On this course, we covered the full range of skills needed for mountain leadership. On the first day, this predominantly involved micro-navigation, with some learning about the mountain environment. This was followed on the second day by group management, supervision and supporting group members over difficult terrain walking from the Ogwen valley. The third day was based at the centre, covering the emergency ropework, access & environmental issues, river crossing and emergency actions, including carrying a casualty (not advised – it's hard work!). The fourth day involved further work on providing security on steep ground and emergency techniques – belays, abseils and confidence roping on the 'craglets' above Pen-y-Pass and finished in time for us to return and get organised for the expedition part of the course.

The expedition took the final 2 days of the course, starting at Bethesda and walking over the Carneddau to our campsite near a llyn. After taking it in turns to navigate and 'lead' the group, we arrived at our campsite, pitched our tents and cooked our supper. We climbed up to a nearby peak just in time to see the sun set and after a short stop at the top (made better by the instructor making tea – I'm now after a JetBoil!), we set off on our night navigation exercise. Working in pairs, we found our patch of flat ground on the mountainside then kept track while the other pairs went looking for their puddles/tarns. We arrived back at camp and crashed into our tents for a gusty night! The final day involved further turns at leading and managing the group, on our way back to the Ogwen valley and our waiting minibus! We returned to Plas-y-Brenin to get sorted for the journey home and to debrief.

The days out were reinforced with evening lectures on weather, environment, route planning and some use of the climbing wall (not part of the course, but nice to get to know the other people on the course and always fun!). Overall, a very valuable week and I hope to return soon for assessment. I hope it will be as much fun!

Following the success of last year’s First Aid Course, the club decided to run a second this year, bringing back the fantastic instructor, Louise. This was to be the same as the one from the year before: a Level 2 Wilderness First Aid Course. This aims to cover basic first aid skills, but places more of an emphasis on how casualties are to be dealt with in exposed and remote environments, as opposed to urban ones, where emergency services are seldom more than several minutes from the casualty (as opposed to hours in wilderness environments). Louise’s knowledge of many different scenarios and how to deal with them was truly first class. She has also had first-hand experience of dealing with many of the problems with which we dealt, thus being able to root the theory in real-life examples. The course was run at Girton, giving many who weren’t at Girton the opportunity to actually visit too. While the hillwalkers on this year’s course will still in greatest number (six of us - only four of them applied for and received AGTF funding), there were a few from other societies too, in order to fill the course – four from the Cambridge University Travellers’ and Explorers’ Club and one from the Cambridge University Rambling Club. One person had to pull out on the morning of the course.

Those who had been on first aid courses before (not many of us) recalled the standard ABC procedure for checking casualties. This was expanded to AAABCDEEE, with each letter representing the following: Assess Incident, Assess Patient, Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Damage, Emotional Care, Environmental Consideration and Evacuation. It wasn’t long after the initial theory of the day that we were undertaking our first practical, which involved the AAABC letters of the above sequence. The day continued to focus on these aspects. Practicals and scenarios were in abundance, with the theory being nicely broken up by these. The grass and wooded area outside the room in Girton were ideal for these; although, initially we had used the middle of a small road due to the grass being wet… Thankfully this didn’t result in any real first-aid incidents. Being able to lie unconsciously was particularly appealing given many of those taking part were shattered after the second Cambridge term of the year. Some superb acting was seen during other scenarios, where participants were asked to have pretend panic attacks or otherwise. The first day concluded with some CPR-training on Little Anne, who failed to come around as a result. Given there is only a 0.02% chance of this occurring if the heart stopping wasn’t caused as a result of drowning or a lightning strike, I can’t say any of us were particularly optimistic to begin with anyway.

The second day moved onto the D (Damages) section of the sequence. These are normally the things that one will have to deal with in a first aid situation, including burns, cuts and fractures. There was also some work on spinal injuries, although Louise said she hoped none of us would ever have to deal with such things as it would really be a nightmare. Nevertheless, log rolls onto spinal boards were practised. Our scenarios during the second day moved into Girton’s Orchard, near to where lacrosse matches were being played. One of Girton’s second-year match commentators was particularly eager to ensure that we weren’t tourists trying to steal the Orchard’s apples (in March..?)! I think we did have a couple of ‘deaths’ over the two days’ worth of scenarios, but relative to the number of scenarios completed, this is probably acceptable. Some discussion of altitude was included in the day at one participant’s request. The day finished with some talk of what should be included in a first aid kit. SAM splints were something many of us hadn't heard of before the course, but which we now all thought were key first-aid items and as such will purchase one. During one scenario, one participant also demonstrated how this can be immensely useful for punishing a casualty whose illness had been stupidly self-inflicted as a result of lack of water and food...

I can say with some certainty that all had enjoyed the days and were now (more) equipped with the skills to deal with first aid incidents in mountain (desert, rainforest, river or volcano) environments. Hopefully, such incidents won’t need to be dealt with anytime soon, but having the skills to be able to do so makes us all much more confident about enjoying the time we do spend outdoors. (Only weeks after last year’s First Aid Course, several members did have to deal with a casualty on a canoeing trip; let’s hope this isn’t repeated this year.)

Anyone considering doing such a course in the future is strongly recommended to do so; everybody who regularly goes to such exposed and dangerous environments should be equipped with these skills. Of course, they also come in useful in urban environments too.

Andrew Williamson, 21 March 2011

The two-day winter skills course in the Highlands (Torridon) was an excellent introduction to winter mountaineering, covering the basics of moving on the snow, stopping yourself from moving on the snow, belaying, and abseiling. The NineOneSix instructors were very friendly and knowledgeable, especially about the local mountains (and where to find snow at the end of March), and open to suggestions of what to cover in the course. At a price of £87 for a two-day course and accommodation, it’s also a bargain!