The club ran a successful trip to Glencoe with a focus on winter hillwalking. To build skills and confidence in winter conditions, two 2-day winter skills courses were ran during the course of the trip (one with Iain Gallagher of Kendal Mountaineering Services and the other with Dave Farrow, ex-CUHWC president).

The trip started off with some sketchy weather but the forecast gradually improved, culminating with a cold, sunny final day to the trip (and a new CUHWC letters photo, see website home page).

Some course feedback:
'Instruction seemed detailed and thorough, with plenty of practical tips'
'Overall, a great course and I feel a lot more confident to head out in winter.'
'As far as feedback for the trip goes, I thought the length of time was good and that the Winter Skills course with Ian was outstanding, and that Glencoe is a beautiful area.'
'The course was really good and I felt like I really profited from it, particularly the next day when we could test out the things we learnt.'

The course taught participants the skills to be able to deal with medical incidents many miles away from medical help, with the focus being on practical first aid skills using only the limited medical equipment one would take while hillwalking. The course is also recognised by the MLTUK and other outdoor governing bodies.

Two groups of three took part in a scrambling course with instructors from Kendal Mountaineering Services, learning the basics of scrambling and associated skills. Participants learnt basic ropework techniques such as tying on and short roping through to more technical skills such as those required for assessing and selecting suitable belays, placing running belays where needed and developing those judgement skills to decide when to move together quickly or pitch parts of the route.

Feedback from participants:

'I thought the course was very well run and interesting. The leader was also flexible and was happy to change to course slightly to cover the kind of stuff we wanted to learn. It really helped with becoming more confident with moving over steeper ground during a walk. Would definitely recommend.'

'The course was very enjoyable. Our instructor was very competent and crafted the course to fit our needs. Over the two days we were given a thorough grounding in scrambling and having done the course I feel confident to tackle what would have otherwise been daunting scrambles. The course was very hands on, before it began I worried it would be a series of safety lectures as we wandered up a hill, this couldn’t have been more off base.'

'We took the first half of the first day slowly to cover the basics of scrambling, beginning with an overview of the foibles of the scrambling guidebook and some tips on how to use it. We then headed East from the car park, South of Dale Head bunkhouse, to White How, which was our first scramble. At the bottom we broke out our helmets and harnesses before ascending, learning relevant rope work along the way.

Having contoured to Seathwaite tarn and lunched there, we rounded the tarn to our afternoon scramble: Shudderstone How. Here we were given the chance to put some of what we had learnt that morning into practice with more autonomy in assessing and choosing our routes. We were also taught some more rope work, perhaps going slightly beyond what we might need in a Hillwalkers expedition, but useful and interesting nonetheless.

The second day saw us driving North from the bunkhouse and ascending Ulpha Fell in a series of scrambles. Again, we were given a lot of autonomy, with guidance where needed from our instructor interspersed with some teaching, tips and tricks.

A solid portion of both days was spend scrambling, as evidenced by the short horizontal distance of each route. Also worth noting is the ratio of three hillwalkers to one instructor, I thought this ratio was great.'

The club's annual REC2 First Aid course is a chance for members to upskill in the area of mountain first aid and injury care. As such it is an important part of keeping the club's day-to-day trip activities safe.

The class involved some theory, practicals, and acted-out scenarios. Participants covered "skills that would be pertinent to any outdoor or indoor situation like checking vital signs, CPR, and treating a patient who is choking. Then, we covered skills more specific to wilderness and hillwalking such as hypothermia and even altitude sickness."

Feedback from the course:

• "Having little prior knowledge about first aid, this course was immensely useful to me."
• "The instructor had a really effective teaching style. The diversity of teaching tools helped us stay engaged and it solidified the information. She also shared a lot of anecdotes and continuously asked us for feedback on what we wanted to know."
• "I feel the course is quite useful, giving a systematic teaching about all the skills we need to do the outdoor first aid. Lots of practices were organised through the course and it helps much to make the theory to be part of us. Thanks a lot."
• "Maybe we could design more complicated situations to mimic the real incident we might encounter."
• "A lot to take in within a short period of time - but that’s the nature of a 2-day course I suppose."

Scrambling forms a core subset of members' activities on trips, and this course offered an introduction to roping techniques for scrambling.

