Friday, 9 September 2011

Another Dog Find for Cluanie and Helen

Llanberis Team were called out this morning for two walkers who had spent the night on the North Ridge of Crib Goch. They were well kitted out but unfortunately a boot had split which made life hard on difficult terrain. They waited till morning before calling us out and as visibility was very poor, Helen took Cluanie along to help in speeding up the search. Cluanie found them high up on the North Ridge of Crib Goch (considerably higher than where their GPS put them!)

Helen and Cluanie in rather better conditions than on Snowdon

Thursday, 8 September 2011

Walking Group Leader Courses

Steve and I have had a great week training Field Studies Staff Walking Group Leader training. We were based at Margam Discovery Centre for one of the courses and Malham Tarn for the second one.

The weather stayed fine at Margam allowing us to enjoy beautiful views if not quite as challenging navigation conditions. We found a variety of typical Walking Group Leader terrain. On one of our days we headed up the the Brecons for the top end level of terrain. Seeing an Air Ambulance and Sea King rescue!




















Only three days later we were heading from the sublime to the ridiculous with the weather as we squelched our way round Penyghent in the Yorkshire Dales. From glorious sunshine in Rhossili to torrential rain in North Yorkshire. However the Yorkshire weather cleared on the Sunday to give lovely views of limestone country.

Steve and I had a great time, really loving the company and the fun atmosphere with people learning lots.




















Skills covered included basic navigation, micro-navigation, leadership styles, emergency procedures just to name some.

We then returned to Wales to even wilder weather. I had 3 days of Mountain Leading in the Carneddau, Glyders and on Snowdon for the Wild Women Challenge of British Gas. Again, a thoroughly enjoyable experience and a privilege to see people progress through the three days conquering fears of heights and steep ground.