Introductory Rock Climbing Sessions in The Lake District, Tuesday 25th August 2015.

Last Tuesday morning Iain met newly weds Peter & Cerys McDonald who were on honeymoon in The Lake District and who fancied trying an Introductory Rock Climbing Session out of doors.

Iain met them in Langdale and we went to Lower Scout Crag for their session. Photo one sees the pair about to start climbing after Iain had set up a top rope system down the line of "Cubs Wall" in the middle of the crag.

The pair had done a small amount of rock climbing at an indoor wall previously, where the same sort of climbing systems exist - namely, a rope anchored at the top of the wall with the climber attached to one side; and the belayer attached to the other. When the climber climbs up - the belayer takes the rope in (known as "top rope - bottom belaying); and when the climber gets to the top of the route, the belayer lowers them back to the ground!

The pair were able to climb 3 different routes from our top anchor in the middle of Lower Scout Crag although whilst "Cubs Wall" & "Cubs Groove" were within their capabilities "Cubs Crack" was not as this route is very steep, polished; and nowadays, virtually hold-less! Anyway, they enjoyed climbing the other two routes whilst getting used to the feeling of exposure and how the rope would protect them if they fell off.

Around about an hour after we had started climbing, we were joined by a Cadet group who wished to abseil from the crag and who set up ropes on either side of us. Both Peter & Cerys wished to try out abseiling as well, so Iain had to convert his top anchor system into an "abseiling station" so the pair could have a go at this exhilarating & challenging experience.

Photo two sees Cerys as she starts abseiling from the top of Cubs Crack. Both had at least two goes and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Photo three sees both Cerys and Peter on a different & slightly easier section of the crag. Cerys is belaying Peter who has climbed the route to the top anchors and is now being lowered  back down to the foot of the route.

Cerys & Peter thoroughly enjoyed their morning Introductory Rock Climbing and abseiling session in The Lake District with Iain and were very satisfied with what we got done in the time.

Cerys even said we should charge more!

The pair paid just £90:00 or £45 each for their four hour Rock Climbing & Abseiling Session with us and that fee included the provision of helmets & harnesses as well as tuition by an experienced Mountaineering Instructor.

£45 is our standard starting price for any half day Outdoor Activity Session which we will run for a minimum of two persons but discounts are applied as your group size increases in multiples of five. All our half day activity sessions do represent good value for money so contact us to get a quite for any activity you find one our website that you would like to try - you won't be disappointed!

A Caving Adventure Day in the Yorkshire Dales National Park 20th August 2015.

After two days of truly fantastic Rock Climbing in The Lake District with Nick & Freya, there remained but one day to be done; and that was the pairs Caving Day in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Last year, Iain had taken the pair on a foray around the Yorkshire Dales best known Introductory Caving Venue - Long Churns. Obviously, it was not appropriate to return there again so Iain came up with a plan to visit some other level one caves instead.

Firstly, as arranged last time, we met up at Inglesport in Ingleton for a "cavers breakfast" in the cafe. This classic Inglesport fry-up will set you up well for any caving day; and if any equipment is required - then Inglesport has everything for the caver and climber!

Photo one sees Freya having an explore around one of the side passages in our first cave of the day - Great Douk. Great Douk is a great little cave system which can be done as a "through trip" meaning starting at one end and finishing at another. However, after the overnight rain, the stream flowing through here was a bit on the large side; and Iain felt it would be foolish to attempt the through trip which ends in an "arduous" flat out crawl with the water!

As there was quite a bit of water around; and the weather, showery, Iain felt it prudent to keep away from caves that respond significantly to rainfall when the ground is saturated.

There are a couple of good introductory caves at nearby Ribblehead which are used by a lot of school groups. These are called Runscar & Thistle.

Iain started off by taking the pair into Thistle Cave where the water level was low; and here, there were plenty of opportunities for the pair to try squeezing through some smaller, tighter fossil passageways. Freya rose to this challenge well - unlike Nick, who, at over six feet tall was understandably reluctant to follow a relatively short Freya through such places - it looks, in photo three, (taken in Thistle Cave) as if Nick was only the same height as Freya - but don't be fooled, he is crouching down!

