Lake District Navigation skills training course. April 28th & 28th 2013.

Last weekend, Kendal Mountaineering Services ran their first Lake District Mountain Navigation skills training course of the season.

This map reading & navigation skills training course was fully subscribed with 10 persons attending from around the country - some from as far away as Sussex & Surrey.

Day one started with our looking at the importance of  Map Orientation, tick off features and measuring distance/pacing distance. After lunch we moved on to the skill of taking a bearing from map to ground and photo one sees our party having successfully navigated to a small pool of water on relatively featureless terrain. As can be seen it was a lovely sunny day although it had started off with snow on the fells in the background and a chill northerly breeze.

Photo two shows our participants preparing to find the next location on the map. Iain had presented grid references to the group over lunch and they were now all able to locate a point using a 6 figure grid reference.

In this photo everyone is working out the bearing & distance to the next grid reference as part of our map reading & navigation skills training progression.

The nice thing about this particular Lake District based Mountain Navigation Skills Training Course was that everyone had come in pairs wanting to learn map reading & navigation skills so that they can subsequently go out and enjoy walking - without getting lost! Working in pairs is a good thing as it gives people the opportunity interact and share information & knowledge and you nearly always find that some people will pick up an aspect of skills training better than  others. In this group, as well as Iain coaching Navigation & Map Reading Skills overall, people within each pair could coach each other too - it worked really well!

Day one of our Lake District Mountain Navigation Skills Training Course finished at 5pm with everyone having progressed through Map Orientation, tick off features, measuring & pacing distance, Grid References through to walking on a bearing using a compass.

Two of our party - Tom & Phil had also booked in to a night navigation session with Iain and photo three sees the pair at their first grid reference - the trig point on Brunt Knott.

We went on to look for a number of landform features and a stream junction before heading back for a quick pint at the Eagle & Child in Staveley. The night navigation session lasted around 3 hours and fortunately for the pair, the weather was clear & dry with only a light northly breeze - you could even make out Blackpool Tower away to the south.

Night navigation is harder than the daylight option. On this session, visibility was good and even only by the light of headtorch one could see several hundred metres - imagine what it is like in cloud! During night navigation, the sense of sight is greatly reduced meaning that you have to be spot on with your pacings and walking on a bearing. Tom & Phil did very well for their first go at this skill which is not an easy thing to achieve.

The forecast for Sunday was vastly different from Saturday with a cold westerly wind blowing at up to 55mph on the summits, low cloud and rain with snow at higher levels. It certainly wasn't a day for going up high as we normally do on day two.

Any session that we run has to be, first & foremost, safe and secondly comfortable before any learning will take place. A session like that would not have been possible higher up so, Iain chose to take the team back into the same area as had been used the previous day (Green Quarter Fell, Kentmere) although this time we used a different route - going in from the north rather than the south.

Photo four sees the group looking a little soggy but pleased at having located a rather insignificant stream junction on the map. The whole day was spent travelling from one grid reference to another looking for features that were not always obvious.

Our final photo of our Mountain Navigation Skills Training Course in The lake District sees us down to a group of four after another pair had departed to head for home early (one pair had decided they were happy not to attend day two the previous day and another pair had to drop out).

Having spent the day navigating around Green Quarter Fell, we sat down here for a final break and discussed Nainsmiths Rule. Naismith reckoned that people could walk at 3km/hr in the mountains (Iain reckons it's nearer five for most fit hillgoers) and that 1 minute for every 10m contour needed to be added for every contour line crossed in ascent of descent. We spent 15 minutes working out timings between a number of grid references on that basis before walking the short distance back to the cars and closing the course. All photos taken during the weekend can be viewed here.

We have a number of these Lake District Mountain Navigation Skills Training Courses taking place over the year and details can be found here. The cost is only £80 for the weekend course per person and inclides the provision of laminated maps. The compass we reccommend as the industry standard is the Silva Type 4 Expedition which has everything you need to get the most out of your map reading & Navigation Skills Training Course. These courses are ideal for anyone considering their Summer Mountain Walking Leader Assessment or as a Navigation Skills refrsher course prior to re-assessment.

The next Mountain Navigation Skills Training Course in The Lake District takes place during the weekend of May 25th & 26th and there are currently five places available. Contact us here to book your place.

Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning courses in The Lake District. 21st April 2013.

After working with Andrew Rotherys Stag Party on Saturday afternoon, Iain from Kendal Mountaineering Services was straight back in Church Beck on Sunday Morning with Jill  Weirich and her niece Lauren.

