Training and Mentoring

I have no doubt that, ever since people started going to the hills, they have been telling each other their techniques and tricks for going faster, higher, longer and so on. In fact, I don't believe this only applies to hill-walking – more likely it is an in-built trait of human beings that we like to tell others what we have discovered. Provided, you are not giving away military secrets, this trait has obvious evolutionary (survival) advantages so I suspect it goes very deep. Anyway, sharing knowledge and learning from other's experiences, be it from listening to stories in the pub, or reading the club newsletter, is something we all like to do and a deal of this goes on at every club outing. This is good and the last thing anyone wants to do is discourage it. However, those of us who have been around for a few more years than they like to say, will tell you that some of this information is, shall we say, not quite “24 carat gold”. One aim of the training and mentoring efforts, organised by the club, is to provide members, especially inexperienced members, with a foundation of reliable knowledge which they can build on, both from their own personal experience and from that of others.



Training Courses

The club organises, from time to time, several short training courses. These are typically of one or two days duration, held locally and use the services of a professional mountain guide or similar qualified person. These courses are subsidised through a grant which the club has obtained from SportScotland but participants should expect to pay (currently) 50% of the cost up to a maximum of £20 per day.

Topics for which it is planned to run training courses this year are :





Mentoring



This is a new initiative, due mainly to Andrew and Stuart, which is an attempt to organise, in a slightly less haphazard way, the experience-sharing which is described in the first paragraph. Formally, it amounts to nothing more that putting together someone who has significant experience, and is willing to dedicate some time to sharing it, with some less-experienced individual , or individuals, who wish to learn. It may take place during short halts on club outings (so it is good excuse to get your breath back !) or on dedicated outings. Aspects of navigation seem to be particularly suitable for the former and those who attended recent walks will have noticed several discussions with maps and compasses being waved around. Nothing new about this, of course, except that now it is not just the usual “experts” arguing with each other but also the less experienced mentorees (If there is such a word.) Clearly, this is excellent – an often-heard criticism of club walks is that most members (everyone other than the “experts” in fact) just “go with the flow” and forget rather than develop their navigation skills.

As an example of a “dedicated outing” mentoring session, Andrew (mentor), Jean and Ron (mentorees) spent Easter Sunday on a mentoring day to practice their scrambling. The location was the famous Ziz-Zag route up Gear Aonach in Glencoe. There was some talk of going on to Stob Coire nan Lochan and Bidean nam Bian and maybe even Stob Coire Sgreamach but that was not the objective for the day. The objective was for Jean and Ron to get some experience on a scrambling route. The Zig-Zags is just the sort of route which experienced scramblers go up and down with their hands in their pockets but self-confessed “rubbish scramblers” would not normally go near. As you can see Gear Aonach looks extremely intimidating and it is hard to believe it is other than the preserve of serious rock climbers. We set off up the tourist path to the "Lost Valley" but it was soon clear that was not where we were going, when Andrew pointed out a faint grassy path which Ron, who was leading at the time, had walked right past. This made its way up to the foot of the cliff but we still could not see how there could possibly be a route, for the likes of us anyway, up the face. We did, however, take the time to scramble up several small rocks on the way.

Eventually the path did become clear, of course, and we followed it up, taking in several "special" sections which Andrew seemed to be familiar with. One thing which Ron was realising by now was that Andrew climbed using footholds which he (Ron) could not even see ! Oh well. We also tried to pick out the route ahead using “welly marks” as opposed to the more common, residual water courses. This is clearly something which requires a lot of practice. Also, if the only route you can cope with is the easiest one on the mountain, you had better not go off-route ! It was round about here that Andrew came out with the quote of the day - “This is not a good place to slip.” - Jean and Ron had thought of absolutely nothing else for the last 5 minutes.



Here is a picture of a rather airy lunch stop. Apart from the drop, by this time the wind was getting up and the weather was looking like it might not last much longer. Nonetheless, we continued up the remaining zigs and zags. The “interesting” bits seemed to be at the corners where the zigs joined the zags. This is where most of the scrambling was. In fact, most of the route really was a perfectly sensible path though in a fantastic situation. Finally, we had to climb up a gully (steep but lots of nice, big holds.) to get onto the top of the ridge.

So we decided to leave Stob Coire nan Lochan for another day and, after walking the length of the Gear Aonach ridge, we traversed down into the Lost Valley, by a very dubious path which some rather reckless deer had just about made for us.



Two final views of Gear Aonach on the way down from the Lost Valley. Certainly, a view of the Three Sisters from the Glencoe road will never be quite the same again. A quite extraordinary path and a very interesting day.

So what did we (Ron and Jean) learn and was it a worth while day ? Most definitely, yes. We did not tick any Munros but, hopefully, gained some insight into what is possible with a little more confidence (“It is all in the head.”) and will be less reluctant, in future, to venture into territory where “it is not a good place to slip”. Scrambling is not something which has a lot of technical bits and pieces to understand (Well, not for a beginner anyway.) - it is much more about confidence and picking out insignificant features on the rock. Spending the day in the company of a more experienced scrambler is a excellent way (very probably the only way ?) to pick these up. Thanks to our mentor for taking the time.



Postscript – Jean and Ron received the following a few days later. What is it about hillwalkers and tick-lists ?



Ron, Jean,
As promised, here is a short list of scrambles I think you should try. I have put them in order of difficulty (easiest first), although this is largely my, or Noel William's opinion. Another mentor may have his own favourites or other routes which he believes would be best for you:

Dinnertime Buttress (West face of Aonach Dubh, Glencoe)
East Ridge of Ben a' Chaorrain (Loch Laggan)
Pink Rib, Ben a' Chrulaiste (Glencoe)
Forcan Ridge, The Saddle (Glen Shiel) (On programme for 2.6)
Ledge Route, Ben Nevis
Aonach Eagach (Glencoe)
Curved Ridge, Buchaille Etive Mor, (Glencoe)

Almost any Club walk can offer a bit of scrambling, so take any opportunity to do a bit of bouldering. The more contact you have with rock, the more you'll see (and feel) the handholds and footholds that folk use to make it look so easy.

We will have some scrambling opportunities on Liathach in Torridon, so I'll bring the rope and gear. From the current programme, I see possibilities also for:-

29.4 Aonach Dubh a' Ghlinne
5.5 Ring of Steall
30.6 Some folk may want to do a Black Cuillin Ridge instead of the Red Cuillin. The nearest would be one of the 3 Sgurr nan Gillean ridges from Sligachan, in order of difficulty : The Tourist Route, West Ridge, and Pinnacle ridge (this last only if you've done a bit of abseiling by then).

Thanks for a great day on Sunday. I enjoyed pushing the boundaries with you two.

Cheers,

Andrew