We traversed Thistle Cave starting at one of its downstream entrances (the cave has three different sections) and went upstream as far as we could to a big underground collapse.

Back out on the surface, we cut across to the upstream entrance of Runscar Cave and commenced to head downstream.

Runscar Cave carries a much bigger stream than that seen in Thistle Cave making it a much more "lively" place to be. On the route downstream, one emerges back into the open air twice before entering the final section, which, at it's downstream end, lowers to a crawl in the water and a tight squeeze (well - it was in Nick's case!) to get out.

In photo three, Nick is recovering from having just  completed that tight squeeze and Freya is emerging from the same place - behind him. All good challenging fun!

It was only around about 1pm and we had already put three different cave systems behind us, but, there was still time to do a few more!

Photo four sees Freya & Nick at the entrance to Yordas Cave in Kingsdale around 45 minutes later, after we had driven over from Ribblehead.

Yordas Cave is an amazingly large cavern that would hold (by Iain's reckoning) probably around 20 double decker buses. Whilst it was only a short walk around this cavern, the waterfall in a separate chamber at the uphill end of Yordas was worth a visit, as with the amount of water coming down it - it sounded & looked truly awesome!

We finished off with yet another introductory cave in Kingsdale - that being Valley Entrance (photo five).

Probably the most exciting thing about this cave is entering through a lid in the side of the hill. Today, there was quite a strong, cold breeze blowing out of the entrance. Iain surmised that it was probably due to the amount of water entering the system as Valley Entrance leads to the "main drain" into which all of the "active" caves on this western side of Kingsdale empty in to!

And today, Valley Entrance was a very wet place too! After only 50m the stooping height passageway degenerates to a small wet crawl through a canal, so we were all wet pretty quickly! Further on, we found the middle section of the cave unusually flooded to a depth of 1 metre over a distance of around 200 metres which caused Iain a little concern, but at the far end of the passage we found the usual 7 metre pitch into the Master Cave not flooded & backed up to our level; although in very wet weather - it can & does back up all the way out to the lid!

We turned around and headed out. Arriving back in the warm sunshine (and relatively "tropical" temperature compared with that underground!) it was still only 3:30pm, but Nick & Freya were happy to call it a day and head back to Inglesport for a well earned brew and slice of cake.

It had been three days of excellent adventures for this pair; and they had both thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Next year, we are talking about doing a level 2 caving trip, maybe the Esk Gorge and possibly some more Rock Climbing.

If these reports about Nick & Freya's adventures in the Lake District inspire you - then give us a call. Our adventurous activities start at just £45 per person for a half day (four hour) session and just £80 per person for a full day out. All technical equipment required for any activity is included as part of the fee and you will be looked after by our qualified and experienced staff team so you can be assured you are in safe hands! Book now! - we look forward to working with you!

Guiding a Lake District Classic Rock Climb. August 19th 2015.

This is a report about Nick & Freya's second day of Guided Rock Climbing with Iain. It has also been described on our business Facebook Page as "bagging a classic before the rain set in".

The pair had climbed so well the previous day that Iain thought the idea of a further progression - that being one of climbing a famous high mountain multi-pitch Rock Climb, was in order. Nick, at least, was keen to accept the challenge - having already heard of Bowfell Buttress.

The only thing with "high mountain classics" is that they often involve a long walk in. In photo one, Nick & Freya are on the "Climbers Traverse" path approaching the foot of our intended rock climb. It had taken us almost two hours to walk in to here covering a distance of  three & a half kilometres and this included a height gain of almost 700m! Ideally, Iain had wanted to be starting the climb at around 11am; and he hoped that we would be just about finished when the forecast rain arrived at around 3pm!

So, after that couple of hours of hard graft putting the previously mentioned "walk in" behind us, we did indeed, start on the route at around 11am. Also, on the walk in, the weather had improved in so much as the cloud had risen and we could now see the whole of our route and great views all around. Fab!

