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 

January Night Navigation Course

At the start of January in the Lakes we can never really state what the weather will be from year to the next. So I was watching the weather for the first of many events coming up with a MTA and BAIML slant  to them. As the day dawned the weather was for once looking dry and clear until about 17.00, just as we would be out on the hill practicing our Night Navigation. :(

Andy Turner from Stockport arrived full of the joys after Xmas. I first met him on a NAV4 course along with his wife Tara, he has completed loads of Ironman events. Navigation is new to him and he's very keen to learn and great to have a long. Ian also from Cheshire came up for the weekend as part of experience for completing his Summer ML possibly later in the year Have a look at Striding Ahead to catch up with Ian and Gareth on some great adventures. 

 We set off in the dry as forecast into the Landgale fells starting with some macro navigation to get our eye clicked into the scale and features.

As we went  up hill steadily ticking off features and the contour interpretations. We bumped into Kate from The Epicentre Ambleside who was on her way down from a greasy solo of Jacks Rake. She reminded us of the onset of the rain and noted that Ian was wearing a new Sherpa Waterproof Jacket. As she took our picture she depleted my battery!!

As we arrived at the dam of Stickle Tarn the gloom was gathering and the winds whistling at 35+mph We set off into the gloom with map and compass and our layers on. A great night for testing winter gear, torches gloves and waterproofs. I was using a Suprabeam , Ian and Andy where using Petzls MYO. In these conditions of very limited visibility and driving rain it was very difficult to pick any features out.

We managed five hours out and then had an "etch-a-sketch" route back to the tarn. It was now time to head back down for a liquid debrief.

A great night out with folk very willing to learn.Thank you and if you would like to get out for further MTA BAIML or development of your mountain skills please get in touch and look out on my Facebook page and on twitter @aimcourses