Navigation Course Notes

Welcome to your course notes for your Navigation Course.

To learn the skills to travel in the mountains under your own steam through mountain navigation is to enter a world that will enliven all of your senses, and remain with you for the rest of your life.

These course notes set out the program for the course, 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

Mountain Skills Course – 2 day

This Mountain Navigation & Skills Course is ideal for anyone that wants to be self sufficient in the mountains of the UK and is based in Snowdonia, North Wales. 

Ratio: 1:6 
Length: 2 days 
Full details: Click here 

Advanced Mountain Navigation Course

A one day advanced navigation course concentrating on contour interpretation for people wanting to develop their skills for navigating in the mountains in all weathers.  

Ratio: 1:8 
Length: 1 day   
Full details: Click here

Information for all navigation 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. 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. We also occasionally use public transport so a small amount of cash might be useful.

Insurance

Between now and the course starting the unexpected can happen and so as a next step we recommend taking out some form of travel insurance to cover you should you need to cancel the course as you will be bound by our terms and conditions. On overseas trips it is mandatory that you have travel insurance that includes rescue cover and we recommend The BMC.

Photos & Film:

I often take photos and film during your course and put them onto my blog or website. Let me know if you don’t want to appear in public! I will put the best photos on Facebook and my blog so that you can help yourself and can impress family and friends

Dogs

I have a small dog that comes to work with me, he is very well behaved and friendly but if you don’t like dogs then please let me know and I will leave him at home.

The Environment – Travel & Accommodation Logistics:

Often the biggest impact of our adventures will be in how we get there and back, and I am working to always reduce the emissions of transport. Flying is the obvious target and that’s why we’ve stopped our long haul international trips. With such amazing mountain adventures within driving or train distances in the UK and Europe, it’s really hard to justify the flights every year. Closer to home, it’s tempting to just jump in the car, but that comes with a cost too: 290g CO2e per mile on average. Sharing a ride with friends can save both money and the planet, and we encourage that on all our courses. You can join this group to meet other people booked onto our courses to allow you to share lifts and accommodation options: https://www.facebook.com/groups/316728059317615/

Who runs the course?

The courses are run by myself and fellow instructor Huw. We both hold I hold the WMCI qualifications (the highest instructional qualification in the UK) and have many years of practical experience of working with a wide range of clients. We also have a number of coaching qualifications between us and are approved providers and tutors for Mountain Training UK’s Mountain Skills and Hill Skills Awards and the Mountain Leader scheme. I also bring my experience of being an active member of the busiest Mountain Rescue team in the UK to the courses to help deliver best practise in avoiding needing to be rescued in the mountains.

Weather:

We can experience any weather in the mountains so please make sure you read the kit list carefully. Courses are not postponed due to bad weather, we will review the forecast at the start of each day and make the best of what we are given so please be prepared accordingly – no doubt it will be gorgeous!

Kit List

The mountains can be pretty harsh at all times of the year so please make sure you have everything on this kit list:

Normal Hill Kit: 
Rucksack – 30 to 40 litres
Waterproof jacket
Waterproof trousers
Head Torch & spare batteries and bulb
Walking Boots and Socks
Drink
Lunch
Hat and Gloves
1 x spare gloves
1 x spare warm layer
Spare food
Personal First Aid & sanitary supplies
Sunglasses and Sun Block
Compass – we recommend a Silva Type 4
Map – 1:25 000 map of Snowdon – Ordnance Survey Explorer Map sheet OL17. You can buy a laminated version or a paper version. If you buy the latter you will need a map case so that you can still use it in the rain. (If joining as a couple you will need a map each)
Blizzard Survival Jacket (Emergency kit) http://www.blizzardsurvival.com/article.php/62/blizzard- jacket-active-range/ab47bae9a8eb0f054d84ed3c8b7ae403

Reading List

We recommend the following books for your course:

BMC – Safety on Mountains – free of charge when you register for the Mountain Skills course with MTUK

Navigation in the Mountains – published by MTUK

Hillwalking – The Official handbook of the Mountain Leader Award – published by MTUK

Insurance:

We do not include insurance within our course fees. For all overseas trips you will require an E111 and 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.