A couple of hours later and we were already halfway up the climb. Photo two was taken by Iain at the top of the crux of the climb the "slippery crack" just over halfway up the route. Again, Freya found this hard but Nick seemed to manage it with ease - good effort!

Photo three was taken by Iain an hour later at the top of "pitch six" looking down on Nick & Freya on the stance above "pitch five" (the start of which was the slippery crack).

So far, the weather had held off and the route had remained mostly dry (important when guiding on a multi-pitch mountain route of "Hard Severe" in standard!). There is little point in climbing on Lake District rock when it is wet as with the lichen and slime which tends to grow on the rock in the mountains; once wetted, the rock becomes very slippery indeed; and makes rock climbing a dangerous proposition!

Above this stance, there remained only one pitch; and that was a well vegetated, but relatively straightforward chimney. As Iain set off up this, it began to feel more like the forecast rain was approaching as sporadic bursts of light rain were increasing in frequency & volume. It looked like we had got our timings spot on!

The final photo from this post about guiding Rock Climbing on a high mountain Lake District classic rock climb finds Nick & Freya ensconced on a safe grassy area about 20 metres above the top of the climb and pulling in the ropes as Iain scrambled up the grass towards them.

At this point we took off our helmets & harnesses and untied from the ropes, the time was around 3pm.

As we got to the top of the buttress and started the walk across to Bowfell summit, the rain started to lash down, so, as previously mentioned, our timings couldn't have been better! The pair were extremely satisfied with what had been a demanding day both physically - in terms of the sheer graft required to get to the foot of the route; and the technical ability required to climb the hardest bits of it. We were off and back at our vehicles at the Old Dungeon Ghyll by 5pm.

This was a technically demanding guided Rock Climbing Day organised by an experienced Mountaineering Instructor; and the cost was £80 per person (minimum of two persons) for this full day out. If you would like to experience the thrill of climbing a high mountain Lake District Classic Rock Climb then contact Iain here to arrange your day out. We look forward to working with you!!

A guided Rock Climbing Day in The Lake District. August 18th 2015.

During August last year, we were joined by Nick Sutcliffe  and his daughter Freya who were visiting the area and fancied trying out some outdoor activities in The Lake District. On that occasion, Nick had found our website and had booked three activity sessions with us - a full day of climbing; and a half day of Ghyll Scrambling and Caving.

Returning to the area once more, the pair had clearly enjoyed their experience with us last year and had booked again - this time for three whole days out. Two of Guided Rock Climbing in The Lake District and one of Caving in The Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Iain met the pair in Great Langdale for their first climbing day; and as they had been climbing in the area before, took them to a different venue - this time, Raven Crag behind the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel. Photo one sees Freya and Nick on the big ledge atop the first pitch of Middlefell Buttress - one of the areas most popular multi-pitch rock climbs and a pleasant way to start the day out!

Photo two sees both Nick and Freya a little while later approaching Iain at the top of the middle section of Middlefell Buttress. To get to here, we had already climbed three pitches, with the third being the steepest (the crux) of the climb.

Both had managed all pitches no problem although Nick was encountering difficulty; on occasion; in getting out Iain's well places anchors. They were well placed for a reason of course!

The ground in photo two is really only scrambling terrain with the steeper rock climbing below; although the whole route makes for a very pleasant multi-pitch rock climbing experience being graded "Diff" which under the UK grading scheme actually means it is very easy.

Above here, there was one additional pitch to be climbed - Curtain Wall, also graded at "Diff"; and a nice finish to a great Lake District multi-pitch rock climb!

After lunch we moved from  Middlefell Buttress across under the front of Raven Crag to its right hand foot to tackle a route called Savernake.

Described in the Fell & Rock Climbing Club Guidebook as "A pleasant route weaving the easiest way up this part of the crag" and graded at "Severe" with a technical difficulty grading of 4a, Iain thought this  would be a reasonable progression for Freya & Nick who has led on rock in the past.

