a day with Iain on The Zig Zags - a fine little grade two winter scramble on the east side of Gearr Aonach in Glen Coe.

Kate has been a client of Iains on a number of occasions - having previously attended two of our Cairngorms based Winter Skills courses and a Navigation and snowholing course again, on The Cairngorms.

We ascended The Zig Zags only encountering snow on the upper half. On the way up we looked at basic scrambling techniques and pitched a few steeper sections. This photo was taken at the first steep step when turning back south from the initial ledge ascent. At the top Kate decided that she wanted to revisit techniques used for an abseil descent and so back down we went. Kate thoroughly enjoyed her day out with Iain from Kendal Mountaineering Services and learned a great deal of new techniques.

The weather was kind to us and Iain looks forward to seeing Kate again in March when a whole crowd of us head over to Knoydart for a weeks holiday.

So that's it for the mo folks. Iain will be back in action again on Thursday with Benn. Probably Coire An Lochan first up for some winter skills. Iain will try to keep all of you interested people updated when he can. Next blog post probably 30th January.

Mountain Navigation Skills Training courses in The Lake District. November 5th & 6th 2011.

During the weekend of November 5th
& 6th 2011, four people came together to join Iain from Kendal Mountaineering Services on one of our renowned Mountain Navigation Skills training courses in The Lake District.

From left to right in photo on we have John, Sarah & Alan and Skip who had come along for the weekend hoping to improve their map reading &
navigation skills.

These four people had come to us via a number of sources. John - simply by Googling navigation skills training courses had found the KMS website, Sarah & Alan came to us via the online outdoor enthusiasts site MyOutdoors and Skip had come to us via Outdoorsmagic.

Our Mountain Navigation Skills Training courses are all about taking you from where you are and improving your skills to confidently go into the UK's mountains using a map & compass. Our courses will help you work out where you are, plan a route and know where you are going by being able to identify what is around you simply by using a map & compass.

In photo two, Alan takes a compass bearing for what was to be our first leg taking; and walking on a bearing
and using pacing to arrive at a predetermined grid reference on the map.

We had started the session on the first day by firstly orientating the map and discussing the significance of grid references. We then had walked from our vehicles to the point in this photo "handrailing" a linear feature - in this case a bridleway - moving between grid references and using a combination of pacing and tick off features to help us identify exactly where we were along our route in relation to where we wanted to get to.




From the place where photo two was taken, we then switched to more advanced map reading techniques for the remainder of the day in so much that rather than following linear features such as a path/track, wall or stream, we located specific (although not necessarily obvious) features on the
map such as re-entrants or ring
contours and made our way to them using a combination of bearings and pacing the measured distance.

Saturday was a lovely sunny day - visibility was great, too good really for a Mountain Navigation Skills Training course but when you consider the cold & wet conditions we could have had at this time of year - we weren't complaining!

Photo three shows our team at Skeggles Water on Green Quarter Fell towards the end of the afternoon. The sun was starting to set and a cold north easterly breeze had set in, but it had been a great and worthwhile day for everyone with everyone learning a lot of new navigational skills from Iain.


Unfortunately, Sarah & Alan were unable to join us on the Sunday, so Iain set off with Skip and John to carry on with day two of our Mountain Navigation Skills Training Course in The Lake District.

This time we drove further up the Kentmere Valley and set off up Shipman Knotts with the intention of consolidation the navigation skills learned the previous day, putting them into use today and having a mountain journey on a well known ridge as well.

In photo four, taken from Shipman Knotts, we have a great view across to the hills on the western side of the Kentmere Horseshoe - Yoke, Ill Bell & Froswick. Today we had no breeze, wall to wall blue sky and stunning views in all directions.


We continued on our way looking at more advanced navigational
techniques such as using the compass the identify a ground feature on the map. We also discussed timings and Naithsmiths Rule.

We eventually reached Harter Fell before heading back to the parked car picking up the head of Drygrove Gill and the Ull Stone en route.

As these are both on a slope and had to be located using pacing and bearings Skip & John did week to find them, but both had come along well on our weekend Navigation Skills Training Course in The Lake District.

Iain wishes all four attendees the best of luck with their forays into the mountains with their new & improved map reading skills.

Other photographs from this Mountain Navigation Skills Training course in The Lake District can be viewed here.

Our next Mountain Navigation Skills Training course in The Lake District will be running during the weekend of March 31st & April 1st 2012. If you would like to attend then contact us via the Kendal Mountaineering Services Website here. The cost is £80 per person for the two day course and maps are provided by us.

We look forward to working with you.

An all day caving session in The Yorkshire Dales National Park with Kendal Mountaineering Services. October 28th, 2011.

Andrea Ubhi booked a half day introductory caving session and a half day rock climbing session in The Yorkshire Dales National Park for herself and her three children with Kendal Mountaineering services - to take place during the Autumn half term holiday.

Iain met the family at the Inglesport Cafe & Shop in Ingleton - gateway to The Yorkshire Dales National Park, before we all headed to Ribblehead to go underground.

