Welcome to your course notes for your Scrambling Course.
Scrambling is about heading off into those areas of the mountains that your mum would tell you not to! You leave the paths behind and head for stunning ridges and atmospheric gullies.
These course notes set out the kit that you need to bring with you and a few other points about safety insurance and transport. I hope you find them useful and see you soon.
Rob
Information for all scrambling courses
Accommodation:
You will need to arrange your own transport and accommodation. We recommend Plas Curig Hostel in Capel Curig. Formerly a YHA the hostel is now a family run business that has been extensively refurbished in 2011. You can choose single or bunk rooms dependant upon budget and you can self cater or choose to eat in or at one of the nearby pubs. Plas Curig can be contacted on:
Email info@snowdoniahostel.co.uk Phone: 01690 720 225
For a variety of different accommodation options in Snowdonia, from camping to nice hotels, visit this link.
Transport
I don’t provide transport as part of the course price and I don’t charge a fee if I give you a lift. This is for insurance purposes. I am always happy to offer people a lift as a friend and if you have a car I may ask you to use it if we have more people than seats.
Insurance
What will you learn?
All of our scrambling courses are taught using my progressive teaching model. This sets out a layered process where you build on your existing skills. Have a read to see what we aim to cover on each course. Click Here.
Advanced Scrambling: Pre-requirements & Risk
We have set out pre-requirements in the course description at the time of booking and we ask that you are currently hill fit when joining this course.
The course is run at a 1:2 ratio and the safety of each client and the instructor will be contributed to by the pre-requirements that we have in place.
On this course we will be using a wide range of techniques to manage your safety.
Included in these techniques is the use of the rope. We protect hard sections as short (roped) pitches and move together, with great care, on the easier, broken ground using short roping techniques. Short roping involves the use of the rope to prevent a slip turning into a fall. At times we will also be soloing on mountaineering terrain. There is an inherent risk in all of these techniques and we will chat through our decision making with you on the hill.
Your own movement skills are a fundamental part of the safety system and these are directly affected by fitness and previous experience.
Pre-Course Preparation
Our scrambling courses are all practical courses without a classroom element. They are spent learning practical skills in the mountains.
Scrambling requires a base level of fitness and resilience to enjoy it comfortably. You will need to do some physical training in advance of the course. The very best form of training is to get out walking beforehand. You can get great results on coastal paths or low level hills and build up the endurance and stamina that full days in the mountains require. A typical day on this course will include the following:
Six Hours of Walking
10-12 Km Distance
1000m of height gain
Carrying a rucksack with your own kit plus some group kit
Kit List
If we are very lucky and have perfect weather there are things that you might not end up using but more likely you will be very glad to have them. There will probably be things on here that seem odd but bear with me – all will become clear on your course!
Rucksack – 30 to 40 litres (room for your kit plus on the advanced course a rope, helmet and harness)
Waterproof jacket
Waterproof trousers
Walking boots (I use scrambling specific boots – La Sportiva TX4 Mid)
Drink
Lunch
Hat and Gloves
Base layer that isn’t cotton
Mountain Trousers – no cotton please (if it’s wet they will rub badly)
Fleece jumper
Fleece jacket or equivalent such as a synthetic insulation layer
1 x spare gloves
1 x spare warm layer
Spare food
Personal First Aid & sanitary supplies
Sunglasses and Sun Cream (weather dependant!)
Blizzard Survival Jacket (Emergency kit)
On the advanced course we will provide ropes, harnesses and helmets and all other specialised equipment if appropriate. If you have any of your own gear then you are welcome to bring it along although we will only use our ropes.
Jewellery
Remove all jewellery before joining your course as it can snag on rocks, trees etc which can be nasty! If you do not want to remove a wedding ring then tape it up at the start of each day – climbers have lost fingers by getting rings caught!
Insurance: We do not include insurance within our course fees. For all overseas trips you will require specialist mountaineering insurance and we will require a copy of the policy. We also recommend insurance for our UK courses. Our approved insurance contractors are: BMC: 0870 0104878 or The Foundry: 0114 2755806
BMC Article on Risk & Safety in climbing & mountaineering.
The British Mountaineering Council (BMC) is the representative body in the UK for hill walkers, climbers and mountaineers. It has produced a Participation Statement for anyone involved in walking, climbing or mountaineering to say that:
The BMC recognises that climbing and mountaineering are activities with a danger of personal injury or death. Participants in these activities should be aware of and accept these risks and be responsible for their own actions.
If you join one of our courses you acknowledge and accept these risks and so we thought a few facts and figures might be useful in explaining what you are accepting.
Injuries
Injuries are possible in climbing, hill walking and mountaineering, as in all sporting activities, as a result of over-training, inappropriate training regimes, or poor technique as well as those that might be sustained during a slip or fall, or if something or someone falls on a person.
Risk
Risks need to be put in context. There are currently about 5 million climbing wall user visits annually and it has bee estimated that between the 1960s and 2005 there were approximately 50 million climbing wall user visits in the UK alone. During that period there was only one fatality at a wall in England and Wales. There are 13 million young people in this country. Of the approximately 700 fatal accidents that occur every year, there is approximately one child death per year in organised adventurous activities in comparison with 457 land transportation accidents (National Statistics).
Risk is an integral part of the activity and can play a vital role in helping young people to acquire these extremely important life skills. Minimising the risk boils down to having the right level of skill and experience relative to the difficulty of the activity. Our courses will help you to understand and assess these risks for yourself. Accidents can happen due to circumstances over which the climber has no control, such as a rockfall, and in these events first aid training can make all the difference.
Accident rates
Because experienced climbers strive very hard to know their own limitations, the sport enjoys remarkably low accident rates. Incidents that make news headlines often involve individuals operating in environments for which they were ill-prepared, and this can give a somewhat skewed impression of the dangers involved in the sport. Many of the ‘climbers’ reported in the media as having been involved in accidents, died or got lost in mountainous areas are not dedicated climbers. Often they are tourists who have gone out walking or people who don’t have much experience in the mountains. Therefore some of the tragedies that hit the
headlines may reflect poorly on dedicated mountaineers who are more likely to be better prepared and not as likely to require mountain rescue.
Even on a course there is a need for personal responsibility and self reliance in all mountaineering activities. We will have contingency plans in the event of an emergency and are first aid trained but you should also carry basic first aid equipment as detailed in your course notes. All of our courses aim to teach you to assess the risks for yourself, to make you an independent climber/mountaineer or hillwalker but there are some risks that we cannot completely remove.
If you feel uncomfortable at any time you should say so and don’t be afraid to ask why we are doing what we are doing. There is no pressure whatsoever for you to take part in any activity that you do not want to take part in.
The BMC has produced an introductory booklet for parents of young people who participate in climbing-related activities.