2011: A hill walking year! (part four)

This is the final part of my look back on 2011. As the post are written in reverse order I have attempted to re-order them so they appear in number order. hopefully this makes sense. This is the last of four posts and it might be a useful to reminder to explain that I really intended to start afresh in the New Year, but thought that it might help to give a flavour of what I undertook over the last twelve months.

October
This was to be the most important month of the year as in the final week I would undergo my ML assessment in the Cairngorms. Before this however there was still more preparation and practising to do. At the start of the month I arranged to meet some of the others undertaking the assessment with me (we had previously met on a refresher course back in May). We booked into the Youth Hostel at Borrowdale in the Lake district and organised our own ropework and virtual river crossings (why get wet when you don't have to!) and navigation exercises. This was a fun few days with evening chats and communal cooking, although two of our group decided to camp up  on Rosethwaite Fell. The overnight winds encouraged an early departure and they apparently slid much of the way down to the valley.

The last week of October saw us all gathered together up in the Cairngorms ready for our assessment. While most drove I let the train take the strain as the old British Rail adverts used to say and caught a train up from Kings Cross to Pitlochry, arriving early evening. Interestingly the majority of us had attended our training courses back in 2009. Mine was at Plas y Brenin during an extremely hot July, thankfully it was a bit cooler up in Scotland and the promised snow hadn't yet arrived. It was an extremely busy week with lots of boxes to get ticked and a three-day expedition across the Cairngorms from Glenshee to Mar Lodge in a rather convoluted fashion. By the end of the week the majority of us passed but two were deferred on their navigation.

November
A short break and then off the Peak District to help with some leadership and navigation training. An interesting insight into how people think and act when out in the open countryside. It also makes you think about how you do things yourself, so very useful. Straight afterwards I headed to the Yorkshire Dales for a week of leading. Some fantastic walks in this area including Mallerstang Edge and Smardale. Some of which includes part of or is near the Coast to Coast walk that I would like to attempt in 2012. The month concluded with another trip to the Lake District, this time on a train the trainers type course based in the Langdale valley.

Smardale Bridge

For a variety of reasons December has been rather quiet on the walking front, although January is looking promising. To compensate I decided to take an introduction to climbing course at the local climbing wall. This is not something that comes naturally to me as I do prefer to have my feet firmly on the ground, but it was more enjoyable than I imagined it would be. So 2012 will hopefully build my confidence indoors at least.