ITACE Team Training Weekend

 Early morning light in Newlands Valley

This weekend the majority of the ITACE team made the long drive north for a training weekend in the Lake District. The wet and windy weather of the last few weeks had given way to blue skies and sunshine - perfect conditions to train for an Antarctic crossing although we suspect Ian was happy with a dose of sunshine as he's heading south with Ran Fiennes in a couple of months for a winter Antarctic traverse as part of the Coldest Journey expedition.

Saturday saw us walking into Borrowdale over the top of Walla Crag. After an 'important meeting' at Shepherds Cafe we spent the afternoon hanging around on some string looking at crevasse rescue and abseiling. The midges eventually drove us away and we found our way up to Millican Dalton's cave in the dark for a bivi. The following morning we shouldered our loads for the climb over Cat Bells and down into Newlands Valley. Our final activity was a descent of Stoneycroft Ghyll which provided plenty of fun and a few bruises!

Ian topping out on Brown Slabs at Shepherds Crag

ITACE 2014 Team Training from Mountain Zac on Vimeo.

Terrex Sting in Stirling 2012 Preview

The Challenge at Outward Bound

A stunning morning camped at Red Tarn below Helvellyn

I have just completed my forth week working for Outward Bound on The Challenge. This flagship program for school leavers is expanding widely next year after a very successful summer (and in view of the recent riots). Last week PM David Cameron and the local MP Rory Stewart were at OB Howtown joing in with a group building and sailing a raft on Ullswater and this week we had a BBC Newsnight film crew in. Another very positive course which challenged the youngsters views on life and developed bonds across various groups in their neighborhood.

A soggy group make their way back off a demanding expedition

Bill Gates' (founder of Microsoft) take on personal development....Defiantly something we can all use here!

1. Life is not fair; get used to it.
2. The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself.
3. You will not make £100,000 a year right out of school.
   
4. If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure.
5. Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping; they called it opportunity.
6. If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
7. Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents' generation, try "delousing" the cuboard in your own room.
8. Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades; they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to anything in real life.
9. Life is not divided into terms. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that in your own time.
10. Television is not real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
11. Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

The Challenge

Enjoying the challenge of Freeze Beck

For the past couple of weeks I've been back at Outward Bound in the Lakes working on The Challenge, the initial week of a three week development program for school leavers. The weather has been pretty mixed with one expedition being a pretty soggy experience with rivers flowing through the tent and the other camped on top of Helvellyn watching a spectacular sunset. The groups have also completed a couple of long canoe journeys on Ullswater and a challenging ghyll scramble in Freeze Beck.

Another Challenge group show us how to do it...

Now it's our turn! - Rowing on Ullswater

Canoe sailing down Ullswater

Catstycam & Ullswater from the summit of Helvellyn

Red Tarn & Striding Edge from our campsite on Helvellyn

Helvellyn sunset

Shower bath on the Zig Zags!

Rob on the sharp end for the first time

Tim enjoying the water running down his sleeves!

Clive & Mark splashing past us!

Outward Bound

Canoe sailing down Ullswater

I've spent the last three days working for Outward Bound Ullswater on a personal development course for young people. We've used gorge scrambling, trapeze, canoe sailing and improvised rafting to give them an enjoyable adventure but also to help build their confidence, friendships and a level of respect among their peers. The group have all just started at senior school together and we hope the challenges this week will have given them a real insight into themselves and help with this transition.

Langdale Adventure

Jude scrambling in Mill Ghyll

The next band of rain was forecast to roll in from the west so we opted to head in to Langdale and link a few scrambles together. Mill Ghyll was in spate but the upper falls offered good sport. We traversed over to Tarn Crag and made an ascent of Route 1 (Diff) before lunch on the top. The rain was holding off so we continued to Pavey Ark and the classic Crescent Climb (Mod). There was plenty of drainage but all the holds were clean and this very impressive undertaking was a lot easier than first impressions would suggest. The route tops out half way along Jacks Rake so we finished off by scrambling to the top as the rain started to fall in earnest. We picked up the small trod that traverses over to the main Harrison Stickle path and made a quick but soggy descent to the Sticklebarn.

Sue & Jude on the exposed traverse of Crescent Climb (Mod)

Angle Tarn Beck

The rain was still coming down so Niv and I decided a complete ascent of Angle Tarn Beck was in order. This was a very wet option but gives a great little scramble up on to the fells above Patterdale. Nothing too technical and at lower water levels it can provide plenty of entertainment for most ages. We followed the beck as far as the tarn before a fairly direct descent back to the van and some excellent bacon rolls from the Patterdale Post Office.

Back in Stoney Croft

Winner of today's face pulling competition!

Today I was back in Stoney Croft Gill with the Fusiliers. The heavy rain overnight had bought the levels up slightly making conditions slightly more challenging. The company are squeezing in some adventurous training in between returning from Germany and guard duties at Windsor Castle, all on the back of an Afghanistan tour. Today I was working for More Than Mountains.

One of the many plunge pools

The same waterfall as yesterday - with a bit more water

Deep in the sump exit from the Washing Machine

Braving one of the deep pools

Stoney Croft Gill

Today I've been working with a platoon from the Royal Fusiliers in Stoney Croft Gill. They've recently returned from Afghanistan and are enjoying a weeks Adventure Training at Warcop on the Pennines. Despite the gill being very dry we had a fun and challenging descent before they headed in to Keswick for bacon sarnies and coffee. Today I was working for More Than Mountains.

Stoney Croft Gill

Today I've been working with a platoon from the Royal Fusiliers in Stoney Croft Gill. They've recently returned from Afghanistan and are enjoying a weeks Adventure Training at Warcop on the Pennines. Despite the gill being very dry we had a fun and challenging descent before they headed in to Keswick for bacon sarnies and coffee. Today I was working for More Than Mountains.