The first pitch was easy enough - climbing up alongside a deep cleft to a good stance. The second pitch (allegedly the crux!) was more exciting (photo three) and involved climbing a chimney which gets steeper towards it's top. Freya found this quite challenging, but Dad - being considerably taller, fairly romped up the pitch!

The final pitch of Savernake is every bit as exciting as the previous pitch weaving a line rightwards up a ramp before one moves precariously out left on "thin" holds to a shallow scoop where the climb continues up a detached block to a spacious ledge from which projects a large Oak Tree complete with "Ab Tat".

So what is "Ab Tat"? See the loops to which everything is attached in the top left hand of photo five - this is old climbing rope or slings or prussik cord which has been cut and tied into a continuous loop into which one can attach ones-self, provided you checked it for integrity!! Iain had done so and decided that it was suitable - not only for belaying (safeguarding the pair with) whilst they climbed the final pitch of Savernake, but that it would also be idea for a great finale: and that would be to abseil down on our twin 60m ropes to the foot of the crag!

As can be seen in the photo, Iain arranged the ropes in a "Stacked Abseil" configuration (that is to say that everyone else is already attached to the abseil ropes for safety and ready to go); and then he set off down - closely followed in order by Nick and Freya.

We all reached the foot of the crag about 4:15pm - just as the rain started. An ideal time to finish then!

The pair had enjoyed being guided on two routes today and had done a total of seven pitches of climbing during the day. True they had been stretched  by the second route and no doubt they had also been exhilarated by the "big" abseil at the end. It had definitely been a quality guided climbing day though.

Nick had paid the equivalent of £80.00 each for himself & Freya for this Guided Rock Climbing Day in The Lake District with an experienced Mountaineering Instructor. We think this is excellent value for money and a great experience!

If you would like to experience a similar Guided Rock Climbing Day in The Lake District or would like to learn the skills to go Multi-pitch Rock Climbing yourself, then the cost is the same - £80 per person (minimum of two persons or 1 person@ £160:00). Contact Iain here to book your climbing course. We look forward to working with you!

Gorge Walking Sessions in The Lake District 22nd August 2015.

On Saturday August 22, Iain met Lucy Howell and her mates in Kendal at Morrisons Car Park in Kendal. This group were staying In kendal over the weekend and had booked a half day Ghyll Scrambling (also known as Gorge Walking) Session in The Lake District with us. They had specifically requested somewhere near to Kendal; and we do use a great venue that is close to hand saving us all driving into the middle of a busy Lake District National Park.

In order to use this venue, your group size most be no more than six persons as to get there, a short Land Rover drive is required; and we only have room for six clients in our vehicle!

Photo one sees the group getting re-hydrated in the ghyll. Initially, as the water soaks into the wet-suits, you'll feel rather chilly - but only for a moment! Once your body warms that water up, then you'll appreciate why we give all our clients wetsuits, no-one felt cold for the rest of the afternoon!

Photo two sees Lucy's group with her at the front followed by Sarah, Aaron, Mike, Jenna and Mike Lawson - whose birthday was being celebrated over the weekend. Ghyll Scrambling is all about having fun, scrambling upstream against the current, climbing up waterfalls and swimming through/jumping into pools. As you can see they were all loving it!

Photo three was taken sometime later in a section of the gorge known as Cleft Ghyll. Here, a high waterfall crashes into a narrow slot making this section impassible except in descent. Someone had "bolted" the entire gorge making it suitable for a canyoning descent and as soon as we have reconnoitered it, we will begin offering Canyoning Descents here to small groups.

To get to this point, we had only travelled about a kilometre from our get in, but we had already spent several hours in the water - making our way upstream, encountering numerous obstacles along the way - many small waterfalls and rapids that we had to figure out how to get up and a deep pool to swim through and climb out the back of (well, rather - get hauled out of by Iain!!) and two fantastic deep pools to jump into.

The group had already enjoyed a great deal of fun so far; and after we climbed out to bypass Cleft Ghyll there was still another section to finish off with!

