Busy, Busy Busy at Kendal Mountaineering Services! June 2015

A quick update - sorry folks, we are behind with the blogging again and it will be a while before this gets updated.

Working tomorrow and then Iain is off to Spain for a week to see friends.

Then, back to the UK for a week before heading off to The Alps for two weeks.

It's all go at the moment!

You can read about what we have been up to since the last Blog update by visiting our Facebook page.

We will still be open for business, will be taking bookings and will be running Skills Training Courses and our fabulous activity sessions throughout the whole of July!

So Contact us here to make your enquiry and book your session or course - we look forward to working with you!

Rock Climbing Skills Training Courses in The Lake District. Sunday 14th June 2015.

Last Sunday morning, Iain met Alistair Seddon & his girlfriend Cat in Langdale for a day of Rock Climbing Skills Training.

The pair regularly get out bouldering  and sport climbing when they can - so know how to tie on to a climbing rope and belay. However, they had done no "trad climbing" and wanted to learn these skills in order that they could go out and do more varied rock climbing; as most climbing in the UK is trad (traditional).

"Trad climbing" refers to the art/skill of placing your own anchors whilst leading on outdoor rock using wires or nuts as they are known, Hexcentrics and camming devices. When correctly placed in flared cracks (or in the case of camming devices - in parallel sided cracks) these can then be used to "stitch" you to a rock face in much the same way as sport climbing involves clipping into bolts using snap-link karabiners and extenders.

Iain took the pair to Upper Scout Crag in Langdale where there area number of fine easy multi-pitch trad climbing routes and although there was a team ahead of us on Route One, by the time Iain arranged his rope for "self lining" so that he could look after Alistair & Cat, this team were well up the route.

As is often the case, we see people who think they know what they are doing - climbing, in a style which could be a "better way". The leader of the team we observed allowed himself to get out of sight and pretty much out of sound of his seconds which resulted in some confusion when it came for them to follow; and at one point, he belayed (safeguarded them) attached to only one anchor which could be fatal if one of the seconds took a slip on slack rope and "shock loaded" the belayer. If his one anchor had failed then all three of them could have plummeted down the crag resulting in almost certain death for the leader and serious injury for the others" - there was another anchor point available close by that he could have used in conjunction! The plus point of these observations was that it is always good to be able to show your own team what not to do!

Iain kept his eye on this trio whilst coaching Alastair & Cat in good climbing techniques - safe and appropriately placed running belays. How to bring two anchors to a central attachment point at stances using slings or tying in with the rope if leading alternately (always use screw-gate karabiners to attach to anchors at stances if possible) and the importance of being able to see and speak to your seconds; or have a system of rope tugs in place to let seconds know what is happening :- 2 tugs for "safe" and 1 long tug for "climb when you are ready".

Whilst we were on Route One we observed rain showers in Upper Langdale and also down the valley, but we avoided them until about 1pm when we finally got a wetting. Lake District Rock is great when dry, but it becomes seriously slippery in the wet. We observed the other parties vacating the crag at this point, but Iain still had to provide something worthwhile for the afternoon as the pair had booked a full day out!

In photo two Cat can be seen belaying Alastair from he second stance on route one whilst Alastair has just overcome the crux (the hardest part) of the climb. In photo three, after lunch, the pair are seen trying out a stacked abseil retreat from the Oak Tree on Route Two. Rather than continue to lead climb in the wet, Iain had suggested leading the pair up to the Oak and showing them how to arrange an abseil retreat which is a useful technique to know if one needs to escape from a rock climbing route for any reason.

As an alternative for the rest of the afternoon, we headed down to Lower Scout Crag - the scene of a recent post about a day of Introductory Rock Climbing in The Lake District where Iain further demonstrated anchor placements and the bringing together of two anchor points to an equalized central attachment point - to be used for attaching the climbing rope for a top rope/bottom belay system.

We also discussed the importance of extending the top anchor over the edge of climbing routes to prevent rope drag and the importance of using rope protectors with the ropes & slings where there is the chance that the rock could abrade and wear through these. If it is happening - then failure can occur very quickly -with catastrophic results!

Cat & Alistair then spent over an hour here (photo four) enjoying tackling the problems on both Cubs Groove (Severe +) and a route to the right - The New Partnership (E1,5b). They climbed both routes easily - evidencing their ability in both bouldering and climbing bolted sport climbs.

Despite the occasionally damp weather; and a slight itinerary change as a result, the pair thoroughly enjoyed their Rock Climbing Skills Training Day in The Lake District with Iain and will be calling him if they return to the area again.

Alistair & Cat paid just £80 each for a full eight hour day of Rock Climbing Instruction with Iain and the fee included the provision of helmets, harnesses, rope and climbing rack as well as coaching provided by this experienced & knowledgeable Mountaineering Instructor. To book your Rock Climbing Skills Training Course in The Lake District contact Iain here. We look forward to working with you.