"We learnt basic techniques involving ropes to make scrambling safer. We covered roping in, moving as a group on a rope, belaying techniques, as well as abseiling. The first day was around Glenridding and was a good introduction, and we put the skills into practice on the second day, near Langdale. Each of the three group members had the opportunity to lead and benefit from Iain's close guidance."

Participants learnt a variety of rope skills, including "familiarity with kit/equipment for scrambling (harness, climbing rope, krabs, slings, nuts), familiarity with knots (figure-8, clove hitch, overhand knot, italian knot) , be-laying techniques (body belaying, direct & indirect belaying), selecting safe anchors, moving together with a rope, ensuring secure nut placement, assisting and safeguarding other scrambling parties, ensuring good communication between scrambling members."

Good and bad feedfback about the course:

• Very well organized course, experienced instructors, felt safe throughout, right group size, second day provided opportunity to put material learned on first day to practice
• I was overall very satisfied with the course. I feel I have learnt some valuable skills should I ever want to do a more involved course to build on that. More importantly, I had never done any climbing / serious scrambling so the course offered me a good introduction to it!
• Useful to increase confidence in scrambling and feel more secure on more challenging terrain
• Course format is very good. The instructor Iain was very nice, knowledgeable and pedagogical.
• Really helpful skills, friendly and knowledgeable instructor, opens up new doors
• Could be a bit slow sometimes, thought we would be able to cover more
• Scrambling on first day involved climbing up through lots of heather

Anyone can have an accident at any time – it’s a sad fact of life. Knowing first aid skills relevant to dealing with an accident is really important: as well as potentially saving a life, you’ll also feel much more comfortable and confident out and about.

REC 2 is all about basic steps to take to preserve life and aid recovery, with a heavy slant on first aid in the outdoors where resources may be limited and help be some time away.

Skills acquired:

• First aid kit – equipment to pack in different situations.
• Concrete first aid techniques – First response procedure (DRABC), CPR, recovery position, choking, log roll, dressing injuries, tourniquets, epi-pens, etc. Also more generalised advice on hypothermia, stroke, burn, diabetes, tics and more.
• Practice in first response and preliminary diagnosis with lots of simulated first aid situations.
• Legal / procedural aspects of providing first aid and medicine – very useful as (Arion is the) incoming safety officer. Would recommend to future incoming safety officers if they don't already have this experience.

Good and bad points about the course:

• Being an outdoors course, the scenarios were all really relevant to hillwalking and climbing. Being on the course with other outdoors-y people meant lots of people had their own experiences to share.
• Lots of practical work – practising techniques on dummies and real people, and extended injury simulations which were very useful in synthesising these techniques.
• Tangentially, it was good to practise using an epi-pen (+other brands) as I can never remember which way up it goes!
• The trainer was experienced and we got a lot of practical training, a bit more on hypothermia would have been nice.

2-day scrambling course on the Rydal trip, covering using ropes and moving as a group. In the first day we learnt how to use ropes, how to tie knots and different body positions to help other people. We did two small scrambles near Coniston Old Man and Yew Pike, though we didn’t finish the latter due to bad weather.

On the second day, we practised scrambling on Jack’s Rake.

The instructors were well organised, patient and experienced; although some participants thought there wasn’t enough practice during the 2 days, and that perhaps 2 days was too short.

Everyone got to try all the different positions — leading, being in the middle and being the last person. We did a couple of different scrambles, none of which were particularly challenging, which left plenty of time and energy to focus on things like doing knots right and repeating things we didn’t get the first time around.

“If you think climbing is difficult and dangerous, you will change your mind, with confidence.”

One participant suggested that participants with basic climbing experience would be better suited to the course if they wish to confidently lead after the second day.

Winter skills course in March 2015, led by Nineonesix Guiding, in Scotland.

On the first of our three days we headed up above the snowline to learn how to stay upright on steep, snowy ground — kicking and cutting steps, ice axe usage and then walking with crampons — followed by some self-arresting. Sufficiently soaked, we put our skills to the test and climbed the ridge onto our first Munroe, Aonach Mor, with great views across to Ben Nevis. The next day took us to Glen Coe where we learned some rope skills, including how to abseil with a snow anchor and belay with a snow bucket and ice axe. Our reward on the last day with a traverse of the second half of the CMD Arete which was a great way to consolidate and bag another Munroe on Carn Mor.

