A half term break character building.

I spent last week in the Cairngorms assisting Windermere School with their Gold Duke of Edinburgh expeditions. I met a few of the teams during their practice walk in March and it was good to see them out on the hills putting the skills and knowledge they learnt then into practice. Monday and Tuesday were training days and we looked at emergency procedures, navigation skills, personal and group kit and river crossings whilst surviving the best Scotland could throw at us weather wise; snow showers and persistent rain in June is certainly character building! We were lucky the deep area of low pressure which brought the storms and rain to the south of England and Wales didn't hang about in the NE of Scotland.

Snow and hoared up buttress on Coire an Lochain.

I also managed to sneak in a few Munro's during the week and spotted some great periglacial features.

Ploughing boulder and solifluction lobes on the East side of Brearich

My group was pretty easy to follow with their Sombrero's on.

The groups covered around 80km over four days from the north to south Cairngorms. They needed tenacity, team work, leadership and a range of mountain skills to get them through the expedition. Skills and experiences that I think are best learnt outdoors and which I'm sure will stay with them and help with many of life's challenges!