Canadian Canoeing Sessions in The Lake District. Monday 8th June 2015.

After our Scrambling Skills Training Weekend for Cambridge University Hill Walking Club, On Monday, Iain was assisting Highpoints with the running of one of their bits of regular work with students from the Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) who were canoeing across Grasmere as part of their Wordsworth Walk.

The Wordsworth walk is organised by tutors from LUMS and involves discussing the relationship between Wordsworth & Coleridge. Iain is not really sure what it is all about - all we have to do is provide the canoes for this waterborne part of the journey!

We started by unloading the canoes from trailers and "rafting" them together into pairs. Rafted canoes make for a very "stable" mode of transport on any lake - they are also easier to manoeuvre due to many pairs of hands paddling rather than just a few.

We towed the boats across the lake from our get in point of Faeryland to a point on the south shore under Loughrigg Terrance. Eventually the group arrived here; and we got them all into buoyancy aids and set off across the lake (photo one) to the island (photo two) where one of the lecturers did a talk before we paddled onward to Faeryland.

Grasmere in a beautiful little lake in the heart of The Lake District and we provide Canadian Canoeing trips here where you can explore the lake and what it has to offer. You can even enjoy coffee & cake at the Faeryland Cafe - a great way to end your Canadian Canoeing session in The Lake District!

A four hour session Canadian Canoeing in The Lake District starts at just £45 per person for a minimum of two persons and can be done on any of the Lake District's lakes. Contact us to make your booking.  We look forward to working with you!

Scrambling Skills Training Courses in The Lake District. Sunday June 7th, 2015.

On the Sunday, we "swapped" locations with the "other" group who were being coached by Scott Troughton on our behalf.

This time, Iain took his group to The Bell near to Coniston. This is a fine grade one scramble leading up the crest of a ridge on a small summit not far away from the main mountain ridge.

Left to right are Josh, Sam & Ben in photo one. This was taken as we approached The Bell which is the ridge in the background.

The plan for today was to consolidate the scrambling skills learnt the previous day and this would be done on two scrambles throughout the day with whoever was leading being coached by Iain in the application of the correct belay techniques necessary for each section of scrambling terrain encountered.

Photo two sees Josh on the sharp end of the rope and reeling in (as Iain likes to call it) Sam & Ben on some short roping terrain. The two lads at the back are negotiating an easy step on the ridge and all that Josh really requires to do here is to use a braced stance and employ a method of taking in the rope and making hand coils under tension to provide safeguarding.

The Bell had all sorts of great scrambling ground requiring Josh to use all of the belaying techniques taught by Iain the previous day. All he had to do was to make sure that he applied to appropriate techniques in the right places. Sam & Ben were quite happy to let him get on with it for the duration of the day.

Scrambling on The Bell went so well that Iain was sure that the lads could manage something harder. So, as this was meant to be a "journey day" in the mountains, we followed the old quarry tracks through the remains on the long disused Coniston Slate quarries to the foot of Low Water Beck - a grade three scramble.

So how does a grade three compare to a grade one scrambling route? it's a lot steeper and there is a lot more of the steep stuff too. It's highly likely that there will be less "moving together involved or body belays; and more use of direct belays, pitching and techniques closely associated with climbing - quite possibly involving the placing of running belays and being belayed by the seconds using a belay plate on some of the more exposed sections.

Low Water Beck is a steep and exposed scramble in its lower reaches - as can be seen here in photo three where Sam and Ben are scrambling up beside the watercourse to get to Josh who has "pitched" this first section - one of five such pitches to get to the easier ground above!

The final photo from the Scrambling Skills Training Weekend in The Lake District  sees Josh using a direct belay - running around a rock spike as an anchor to safeguard Sam & Ben who were scrambling up a steep slabby section of rock. We were almost at the top of the route.

Josh did a superb job of looking after the pair throughout this second scrambling day and demonstrated competence scrambling on rock and use of appropriate scrambling techniques - however, he is also a rock climber!

As for Sam & Ben who are both hill walkers, hopefully, this weekend has seen their confidence grow on more exposed ground and perhaps the future will see them wish to develop their scrambling & climbing skills in the mountains? we wish them all the best of luck whatever they do and the same goes to the other three who worked with Scott over the weekend!

The weekend course for this group of six keen aspirant scramblers from the Cambridge University Hill Walking Club cost only £120 per person for the two day course and included the provision of helmets, harnesses, ropes, scrambling rack and tuition for two experienced and competent Mountaineering Instructors. We think we provide excellent value for money with our Scrambling Skills Training Courses and invite you to contact us to arrange yours. Our usual price for a pair of people is £80 per day which is cheaper than some of our competitors are offering! Contact us here to book your course, we look forward to working with you.

