West Lancashire Scouts - Snow & Ice

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Due to lack of participant this year, the dates for Snow & Ice 2010 have had to be rearranged. There will now only be one phase. Starting Friday evening 12th February and returning Wednesday afternoon 17th February. Because we only have one phase, numbers will now be reduced to 45 participants in total. Please note that places will be allocated on a first come first served basis. Those that already had their place confirmed will be moved into this

Objective

This event is open to all Explorer Scouts, Scout Network and Leaders from all Sections within the County.

For younger members, they'll get to learn the basic skills and experience Scottish Winters over four full on days, with overnight options out in the wilds and the social buzz on a residential. For the older members, there'll be opportunities to develop your skills to be self sufficient in the mountains, understand the risks and grow experience in a controlled environment. For those with more experience, they will be able to hone their skills further, obtain permits and inso doing benefit scounting within West Lancashire.

This is the second year that we are using online applications. Any correspondance will be via email, sms and this website.

To apply

Read through the details of Snow and Ice below, or speak to others that have been previous years to decide if this is for you.

Complete the online application, then within two weeks send the full payment. This should be in the form of two Cheques. (Cheque 1: £55 deposit. Cheque 2: £100 remainder, post dated 15th January 2010). Unsuccessful applicants will have these cheques returned. 

Await confirmation. This is will be on a first come, first served basis.

Enjoy the Snow in Scotland.

If you have any questions, feel free to email us on snowice@landactivities.com

You can follow your application and using the Who's Applied link.

Phase I

Up in Minibuses, Friday Evening, 12th February; 4 mountain days, Friday to Monday; Return by Minibuses, Wednesday Morning, 17th February.

Venue

We will be based in the Cairngorm area of Scotland. Accommodation will be in Nethy House, Nethy Bridge, just north of Aviemore, with easy access to the Cairngorm Mountains and further a field. The House itself copes with a maximum of 67 in bunk style accommodation. Excluding staff, this allows us to have a maximum of 45 participants.

Participants

Anyone from the County wishing to develop their own skills, gain more experience or simply have four days of mountain activity will be very welcome. The Scottish Winters can be quite demanding and the distances that we generally are walking, means that any participant should be reasonably fit, at minimum is a regular walker, and is capable of four long physically demanding days in the hills.

Explorer Scouts will be VERY welcome, as long as they are mature, fit, self-reliant, and a good sense of humour. Generally teenagers only develop stamina around 15. Because of this, we ask, Explorer Scouts to check with your Leaders to affirm that they are physically capable of taking part and benefiting from this experience.

There are opportunities for Explorer Scout Leaders with an interest in hill walking and particularly if they are aslo D1 MIDAS drivers, to join our Leader Team. Please contact Tim Stewart for further details.

Travel

The plan is for Phase One to travel up in Minibuses - leaving the County by 17.00hrs on the Friday. This should get us to Nethy House just before midnight. Based on 67, we will be arranging for five minibuses – pick up points to be arranged shortly.

Phase One will return by minibuses early Wednesday morning and be dropped off at home. All times & pick-ups will be confirmed two weeks before the event via email and the website.

Equipment

You'll certainly need an ice axe and crampons. We have a good stock of spare axes and crampons – but anyone who has been on this programme for more than two years should really by now have their own. If your personal gear is designed for summer use you need to think about updating or borrowing… or getting for Xmas! 

Bring expedition gear with you if you are considering this.

You will need a good pair of waterproof walking boots. Fabric/suede trainer-type or floppy boots are quite unacceptable, nor safe, nor suitable for the winter conditions expected. We have a stock of good quality Mountain Boots and Wind/Waterproof Jacket and Trousers. There will be a nominal hire charge of £5 (Boots) and £10 (Wind/Waterproofs) - payment when ordering. Please reserve these won your application. For safety reasons, those with inadequate gear will be expected to hire ours. A full equipment list is available online, you'll find the kitlist.

Activities

This is dependent upon the prevailing weather conditions. This is NOT a “formal” training course and participants can very much choose their activities, apart from the first day when, for safety purposes, everyone is given a winter skills technical refresher. Experienced Mountain Leaders are available to provide Leadership and Instruction for Groups venturing into the mountains, and can help develop snow and ice techniques and navigational skills. We cater for walkers with both low level and high level winter walking, and climbers with gully climbing and ice climbing.

There will be opportunities to build snow holes which the more adventurous may wish to sleep in up on the plateau overnight, or walk to a mountain bothy for an overnight stay, or on a two day expedition through the Lairig Ghru or Strath Nethy from Braemar to Glenmore In the evenings there will be opportunities for further discussion and training, or just to have a good crack in the Nethy House bar.

This event is about providing an all-round mountain experience and as such there will be an opportunity on each phase for skiing. Whether that be on piste at either Cairngorm Mountain or the Lecht, back country in the Glenmore forests or ski mountaineering on the Cairngorm Plateau. All of these will be snow condition dependant.

Presentations on walking or climbing are held twice weekly at Glenmore Lodge: their fascinating lecture on avalanches is worth seeing! There will also be an opportunity for higher level Permit assessments with prior arrangement with Geoff, the County Land Activities Adviser. Over 18 Rules may be applied if required although, because you are participating in an organised event, we reserve the right to ask you to modify your intentions on the grounds of safety.

 

Leadership, Instructors & Safety

A team of experienced mountain leaders with backgrounds in Winter, Alpine mountaineering and Arctic Expeditions will be available for instruction, leadership and mountain supervision. Because of the potentially serious nature of some of the activities, everybody must agree to comply with any “recommendations” (instructions!) given. We again have Andy Brown MIC BASI, the County’s Technical Mountaineering Adviser, with us.

Catering

This event is an all-in package - bunk accommodation, transport and food (haute cuisine from the 3rd Foot and Mouth). We provide from the time you arrive at Nethy House, to when you depart. Nosh-stops will be made on the journey and we suggest you supplement our packed lunches with a few of your own hi-energy food, cereal bars, Mars bars, etc.

Cost

The cost of each phase is £155. These costs are inclusive of accommodation, transport, food and equipment (excluding boots & wind/waterproofs). There will also be an additional cost for some activities like skiing or mountain biking for hire of equipment. Full payment is expected at time of applying.

Polo Shirts

Participants will have the opportunity to purchase Dark Blue, West Lancashire Scouts Mountaineering Group Polo shirts, whilst on the scheme, with the SNOW & ICE logo as a souvenir. These will cost £12.50 and payment is expected at the time of your booking.