The pair are from the USA. Lauren is currently working in the UK and Jill was visiting for what had been a very active holiday so far with Lauren.

As part of that holiday, the pair had decided to book a Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Session with us - appreciating the fact that we will work with a minimum of two persons. Obviously the pair made a number of enquiries, but it seemed that other providers were apparently not interested in working with a group size of less than six persons!

Whilst such a session will cost you £45 per person for a half day it is superb value! You get your own experienced instructor and all of the equipment you can see Jill & Lauren wearing is provided as part of the session. The good thing about a small party size on any wet session is that there is less waiting around to be done at the waterfalls or abseils and if it is wet & cold - you need to keep moving!

Wet & cold is exactly what  yesterday was in contrast to Saturday, but the pair found the scenery in the ghyll truly breathtaking - having nothing like this in their native Florida.

We made our way up the ghyll trying not to get too wet and made the decision to avoid the top jumps today. Lauren can be seen in photo two trying the Miners Bridge Fall Abseil and with that, the pair were happy to call it a day.

Both Jill & Lauren enjoyed their Ghyll Scrambling Session in The Lake District with Iain and Lauren hopes to return in the Summer with friends & work colleagues to give the full Church Beck Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning experience a go. We look forward to working with her again.

In the meantime, if you would like to book your Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Session in The Lake District then contact us here. We look forward to working with you.

Navigation Skills Training Courses in The Lake District. April 19th 2013.

It has been a busy weekend at Kendal Mountaineering Services with Iain being out three days in succession.

Last Friday, Iain was out on the fells with Gill & Mike Cameron who were staying in The Lake District with their friends Rob & Evita Evans who attended one of our bespoke Mountain Navigation Skills Training Courses in May 2012.

Rob & Evita had enjoyed themselves so much that they had booked Gill & Mike on to a one day Mountain Navigation Skills
Training Course so that the pair could learn the basic skills at least!

Photo one sees Gill & Mike working out the route from Hall Lane to take us up on to Green Quarter Fell. At this point, we had already discussed the importance of orientating the map and being able to measure and pace distance.

Photo two was taken quite a while later. By the time we had reached this point we had already travelled several kilometres following linear features such as bridleways during which the pair had been identifying "tick off features" en route as well as doing a lot of measuring of distance and pacing. These are all essential basic skills required to be able to successfully navigate whilst reading a map.

By now Gill & Mike could also locate a feature using a six figure grid reference as well as being able to give a grid reference for a known point. They had also just successfully completed two legs of our route on relatively featureless ground using only a compass bearing  and pacing to help them find the next location.

During Mike & Gills one day Lake District Mountain Navigation Skills Training Course the weather was initially cold but by early afternoon the sun had broken through the cloud and it became much more pleasant.

Today, we didn't cover a lot of distance - never quite making it on to Green Quarter Fell - but we covered a lot of navigation skills. Our final photo is taken at Birk Rigg at the end of the afternoon after practising "boxing" around obstacles and more working out of bearings, measuring of distance and then actually using the information to find the next grid reference.

We finished the session talking about Nainsmiths Rule. Naismith reckoned that most people could cover about 3 kilometres in an hour and needed to add an additional 1 minute for every 10 metre contour crossed during a leg. So, we spent our final 20 minutes on the fell doing some maths before heading down to the Hawkshead Brewery in Staveley for a well earned pint.

Gill & Mike enjoyed their Mountain navigation Skills Training Day in The Lake District with Iain. As well as offering bespoke Navigation Courses during any weekend of your choice we are also running Mountain Navigation Skills Training Courses in May and throughout the Autumn at only £80 per person for a two day course. Check out the course dates and information here.

Stag Events in The Lake District. April 20th 2013.

On Saturday Kendal Mountaineering Services ran a Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Session in Church Beck near the scenic village of Coniston for a group of lads from the Leeds area.

Andrew Rothery had contacted Iain during our South America trip wanting to book a half day of Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning as part of the Stag event in The Lake District he was organising for his brother Luke who is soon to tie the knot.

Andrew has found Kendal Mountaineering Services on the internet and liked what he saw. To use his own words "you guys look like you know what you are doing!" and we would like to think that is true!

