Davie has been great coaching me on the run up to this thing but even on the drive up I found myself on the phone to him seeking some kind of reassurance that I wasn’t going to muck something up. To make matters worse it seems Ginger is going to be involved and, while it will be great to catch up with him, I just know I’ll be spending the next 5 days doing just that… trying to catch up to him!
The first morning Pete (Hill) and Ginger decided to give us an easy start and took us for a nice walk in the Cromdales. This was because the snow on the Cairngorms was a little too deep! We did navigation, emergency procedures and carries, flora, fauna, access, history plus a 5 minute talk each!
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Once they had seen enough we went Dulnain Bridge for a river crossing.
I went first and used a walking pole to get across. The river was cold and reached my chest at the deepest point. Once everyone else crossed without hiccup we were told to get the rope out and do a group crossing. With a variety of techniques explored we were told ‘they’d seen enough’. Did that mean we were rubbish or we’d met the minimum standard? These boys should play poker cos they were giving nothing away!
Day 2 had us up Ben Rinnes for our severe ground day. Just because we were doing rope work we didn’t get out of our group management, weather and navigation exercises to and from the venue. We climbed over rocks, grabbed rucksack straps, belayed, abseiled and lowered until again ‘they’d seen enough’!
Back at the bunkhouse we had our review of the written exam paper which had everyone sweating during some of the more probing questions!
For the next 3 days we had our holiday part of the assessment up in the Cairngorm Plateau. The snow had more or less gone and the weather was cold and windy. From the moment we left the car any ‘holiday’ feeling soon disappeared as Pete took on a variety of roles to test our group management skills as well as making us search for rocks, contour lines or anything else that was on a map and not necessarily on the ground!
We made our way down towards Cairn Lochan were we picked a good campsite and settled in for the night.
I went first and used a walking pole to get across. The river was cold and reached my chest at the deepest point. Once everyone else crossed without hiccup we were told to get the rope out and do a group crossing. With a variety of techniques explored we were told ‘they’d seen enough’. Did that mean we were rubbish or we’d met the minimum standard? These boys should play poker cos they were giving nothing away!
Day 2 had us up Ben Rinnes for our severe ground day. Just because we were doing rope work we didn’t get out of our group management, weather and navigation exercises to and from the venue. We climbed over rocks, grabbed rucksack straps, belayed, abseiled and lowered until again ‘they’d seen enough’!
Back at the bunkhouse we had our review of the written exam paper which had everyone sweating during some of the more probing questions!
For the next 3 days we had our holiday part of the assessment up in the Cairngorm Plateau. The snow had more or less gone and the weather was cold and windy. From the moment we left the car any ‘holiday’ feeling soon disappeared as Pete took on a variety of roles to test our group management skills as well as making us search for rocks, contour lines or anything else that was on a map and not necessarily on the ground!
We made our way down towards Cairn Lochan were we picked a good campsite and settled in for the night.
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After dinner with the sun low in the sky, Pete had us out navigating once more. As a birthday treat for me he allowed our navigation legs to take us to the summit of Ben MacDui where I watched the sun set… bliss.
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The next 5 hours were not so much fun. In complete darkness, we each took turns to navigate a leg while everyone else followed trying to figure out where we were.
The following morning we woke to a little snow and a lot of mist… more micro nav was the order of the day. After a full day on the Plateau we descended to a lower altitude just west of the Ski centre due to the threat of gale force winds closing in over night!
The following morning we woke to a little snow and a lot of mist… more micro nav was the order of the day. After a full day on the Plateau we descended to a lower altitude just west of the Ski centre due to the threat of gale force winds closing in over night!
We spent the evening with Pete instructing us to find a metre square and deliver a lecture on the flora and fauna within it!
Once in my tent I quickly fell into a deep sleep only to be woken at the crack of dawn by Ginger advising us to ‘abandon ship’. The weather forecast was right and his tent had collapsed during the night due to high winds. We packed up double quick and made a sharp retreat to the nearest venue for a debrief.
Waiting in the café drinking coffee and eating bacon butties was a nerve racking experience as Pete and Ginger sat in the car deciding our fate. With the result in there were 4 passes 3 deferrals and a fail, fortunately I had passed!
To say I was over the moon was an understatement.
I couldn’t have done this on my own and a big thanks has to go to all those who helped me along the way.
SPA next…
Once in my tent I quickly fell into a deep sleep only to be woken at the crack of dawn by Ginger advising us to ‘abandon ship’. The weather forecast was right and his tent had collapsed during the night due to high winds. We packed up double quick and made a sharp retreat to the nearest venue for a debrief.
Waiting in the café drinking coffee and eating bacon butties was a nerve racking experience as Pete and Ginger sat in the car deciding our fate. With the result in there were 4 passes 3 deferrals and a fail, fortunately I had passed!
To say I was over the moon was an understatement.
I couldn’t have done this on my own and a big thanks has to go to all those who helped me along the way.
SPA next…