In the first photo - left to right are Matt, Ellie, Andrea & Nick, dressed up ready to go caving. Some people may recognise the view in the background (Alum Pot), the venue was Long Churns near to Ribblehead - one of the areas best places for introductory caving sessions in The Yorkshire Dales National Park.


In photo two, we had already been underground to do some pretty meaty caving. None of the family had caved before so Iain felt it only appropriate to take them into the easy Middle Entrance at Long Churns and we then headed downstream into Lower Long Churns.

Nick & Matt proved themselves to be very keen & capable by getting through The Cheese Press whilst Iain lowered Andrea & Ellie down the pitch into Cathedral Cavern. They had been told to wait until Iain got to the other side of the Cheese Press to see them through - boys will be boys!

After that, we had a quick visit to the Dolly Tubs so the family could see the light streaming in from Alum pot before exiting via Diccan Entrance which is where photo two was taken.



We went back into Middle Entrance on our introductory caving session in The Yorkshire Dales National Park and Iain let the family lead on upstream in the roomy & safe passage of Upper Long Churns having told them to stop when they got to a large pool and waterfall (Dr Bannisters Washbasin).

Photo three shows Andrea climbing up this waterfall by way of an assisted handline. Ellie had come up first and Andrea took her out to daylight where she could warm up. The plan had been that Ellie would leave us at lunchtime, she had done very well for a first time underground and had thoroughly enjoyed her introduction to caving with Iain. The two boys followed after this photo was taken - both on assisted handlines of course






Iain changed the afternoon plan for a number of reasons. We had initially intended to do an introductory rock climbing session at Twistleton Scars but whilst the day was fine & dry, there was a cold wind that would have made a rock climbing session untenable in the conditions; and apart from that everyone had enjoyed the morning caving session so much that they wanted to do more in the afternoon.

Iain had come prepared for this eventuality and so offered the trio a slightly harder trip - that being a level two caving session in The Yorkshire Dales National Park. In photo four Matt, Andrea & Nick are coached in the use of cows tails on traverse lines in preparation for the next caving trip .

A level two caving session with Kendal Mountaineering Services differs from a level one trip in so much as it is a more technical type of caving trip. A level one caving trip is essentially a walk in & out trip which may contain vertical drops and climbs of up to six feet - Long Churns is a fine example of such a caving trip.


Photo five shows Matt being lowered down a pitch which is considerably more than six feet - more like forty five! Level two cave leaders can take novice cavers on trips with vertical drops of up to 18m or 60 feet. These trips involve more rope, more technical equipment for lowering and belaying climbers using ladders to climb pitches and the skills to use cowstails on traverse lines such as had been set up to get Matt to the pitch head from where this photograph is taken.

The cave Iain chose to take the party to was the Calf Holes/Browgill system near Birkwith in The Yorkshire Dales National Park - pretty much directly opposite Long Churns in the Ribblehead area.

To get to this point, Matt had traversed 30 feet on his own using cowstails and a traverse line above the 45 foot drop where Browgill Beck plunges down the Calf Holes shaft. Well done Matt!

Having lowered Matt, Andrea & Nick in to Calf Holes, we all set off downstream in the active streamway passage. After about 500m the stream sinks in to the floor on the left and the way on gets lower & lower until one has to crawl through a small hole in the left of the passage - Hainsworths Passage. This is a quite challenging crawl through a small, tight passageway.

Hainsworths Passage is the connection with the lower part of Browgill cave and the way on past the waterfall and rift passage that leads out to daylight. In photo six Andrea emerges in the lower part of the cave having just crawled through The Slot in Hainsworths Passage with the two boys having followed Iain through first.

We followed the stream on to the head of the waterfall and a had a look down that before taking the descent route down to the foot of the fall and the rift passage.

Eventually, we arrived at daylight, but the plan Iain had offered the trio was to turn around and return underground to Calf Holes so they could experience climbing out by caving ladder.

Back at Hainsworths Passage, Iain took the family through via a different route - The Letterbox; and in photo seven Matt has just followed Iain through the tightest bit - smiling as he did throughout the day.

The final photograph from this day sees Andrea reaching the pitch head at Calf Holes after a strenuous climb up a caving ladder. Matt had climbed out first and made his way along the traverse line to safe ground and Nick was the last to climb out of Calf Holes into the sunlight.

Calf Holes is a great introduction to level two caving sessions in The Yorkshire Dales National Park and bearing in mind how readily the family had taken to caving in the morning session Iain had felt confident about their ability to succeed in Calf Holes in the afternoon.

The family had a fantastic experience caving with Iain from Kendal Mountaineering Services and they did extremely well.

We base all of our caving sessions around your ability and aspirations and know many appropriate venues where we can go and have a great exprience in this exciting & challenging environment. All of the pictures from Andrea, Nick, Matt & Ellis caving day can be viewed here.

To book your half or full day caving session in The Yorkshire Dales National Park with Kendal Mountaineering Services contact us here, Prices start from £45 per person for a half day caving session. All of the equipment worn in these photos by Andrea & her family are provided as part of your fee.

Iain's next post will be about the upcoming Navigation Skills Training Course in The Lake District National Park this coming weekend. Lots of fun in the mountains learning how to use a map & compass. Read about it all on the Kendal Mountaineering Services Blog!