Saturday afternoon was sunny and strangely quiet as we worked our way up the bed of the ghyll although the water was pretty cold still. The lads were keen to get wet though in an effort to shake of any vestiges of the hangover from the previous nights session in Bowness on Windermere - so it was straight in at the first plunge pool. Some of the expressions on peoples faces are a picture! You can view the rest of the photos from Andrews Stag session here.

Photo two sees the lads tackling what Iain describes as "the tricky traverse". The chap nearest our assisting instructor - Scott, is basically climbing across the back of the pool hanging on by his hands & toes (with a bit of assistance from us). As you can probably guess, the penality for failure is - another complete ducking!

As previously mentioned, the water was chilly, so we headed on up to the top jumps before exiting the ghyll and splitting in to two teams in an effort to keep warm.

Rather than keeping the whole party together it was decided that one group would go and do the top jumps whilst the other would do the Miners Bridge Fall abseil - and then follow on with the top jumps. This way we could keep the team moving.

Photo three sees Andrew having completed the jumps and swimming out to Iain.

The top jumps as they are known consist of three waterfalls with deep plunge pools underneath. The first jump is into a narrow & potentially hazardous slot where injuries can occur but we remove that risk by lowering you on a  rope to a lower ledge where the jump can be undertaken without hitting anything. The next fall is only short and a climb down and further swim leads you to the head of the fall in this photo. To do the final fall one sits ontop of the flat chockstone and simply slides down the middle - all great fun and all part of our Canyoning descent of Church Beck.

Photo four sees all of Iains group at the foot of the top jumps and that was the end of getting thoroughly soaked for the day.

After this we went and did the Miners Bridge waterfall abseil although not everyone wanted to have a go. Our Canyoning sessions normally involve getting out of the ghyll just below where this photo is taken and walking to the top of the gorge to begin heading downstream. Above Miners Bridge there is another abseil down a fall and two opportunities for further duckings before one arrives at Miners Bridge for the abseil there and then the top jumps.

Our Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Sessions in The Lake District are exhilarating & fun sessions and the most popular activity we offer. These sessions are ideal as part of a stag or Hen Event or Corporate Team Build and great family fun too.

For anyone really wanting to go for it - why not try one of our Esk Gorge Ghyll Scrambling trips - a full day out in the best gorge in The Lake District. You can read about these here.

To book your ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Session in The Lake District with Kendal Mountaineering Services contact us here. All of the equipment you see the people in this photo wearing is provided as part of your fee and depending on your group size can cost as little as £30 per person for a half day (four hour) session. We look forward to working with you.

Beginners Rock Climbing Sessions in The Lake District. April 11th 2013.

Last Thursday Kendal Mountaineering services were back in action again with one of our corporate clients - Nucleargraduates.

Nucleargraduates are responsible for recruiting graduate apprentices to a two year scheme which will see them work within and ultimately find employment with a variety of organisations including the Nuclear Decommisioning Authority, Rolls Royce, Sellafield Ltd and Magnox to name a few.

Nucleargraduates first approached Kendal Mountaineering Services two years ago looking for an activity with a purpose and that purpose is as follows.

Initially, all apprentices joining Nucleargraduates attend a two day welcome workshop. Based in Kendal, this involves various tasks and gives the successful graduate apprentices a chance to get to know each other.

As part of these welcome workshops, Nucleargraduates decided to introduce an activity where the participants will be faced with a challenge where they will need to work together to achieve success; and this is where our services come in. In most cases we use our Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning sessions to facilitate this requirement.

All graduate groups such as the ones in the photos here will be working together for the next two years of their apprentice-ships so, the intention of  the Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Sessions with Kendal Mountaineering Services is intended to encourage participants to work together closely and this allows individuals within the group to bond with one another.

Any of our activity sessions can be used in this way - allowing development of individual & group support allowing trust to develop as well as improving communication, decision making and leadership skills In effect the sessions are designed to work as an "icebreaker" session and we have a proven track record of achieving good results in this field.


All of these photos were taken during a Beginners Rock Climbing session, albeit designed to have the same effect of bringing together this group of individuals to form bonds & work together as a team.

We chose to use a beginners Rock Climbing Session in The lake district (Langdale to be precise) to facilitate team development on this occasion as the client had previously expressed a concern about the negative effect that a cold Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Session would be likely to have on the developmental purpose of the session - quite rightly so.

As can be seen in all of the photos the clients are enjoying themselves. We split them into three teams and each person in the team rotated between actually climbing, belaying and tailing - that is to say - holding the rope behind the belayer - just in case they let go!

