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 

Everest Base Camp

Everest Base Camp

I recently led a trip to Everest Base Camp for Outlook Expeditions and the Oratory School we teamed up in country with a great guide Anil from Himalayan Ecstasy and his team. 

We were out for three weeks in the early season which meant the Khumbu region was quiet if a little colder than normal.
I am normally based in North Lake District and based my training on the Helvellyn area in winter time. Getting out every day testing me and my kit gives me a great insight into the conditions and what kit I prefer to use for my work and personal choice.

We had ten lads and two Staff from Oratory School, Mr Dave Watkins and

 Head of Geography Mr Phil Poynter. Due to circumstances we managed a 80% success rate at EBC. 

A very tough trek to a very beautiful place with some interesting characters. Its been 60 years since Everest was first scaled. During our trek sadly the last of the 1953 veterans George Lowe died aged 89. I met him and Ed Hillary in Manchester years ago and had read his books, which he and Ed Hillary signed for me signed for me. A rarity indeed now

I was lucky enough to meet his wife Mary Lowe as we arrived at Lukla, we chatted for a while and shared some memories of George. A very lovely lady and keeping herself busy continuing the vitalwork of her husband and Ed Hillary in the Khumbu.

Thanks to support from Montane, Paramo, Nuun, great companies great kit. 

Click Here to see some pictures of our trip. 

Implications and Professional Standards

As I work full time as an outdoor professional offering my services to various clients and companies to cover a multitude of outdoor related work. I am sometimes cancelled due to various factors. This have a butterfly effect on me, emotionally and not least financially also to other clients of mine who have come to respect my working practices. Please note that a contract, verbal, written as text, email or letter has legal standing as a two way document.  When offering my services I have to negotiate my terms and conditions and act in accordance. I have recently been cancelled as a freelancer in the last couple of weeks, due to various circumstances and by various companies at very late notice. IE within a week. My sliding scale of notice is over 4 weeks no fee, 3 weeks 25%, 2 weeks 50%, 1 week 75%, within 1 week 100% of fee. I find in the rare circumstances that I have to cancel my work I will try and provide as many alternatives as possible for the work to continue seamlessly. 

Expedition Wilderness Medicine Keswick Extra Day

At the end of your EWM course This may be just the thing to top off your week in the fantastic Cumbrian mountains. Get in touch if you feel you would like to be a part of this additional skills course aimed at extending your enjoyment of the course. 

Hope to see you on the Friday for a great day out.

Here is a link to some photos from Sept 2012 Keswick Course  Can you spot yourself here?

Also from a previous Keswick Course here 

Genesis 1:3 And God said "let there be light"

As we that work in the outdoors have known for a long time now we need quality hands free lighting to work effectively when it gets dark.

And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light 'day', and the darkness he called 'night'. And there was evening, and there was morning, the first day." 

(Gen. 1:2-5)

In the beginning was the Petzl Zoom and this was the standard for many years. It had a bulky battery pack lasted about two hours on continuous and went very yellow on dimming.

In the last 28 years we have come on leaps and  bounds in terms of of  hands free lighting and batteries to power these beasts of necessity. There is now talk of LED, Lumens, LUXE and Lithium Polymer and regulated outputs, its a lot of jargon but something we use as our buying power to make sense of it all.

We need something special to make darkness into light as we are not God. 

I have been using a Suprabeam V3r since last November in some very foul and windy cold conditions. On one charge I have had just over 6 hours with variable light outputs. In the package when you buy this great piece of kit. You get the head torch,long and curly cable, spare Li-Poly battery, carry case USB and car charger. A great deal for your money! 

I have found its sits well on my head and have used on top of a climbing helmet. It does not sit to well my style of Biking helmet but with a bit of adjustment it does fit on. 

The build quality is better than a lot of its similar looking rivals it works well with gloves on. 

The beam width on wide beam does not have "saturns rings" on the outer edges like some of the other models and the copies brought in from the east.