So why should you come Ghyll Scrambling or Gorge Walking in The Lake District with us? Well, it will most likely be something that you have never done before; and would never think of doing. Getting into a  mountain stream, getting soaked and walking up it!! Sounds like a daft idea! But in actual fact, managed in the right way, by one of our expert instructors - you'll have a great time and won't feel uncomfortable with the equipment we give you. This includes wet suits, walking boots, buoyancy aids, helmets & harnesses, all of which is designed to keep you safe & comfortable in this environment - and all provided as part of your fee per person!

You'll work together with the rest of your team and with our Ghyll Scrambling Instructors to make progress upstream tacking obstacles that you didn't think you'd have the capability to overcome; and above all - you'll have great fun.

Our Ghyll Scrambling Sessions are great fun for groups of mates on Stag or Hen Events, families wanting to try something different - kids love it! We also have a corporate client who uses these sessions as an icebreaker for new groups of apprentices joining their company; and it works so well they have been coming back to us for the last five years!

Our Ghyll Scrambling (Gorge Walking) Sessions in The Lake District start at £45 per person for a four hour session, bring more than five persons that price drops to £40, a group of eleven to fifteen persons costs £35 each and sixteen or over - £30 each making it excellent value for a fantastic, fun and exhilarating experience in the great outdoors. Contact us here to book your Ghyll Scrambling or Gorge Walking Session - anywhere you are staying in The Lake District and you won't be disappointed!

Navigation Skills Training Day and overnight Wild Camping in The Lake District. 15th & 16th August 2015.

Iain was joined by Nick Charles on the morning of August 15th. Nick had driven up from The Wirral to join Iain for one whole day and a night in the Lake District Mountains.

This booking originally came about through Nick's wife having searched the internet looking for a Christmas Gift with a difference. She found our website and bought one of our Gift Certificates as a present. If anyone is looking for a gift idea with a difference then our certificates for activities and skills training Courses in the outdoors are the perfect idea!!

So what did we get up to on Nicks 24 hour course. Well, we jumped into the Land Rover and took a high road to get us into an area where we wouldn't have so far to walk to get to a peaceful & relatively unknown wild camping place. Photo one sees Nick on the walk in to the camp site and photo two was taken shortly after we had reached the area, found a nice dry patch of ground next to the stream; and pitched our tents.

What did we do for the rest of the day? Well - read on!

Having pitched camp; and gotten some early lunch, basically the rest of the afternoon was organised as a one day Navigation Skills Training Session for Nick who already possessed  reasonable Map Reading & Navigational Skills ability but who needed to polish these skills up.

We started as we often do by discussing map orientation; and then measuring distance and pacing it on the ground. We actually started doing this when we left the Land Rover and not after camp had been set up; and Nick did quite a good job of getting us to the designated camping area.

After a recap about the importance of being to locate or give a Grid Reference, Iain set Nick off to find grid references through a combination of finding a bearing, pacing the distance and using line of sight features for accuracy. We spent the rest of the afternoon navigating our way around a section of the Kentmere Horseshoe (photo three) before arriving back at camp at about 5:30pm

Photo four sees Nick enjoying a bit of supper at our campsite. The weather during the day had been a bit mixed and possibly a bit wetter than forecast but Nick had done well at the tasks set for him during our Lake District Mountain Navigation Skills Training Day. All that remain to do now was to enjoy a night of peace and solitude in the mountains at our camping spot.

Iain had a wander around the locality in the early evening as he often likes to do when wild camping whilst Nick had a snooze!

Nearby, a lot of tree planting has been done thanks to to EU reforestation initiative and it is good to see areas fenced off containing a good range of indigenous broad leaved trees which, if the sheep can be kept out - may well see the area return to a degree to the way it looked before man chopped down all of the trees. How many people are aware that The Lake District's mountains used to be well wooded up to a height of 1700 feet!!