The challenge of course was climbing and overcoming that fear of hieghts which many people have and during this session many participants improved their climbing ability a great deal through the support & encouragement of their peers. Trust and communication skills would also improve along the way and new skills & techniques would be learnt by most; although we did have a few keen climbers arrive with this group.

In the final photo, we offered an abseil to those who wanted to try a different challenge. Different in the respect that rather than being belayed (ie kept safe) by one of their peers, in this instance it was Iain who was holding the safety rope and providing the encouragement instead.

However, being asked to lean over a cliif and descend a rope when that rope has not been tight on you all the time (as in the top rope/bottom belay system employed for all of the climbing during the session) can be quite a different thing and initially a new & harder challenge for many people.

Iain has many years of experience in encouraging & supporting nervous people attempting to abseil and it is a very rare occasion he does not succeed. This time the success rate was 100%.

Today saw the return of rain to the area after a long dry spell. However, whilst it didn't rain hard it was cold, but everyone worked with great enthusiasm and the objectives of the session were undoubtedly met. We helped facilitate this further by providing hats & gloves for the group as many individuals didn't have them. Halfway through the session we also provided a hot drink for everyone - much appreciated by all!

As well as being a great session for team development work and Corporate Events our beginners rock climbing & abseiling sessions in The Lake District are ideal a part of a Stag or Hen Event and just great fun if you want to push yourself a little bit and learn some new skills.

As the weather warms up climbing becomes more enjoyable so contact us to book your climbing & Abseiling session in The Lake District. We look forward to working with you.

Scrambling in The Lake District with Kendal Mountaineering Services.

After spending last Saturday Abseiling and Ghyll Scrambling with Phil Brookers Stag party Iain was out the next day scrambling with a mate - Neil Mackay.

Neil is currently training to be a UIAGM Mountain Guide and wanted to get some practice scrambling before he returns to Plas y Brenin for a partial reassessment of his Summer Guides Test next September.

The weather recently has been cold & dry, but out of the wind - warm if one has been in the sun - ideal weather for Rock climbing & scrambling.

Neil had just returned from Chamonix and was itching to get out on some grade III scrambling ground so Iain suggested tackling Low Water Beck (III) linking it with Brimfell Rib (II) .

In photo one, Neil is setting off up the initial pitch of Low Water Beck - on this occasion pretty dry. Low Water Beck is also a great little Grade III winter climb when it comes into condition. You can read a previous climbing report about it here.

The scramble of Low Water Beck starts up the bed of the stream leaving after about 30m up a groove to the right. Above this the ground is mixed vegetation & rock and the belays are rather poor -only improving just below where one crosses the stream leftwards above the waterfall & gully below.

Above there, one again climbs rightwards of a v groove down which the stream is cascading and as it is not such serious ground, Neil employed a direct belay (photo two) to protect Iain as he climbed towards Neils stance.

A direct belay involves using the rope in direct contact with the rock, so any piece of rock must be absolutely sound with no obvious cracks. Such anchors such be given a good kick and tug to ensure that they are solid and if they sound hollow or move - do not use them. Failure to identify what is and is not a solid anchor suitable for a direct belay can lead to death if they fail whilst loaded and is often the cause for deferral during climbing assessments such as those encountered in the Mountaineering Instructors Award/Certificate and various Guides Tests.

Scrambling is the link between walking & climbing and takes you into some fantastic locations where you will find breathtaking exposure and fantastic views such as the one in photo three.

Here, Iain is pictured on Brimfell Rib with a view towards the NE face of Coniston Old Man with a frozen Low Water nestling at it's foot. Coniston Water can be seen in the distance.

Despite looking freezing it was actually a pleasant day with only a light breeze at the summit of the Old Man. You can view other photos of the day here.

Other great Lake District Scrambles include Jacks Rake in Langdale, Pinnacle Ridge in the Ullswater Valley, Sharp Edge on Blencathra, Slab & Notch Route on Pillar Rock in Ennerdale and Arrowhead Ridge on Great Gable in Wasdale - to name a few. Many scramblers ultimately aspire to complete The Cuillin Ridge on The Isle of Skye  - a 13 km sustained and committing traverse along an alpine-like ridge with scrambling, climbing and abseiling to be carried out to achieve success. Kendal Mountaineering Services offer two trips for aspiring scramblers to this ridge one in May & one in September each year!

As well as offering guided Scrambling in The Lake District, Kendal Mountaineering services also offer scrambling skills training Courses for members of the general public wishing to learn the techniques required to be able to go off and scramble for yourself.