Scrambling Skills Training Courses in The Lake District. Saturday June 6th, 2015.

Some time ago, we were contacted by Josh Abrahams - Safety Officer of the Cambridge University Hill Walking Club who organise club meets around the UK for their members.

The club had planned a visit to The Lake District for this weekend. Some members were planning to go hill walking for the entire time. Others fancied having a go at Scrambling. Josh found our website  on the internet and liking what he saw, contacted Iain to see if we would arrange a Scrambling Skills Training Course for club members.

So what is scrambling? Well, it could be described as easy rock climbing involving the use of three or four points of contact depending on the angle of the rock. Scrambles are usually rocky ridges or buttresses - rather like the ground seen here in photo one.

This group wanted to learn the skills of scrambling so that they could go off and do the sport for themselves. Iain started off by getting them to understand the skill of "spotting" which involves safeguarding each other on easy ground without the use of a rope. They are all practicing this skill in photo one.

In photo two, Josh Abrahams - the Hill Walking Club safety Officer is practicing a body or "indirect" belay. This photo was taken some time later on and we had moved from spotting on to using a whole range of techniques designed to safeguard scramblers by use of a climbing rope.

So why use a climbing rope when scrambling? Well, as a rule of thumb, the rope should be used when there is the chance of a slip turning into something more serious ie a fall and injury. The use of a climbing rope should add security to a scrambling or mountaineering scenario but it will only do so if used correctly.

For a start there is no point in employing the use of a rope  if it is going to be allowed to be "slack" in a situation where someone could slip - the rope should be kept tight to prevent a slip becoming anything more! What Josh was doing here was keeping the rope tight on the other two group members who were ascending relatively "easy" ground where a slip was unlikely - but if it occurred, this type of belay would be adequate to prevent it turning into anything worse! Body belays should only be used on the easiest of scrambling terrain!

We had three people in this group (there were actually two groups of three out on both days - each with a Mountaineering Instructor) and all three wanted to have a go at practicing the various techniques involved when scrambling on potentially serious terrain.

Firstly, after coaching the trio in Spotting, Iain demonstrated short roping, tying on to the rope, taking chest coils & locking them off, moving together and pitching (ie leaving the group in one place whilst he ascended a steeper section of the scramble before belaying them all up ( safeguarding them by keeping them tight on the rope whilst they ascended the "steeper" sections). We also looked at descending using the various methods of belaying and in photo three Josh uses a "direct" belay to protect Sam & Ben who are descending a steep gully below. We also looked at the method of the leader protecting themselves when they have lowered others down a section of scrambling ground too steep to be soloed down safely. Soloing is climbing of scrambling without the use of a rope and is inadvisable - unless you know your limitations!!

The final photo from this post about day one of a Scrambling Skills Training Course in The Lake District sees Ben testing out Sam's "locked off "coils.

Josh is clearly enjoying watching what is happening although Ben neither managed to throttle Sam or pull him over despite being a strong lad!

Why had Sam taken chest coils in the first place? Well, as a rule, when leading a scramble you want to keep your seconds as close to you as possible when ever possible - ie on a short rope! and we had a full 50 metres of rope to play with! You also need to lock off your chest coils to avoid them being pulled tight around you upper body/neck!

The lads had a great day out with Iain at Tarn Crag in Langdale learning basic scrambling skills which would all be put to good practice on day two in the Coniston area - the subject of the second report about this weekend Scrambling Skills Training Course in The Lake District.

Multi-day activity holidays in The Lake District. Borrowdale, June 2nd & 3rd 2015.

And so into June 2015! Funnily enough - our last post was about Introductory Rock Climbing Sessions in The Lake District and in the first photo about a two day multi-activity holiday in The Lake District, more children can be seen doing just exactly that activity!

These children weren't with their parents though. They had come away with their school - St Michaels C of E Primary School in Walsall and had been brought under the supervision of a number of school staff. The group were staying at Borrowdale Youth Hostel  - the school comes same time every year to Borrowdale YHA; and Iain is always pleased to be working with them through our client Key Adventures, Activities & Sports. Whilst we work with these young people they do Rock Climbing, Hill Walking and Gorge Scrambling and go to nearby Platty+ on Derwent Water to do Canoeing. So, there are four different activities undertaken over two days. It's quite a busy itinerary for these young people!

Iain spent the whole of day one at Upper Shepherds - a nice little single pitch crag ideal for Introductory Rock Climbing  - it was an interesting day though with a strong-ish south westerly wind blowing up just beside the crag and showers falling on the Borrowdale Fells all around. It was cool for June as well! Fortunately, we always seemed to just avoid the worst of the conditions where we were; and both the morning & afternoon group had a great Lake District Rock Climbing Session.

The next day - the weather had improved. The wind had dropped and it was warm & dry, though still a little cloudy.

