BMC Navigation Course For Clubs

April 27-28 2013 a weekend of two halves 

The BMC navigation course for clubs was being held at Low House Coniston Cumbria over this weekend. What a great venue Thank you very much to Midland Association of Mountaineers for the use of the hut

The weekend was set out to help BMC affiliated club members to develop some hill skills this one being navigation based. We had 16 people turn up and want to build on their knowledge from instructors  Kieran Hodgson, Dave Haygarth and I. 

Saturday dawned fine and was to remain so all day. Ideal for taking our time to help the skills develop and learn some new ones. 

The group spilt themselves down, always a bit of an icebreaker as its starts to get people to determine their levels of navigation confidence. I was with Nadine, Michelle and Lynn for the next two days. 

We set off into the sunshine and stunning scenery of the Coniston Coppermines valleys starting the build up of a progression of navigation "tools". As the day unfolded layer was added to layer of the  "navigation onion" including the dance which the girlswould not join in with. By the end of the day the girls were finding some complex features in some remote terrain.

Sunday was the other side of the coin weather wise. It was cold windy wet and persistant...

We had full waterproofs on for the full day, I was testing out a new Sherpa Jacket from The Epicentre in Ambleside  more to follow on this. 

A great test of kit and another layer to "navigation onion" of when its a hands on experience and good kit is needed along with the resilience and skill level to feel comfortable. 

We put the skills to the test again and the 3 girls once again were managing to find some features. Some that didnt quite match up to expectations 

A bit of respite from the weather in a sheepfold wasn't quite was expected to revive the soul. We made it safely back to Low House for a welcome shower and cup of tea and debrief of the weekend. 

Thanks to all that attended and hope that you all had a good time? 

Have a look on the BMC website for further courses and hope to see you on the hills somewhere

For  all the photos I took have Click here