Eventually, as it started to get dark, we both headed into our respective tents to spend a peaceful night before being woken by the light in the morning. Having struck camp, returned to the Land Rover and then reversed our route to Kendal, Nick was on his way back to The Wirral by 09:30 on Sunday having thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

This Navigation Skills Training day plus an overnight camp in the Lake District mountains is an example of one of our "bespoke" courses - tailored to the clients requirements. Our motto is "Giving you what you want" and we will do our best to arrange any outdoor experience required - no matter how unusual it might be!

If it can be done - we will do it! So, contact us to arrange your bespoke activity course or Skills Training Course  in The Lake District. We are here to help and look forward to working with you.

More comments and photos relating to this course can be found on our Facebook page here.

Andy Stratton's Guided Scrambling Course in The Lake District. Thursday 13th August 2015 - Day two.

After a great day out learning scrambling skills and trying out all three grades of scramble the previous day, Iain was back out the following morning for Andy's second day of Guided Scrambling in The Lake District.

Andy liked the idea of Iain's plan to pretty much scramble all the way from the floor of the Langdale Valley to the summit of Harrison Stickle - the highest summit in the group of peaks known as The Langdale Pikes.

In order to do this, we started off scrambling five minutes walk away from the National Trust Car Park at The Sticklebarn Tavern on a route known as Pike How (grade 2).

This route starts off with an interesting scramble up two buttresses low down on the ridge before a bit of a walk leads to the final summit buttress of Pike How. Wherever possible, Iain added more interesting ways up these buttresses to make sure Andy got some quality scrambling experience.

Photo one was taken about 10am and sees Andy at the top of the lowest buttress on Pike How. Photo two sees Andy some three hours later as we approached South Central Buttress - our second scramble of the day and the direct approach to the summit of Harrison Stickle up its most interesting ground.

South central buttress is a grade 3 scramble, so therefore, it is steep and committing. Scrambles at this grade are almost rock climbs, so Iain was required to"pitch" the route in about 4 sections.

The first part of South Central Buttress goes up the white rocks (above & to the right of Andy's head in photo two) to a big grassy ledge. The route above here goes up a pyramid of rock which steepens & tapers towards its top - at which point one follows  the line of a steep groove leading up right (the crux).

Above here, one arrives on a bilberry ledge where the usual route goes down right, around a corner; and then leftwards up another steep groove to arrive on a buttress top. However, another line goes straight up from the bilberry ledge (the direct finish) to arrive pretty much at the same point on the top of the aforementioned buttress. From here, the normal route goes around the corner to the right and back up left, we took a more interesting line and a steeper route straight up the short wall above. Photo three sees Andy as he appears over the top of that final wall - having climbed the whole route very well indeed!

We reached the summit of Harrison Stickle at around 2:30pm so that left us time to do a third route in descent. We traversed round from Harrison Stickle, across under Thunacar Knott to reach the head of Jack's Rake on the south face of Pavey Ark.

Jack's Rake is well known as the Lake District's most famous scrambling route and it takes a fine rising line up the front of Pavey Ark. Graded one, Iain personally thinks it is under-graded as many people get caught out on the initial section which starts off as easy scrambling in a comforting groove, however, at the top of this section, the route steepens and what is left of the groove becomes difficult forcing people out left on to what are often wet & slippery rocks where a slip will see a person plummet several hundred feet to the foot of the face! Above here, the route levels off and apart from a couple of difficult steps, becomes much more straightforward. Photo four sees Andy as we headed down the upper section of the route. Stickle Tarn is below in the distance.

The final photo about this post regarding the second of two days of Guided Scrambling in The Lake District sees Andy at the foot of Pavey Ark after another fine day out.

During his two days of Guided Scrambling with Iain, Andy got to enjoy some exposure on some of the areas best scrambling routes to be had in The Lake District. His two days cost him only £160 per day to work one on one with an experience Mountaineering Instructor. The fee of £160 per day applies to one or two persons.

Andy thoroughly enjoyed his Scrambling Skills Training Course in The Lake District and you can read his comment on our testimonials page. If you would like to book your own guided or Scrambling Skills Training Course in The Lake District with us then contact us here. We look forward to working with you!