We did the usual hill walking half day from Borrowdale YHA via Scaleclose Coppice and up to the bridleway that leads alongside the valley and then behind Castle crag before it drops down to Grange. At that point we cut up right (photo two) to get on to the summit of Castle Crag which has stunning views up Borrowdale towards Derwent Water and Keswick/Skiddaw. We then descended to the valley floor to follow the River Derwent back to the youth hostel for lunch. By the time we got back most, of the children had learned to identify pretty much all of the different types of tree to be found growing in the woods of Borrowdale - with a bit of tuition from Iain. Well done!

After lunch, the children got their waterproofs on and we walked the half mile or so to Seatoller and got into Hause Gill for the afternoon Ghyll Scrambling Session.

Children love splashing around in water - so Ghyll Scrambling (also known as Gorge Walking) is always going to be a firm favourite with any primary group. Hause Gill is ideal for the activity with a good mix of waterfalls and pools of all depths and a good ravine for scrambling up. We splashed & laughed our way upstream and even made a human dam at one point - watch the video of this here.

Kendal Mountaineering Services can provide all of the activities discussed in this blog report for parents & families so if you are coming to The Lake District in the coming months and fancy a few days in the outdoors packed with exciting things to do - give us a call and we'll put a package of adventurous Outdoor Activities together for you. Discounts apply for children as we know how expensive taking your family on holiday can be! We look forward to working with you!!

Family Rock Climbing Day in The Lake District. May 28th 2015.

When Jamie Rennie booked a family Rock Climbing Day in The Lake District with us for the May half term week he was looking for a good quality day out for the whole family.

This was to be a day where they could all enjoy Rock Climbing together but where Jamie could also learn the skills required to be able to go and rig up top rope systems in order to be able to go out and set up his own ropes so that the family would be able to climb safely on rock outdoors without needing to hire an instructor in order to do this for them.

Photo one sees the family at Lower Scout Crag in Langdale where daughter Daisy is being lowered down by Iain  after attempting to climb Cubs Wall (Diff) using a top rope/bottom belay system. In the background mum  - Helen, prepared to belay Jamie up a rather steeper rock route.

Photo two sees Dad Jamie and Son George having a go at what we would call  "Introductory Rock Climbing" also known as "top rope/bottom belaying".

In order for the pair to be able to do this, Iain had gone up to the top of the crag and had used a number of tapered cracks into which he had placed anchors. He had then linked the anchors using screw-gate karabiners and static rope to bring the anchors together in pairs to a central attachment point to which the climbing rope was attached  with either side dropping down to the foot of the route.

In this system the climber ties on to one end of the rope and the belayer clips the rope into a belay plate at the other end - then, as the climber climbs up the belayer "takes in" the rope - protecting then climber should they slip and let go of the rock. This system is great for allowing people to learn basic rock climbing skills and is great for families, groups and team building events.

Photo three sees Jamie "learning the ropes". Well - he was actually trying to untangle this one at this point!

Iain had just shown him how to place anchors using the various types available on the market; and then how to link them together to static rope using karabiners although in some cases - just a long 480cm (16") sling was long enough.

Whatever method is used to attach the climbing rope to to the anchors - it is most important to make sure that the load is equalized to both anchors so that one is not shock loaded should the other anchor fail. We also used rope protectors on both slings and the rope if there was any point where there was any rubbing on the rock of rope or sling as when loaded with the weight of a moving person  ropes or slings can run through and snap very quickly if not protected.

A rope protector is a plastic or fabric tube which can be opened along it's length (usually with velcro) and the rope is placed inside. the tube of material prevents rope abrasion. After we had set up a top anchor system, Jamie was about to clip the rope in - ready for use by the rest of the family.

Our final photo from this Family Rock Climbing Day in The Lake District sees Charlie - the eldest son being belayed by Dad at the end of Lower Scout Crag with the shortest & easiest rock climbing routes. We had set this end up principally to allow the youngest two George & Daisy to try a less steep climb and Mum - Helen even had a go here too (she had spent the day belaying quite happily but non too keen to climb).

We had been lucky with the weather which had been forecast to be overcast & showery all day but in actual fact, we had only been dampened by one heavy shower which soon passed and then with the westerly wind that was blowing - the rock soon dried out again. Lower Scout Crag can be a good place to climb in damp conditions as, with it being quite steep, it can often remain dry in wet conditions.

The family thoroughly enjoyed their Rock Climbing Day in The Lake District with Iain; and Jamie learned the skills he was looking for. For the whole day of Rock Climbing, the family paid the equivalent of £50 per person as Iain had applied a significant discount to the regular price which we will do if you are coming along to the session with children as we know how expensive a week away can get!

If you are interested in trying out Introductory Rock Climbing; or indeed - any other outdoor activity in The Lake District with you family during the Summer Holidays then contact us for a competitive quote for a great session in the outdoors. We look forward to working with you.