The spot beam is very bright and without any bounce back from fog/ cloud/ rain/ snow the distance is brilliant.

The battery pack can be placed inside your pack or on your bike to keep it warmer and therefore lasting longer.



The head unit similarly will dismount from the very supple elastic and can be placed low down for a better vision perspective. If you have been out in some very poor nights you will appreciate the re positioning and placement of the main beam.

 The facts for the techy folk can be found here on the V3r pages 

In brief its very light please pardon the pun. 184gms

CREE Power chip LED

Spotlight 230mtrs

Boost 300 lumens

High light 170 lumens

Low Light 25 lumens

I was at the Gadget Show London just before Christmas on a stall selling the whole range, this can be found on the Suprabeam website 

From being just an end user of head torches I became an informed user of head torches and found I was able to answer nearly all of the questions that was presented to me. I feel that the quality, weight, price, and most importantly the Suprabeam V3r brilliant light output that will last through the night, I had a potential of 12 hours light from the two fully charged batteries I had with me. 

This version has a regulated output meaning that the light stays bright while there is charge. For further information on this have a look here at  Candlepowerforum this will help explain why modern batteries with circuity work better for us. 

In short there is a plethora of head torches out there with a lot of jargon to dazzle us. 

This Suprabeam V3r works brilliantly and the price is right. Pack one in all year round.

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

Why we need to have the right kit for the job

For my job I have to make sure that my PPE (personal protective equipment) is as good as it can be, the fit and the functionality. I choose my kit to help me stay as warm and as dry as possible, very difficult when we live in a warm, wet, martime climate; as the last months worth of weather has shown.

I try and use the best that's available and most of this mimics some of the worlds most adapted animals for their environments. Outdoor kit has come on leaps since the token woolly jumper

Here are two articles by leading scientists gear and outdoors people. Taken from UKC one of the website dedicated to the outdoors and its supporters.

Part 1 http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=5105

Part 2 http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=5163

As an enjoyable addition to these have a look at http://innovation-for-extremes.net/gear-timezone/

Enjoy the articles and have a look at your wardrobe and see if its fit for purpose.Then come out on the hills and try some of it out.

Nav4 TDH Dec 22 2012

This year is the 3rd year of the annual event of the Tour De Helvellyn. Organised by Joe and I from the NAV4 with a lot of help from the whole team. Its traditionally run on the shortest weekend of the year, this year was very close to Xmas and we wondered if people would get a pass out to do it. Its fast becoming a classic in the calender as the weather in the past years has been a massive factor in the days events. This year proved no exception being forecast as "serious winds and rain" the south of England was battered by storms.

 Its  not a standard fell run or trail race drawing on traditions from the LDWA and Orinteering . You have to have some navigation experience you also need some cunning as to plan your start time between 07.00-09.00. NB daylight is at premium and therefore you need to suit your speed to the day. Patterdale Checkpoint (10 Mile) opens at 09.30. I was tasked to kit check again this year and folk were very patient as we try to be fair but keep a level of integrity to the rules. Last year I cheekily asked one person "what was on his butty's" as I would see them at Chk 3 and could help lighten the pack. This year people were volunteering to show me their buttys and survival bags etc. I didnt get to eat any though as it was very wet at the bridge.

Thanks to the people who gave me a hug shook my hand or said thanks its very appreciated especially after 3.5 hrs  in those conditions.

 Some pics from the route. Rachael after trying to sabotage the event. Achille Ratti lads

Bradden still smiling famous for it now. Well done Kim Collinson for going very quick but well done all for pushing him around.

 Trail Running Magazine editor Claire Maxted nicked my brew in an Eden Runners mug at the finish.


A great picture of two of the original Dragons Back finishers from 1992. Martin Stone and Helene Whittaker won it and Joe himself did himself proud this year again.

 More pics can be found here on my Picasa page if you click on this pic. on the right

See you in 2013 at another event?