Martin Richards & James Rocks travelled from Buckinghamshire on two occasions to learn and practise their scrambling skills with us. In photo four James belays Martin using a solid rock spike as an anchor. You can read about Martin & James's Scrambling Skills Training course in The Lake District here.

The prices for our scrambling Skills Training Courses start at £150 per day for two persons and this price includes the provision of helmets, harnesses, rope & rack.

Without exception, you will be coached in the skills by a qualified  Instructor holding, at the very least, the Mountaineering Instructors Award - this is the basic minimum qualification for teaching skills of this kind..

We aim to be flexible and are also prepared to work with individuals wishing to learn scrambling skills. In photo five, Chris Owen joined Iain for a very enjoyable two day Scrambling Skills Training Course in The Lake District and was very satisfied with the outcome.

Here, you can read a report from Chris's Scrambling Skills Training Course here which contains feedback direct from the client.

To book your guided Scrambling day in The Lake District, a Scrambling Skills Training Course or a Cuillin Ridge traverse trip contact Iain at Kendal Mountaineering Services here. Our Cuillin Ridge Traverse Trips are particularly good value costing only £425 for seven nights self catering accommodation including four days guiding on the Cuillin Ridge. The next one runs between September 7th & 14th 2013. We look forward to working with you.

Stag & Hen Events in The Lake District. Saturday April 6th 2013.

Kendal Mountaineering Services ran their first Stag Event of the year last Saturday. Phil Brooker had booked this session as part of a stag weekend for his brother Chris who gets married in a months time.

A whole bunch of mates had got together for this weekend event based in Kendal with participants coming from as far away as Dresden in Germany!

Initially, phil's enquiry centred around booking one of our popular Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Sessions in The Lake District but he also asked if it would be possible to have a later start - and could we tack another activity on to a longish half day? Iain suggested abseiling - another activity popular with Stag & Hen Events. Phil liked the sound of this for an additional £15 per person and so this was added to the itinerary. The abseiling session was run at Hodge Close near Tilberthwaite (photo One).

After abseiling, we relocated to Coniston so that the lads could get lunch whilst we organised the equipment for the  Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning session in Church Beck.

As can be seen in photo two, the weather was good (cold, but warm in the abundant sunshine) and Church Beck was low. Our biggest concern was the temperature as the UK has been subject to a long cold spell and the water was clearly going to be chilly.

Our clients comfort & enjoyment are our top priority at all times and to make sure you enjoy your session we provide a high standard of equipment provision as part of your fee per person.

For our Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning sessions this includes a full body wetsuit, a cagoule (the red jacket worn by the chap in photo three) a bouyancy aid, a helmet & walking boots for your feet and on this occasion we even provided neoprene wetsocks in the walking boots.

All of this equipment is intended to keep you warm whilst wet and during this session we managed to achieve that aim despite the water being pretty chilly.

All we ask you to bring for our Ghyll Scrambling & canyoning Sessions are swimwear, towels, a long sleeved fleece type top, some thick socks - and plenty of enthusiasm!

Photo four sees the Stag - Chris, having just been sent down the Chockstone slide first by his mates.

Enthusiasm was certainly needed today in the ghyll and we had a shorter than ususal session here not only because we were late starting in the ghyll but because of the temperature.

After a ghyll scrambling ascent of Church Beck, we climbed the left hand side of the Chockstone and did this followed by a jump into the next pool downstream getting the lads thoroughly soaked in the process before getting out to go and get dry.

Back at the vehicles we provided a choice of tea, coffee & hot chocolate to warm everyone up before they departed for their second night out in town.

Everyone appeared to have enjoyed their Stag Activity Session in The Lake District and we hope they enjoyed the rest of their weekend stay in the area. When booking your Stag or Hen Event in The Lake District with us - feel free to ask our advice about accommodation and eating out in the area as being the Lake Districts leading Outdoor Activity Specialists - we also know where to stay and where to eat. Phils party had stayed at an out of town Travelodge but there is a Premier Inn right in town which might have been more central location for their evening plans.

Stag & Hen Events are one of the most popular things we organise with a number booked to take place in the months ahead. When organising your big day out you can choose from the selection of activities offered on our website and lunch can be provided from £6 per person. Contact us and we will be happy to discuss the options available to make your Stag or Hen Event an exciting & memorable day out.

Other photos from Chris Brookers Stag Event can be viewed here.