5 Days of DofE and Mountain Skills
Each year we work for South London School in Snowdonia. They have a 3 year rolling programme to complete their Gold DofE expedition section.
- Year 1 Training
- Year 2 Practice expedition
- Year 3 Assessed expedition
Each year the whole group comes up and carries out their 5 day programme. This year, for the first time, we put all the training group through the Mountain Skills course as part of their training. We had 2 groups on training this year and decided to run the Mountain Skills course in the first 2 days of the programme before setting out on a 3 day training expedition involving a wild camp above Pen-Y-Pass.
On day 1 we did much of the navigation part of the Syllabus from Capel Curig making our way up to Crimpiau via Clogwyn-mawr. We had fine views from the top to the North East over Llyn Crafnant Reservoir. Our decent was an ambitious drop off the edge down steep heathery slopes.
Day 2 took us up Moel Siabod via the South East Ridge. This meant we could cover steep ground really well and as they were an ‘up for it’ group it meant that we could take the sporting line for the entire ridge. As we approached the top I learnt that a group can download an app on their phones which then links the phones via bluetooth that means that all phones play the same music chosen by one of the group. The group learnt (after I got over the wow that is so cool factor) that I don’t appreciate groups listening to music in the mountains.
The 3 day expedition started at Capel Curig headed west to Little Tryfan then over the Miner Track and down to Llyn Cwmffynnon for the night. This meant there was a big hill to climb with low cloud and a strong south wind to welcome us when we got to the top. It was my first time over the Miner’s track and the low cloud and the lack of a track on the ground meant that their navigation and in particular relocation training from the previous few days was put to the test. After a water stop on the way down we found our camping spot and I managed to find somewhere a little way away from the group with awesome views but with a bit of a slope on it.
After a wet and windy night and morning, day 2 of the expedition took us over Snowdon. and despite having been up Snowdon in excess of 20 times this was the first time I’ve seen the trains running while on the mountain (I’m normally that way either in Winter or on a Welsh 3000’s challenge at about 6am). We camped the night in Llanberis and did a treasure hunt / wide game / navigation type activity in the areas around Llanberis on the last day.
It was great to have a group for 5 days and the Mountain Skills syllabus fitted beautifully into their training package. Looking forward to meeting them next year for their practice expedition.