Basics of 1st aid in outdoor environment, suitable for beginners. The course mostly focused on the DR ABC method and equipped us with a good set of skills to deal with the major sources of accident that could happen during a walk with CUHWC. The following topics were covered, in terms of diagnosis and first treatment: cardiac arrest, concussion, fractures, compression, stroke, heart attack, anaphylactic shock, asthma, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, shock, spinal injury, internal chest wound, epileptic seizures, hypothermia, faint, hypoglycaemia.

The course knew its limits. Scenarios were useful. Outdoor-focussed — it didn’t assume we’d have all the facilities and equipment likely to be found in civilised areas. It rained!

An excellent opportunity for those involved to either brush up their skills or to learn from nothing! The instructor (Angie) was good and allowed the content to be skewed slightly to what was most useful for us as hillwalkers. She had good war stories.

One of the attendees specifically took the course after a trip where they helped someone with a head injury on Haystacks; they now feel prepared for more, and would recommend it to all hillwalkers.

The course was held in Christ’s College. It began as a classroom exercise with a healthy mix of discussions and scenarios as we covered the DrABCs (Danger, Airways, Breathing, Circulation). Next we moved on to other common ailments (allergic reactions, chocking, stroke [FAST], heart attack, Diabetes and Hypothermia). Of these, hypothermia was of particular interest! In general, however, our instructor was particularly adept at relating the material we were covering to our interests in the outdoors. We regularly moved outside on to Christ’s Pieces and had some more in-depth scenarios. The course was a useful refresher of familiar first aid practices and introduction to new practices. The outdoor scenarios were particularly useful.

The course was held in Churchill College in Easter Term. Our instructor, Ric, got started right away and we quickly revised all the material from the REC 2 course in the first morning. We then took a break from the class room and used a few scenarios to make sure we had a firm grasp on this foundation material. The afternoon was then spent introducing some new concepts and revisiting others in greater depth. Highlights (for me at least) included learning how to stabilize a broken pelvis, apply traction to a broken femur, and what to do in case of cold injury. The next morning we returned early and spent a little more time in the classroom covering hygiene and snake and insect bites before heading outside of an afternoon of scenarios. These were much more complex than those we encountered in the REC 2 course. I think, all participants will agree these were the highlight of the course. It was great to be able to spend several hours consolidating the skills we had just learnt.

Rose Pearson

The course was held in Girton College. It began as a classroom exercise with a healthy mix of discussions and scenarios as we covered the DrABC’s (Danger, Airways, Breathing, Circulation). Next we moved on to other common ailments (allergic reactions, chocking, stroke [FAST], heart attack, Diabetes and Hypothermia). Of these, Hypothermia was of particular interest! In general, however, our instructor (Angie) was particularly adept at relating the material we were covering to our interests in the outdoors. With this all covered by lunch on the second day, we moved outside and began some more in-depth scenarios. The participants on the course agreed it was a useful refresher of familiar first aid practices and introduction to new practices. In addition, the participants found the outdoor scenarios to be particularly useful. The participants should now have the skills required to respond quickly and safety to any medical incident they are likely to encounter in the hills.

Rose Pearson

Starting from the bunkhouse Nick (the instructor) introduced us to the 4Ds of direction, distance, description and duration. Using these categories Nick got us to implement these in practice in order to navigate and plan our route to the walnar scar track and up to white pike. Repeating this process several times we went across to white maiden before descending attempting (and largely failing) to try and find an old path which crossed our route. On our way up Caw Nick got us to implement our compasses and use bearings to send us in search of ring contours so that we could get a handle on the greater intricacies of map navigation. All members on the course agreed it was a good refresher of previous knowledge as well as an introduction to concepts they had not met before. All participants should be able to guide walks more confidently in future.

Based on the grade-3 Pinnacle Ridge on St Sunday Crag in the Lake District, the course involved teaching us the basic scrambling techniques and skills involved in undertaking a high-end scrambling route. Firstly, we were taught the tricks of scrambling navigation (which as we proved can be one of the trickiest aspects!) through choosing the correct line up the rock through the use of a guidebook.

On the easier, less exposed section of the scramble, we practiced our balance, learning to read the rock and position our hand and feet accordingly to remain as stable as possible. As we began to scramble up the ridge, we donned our harnesses and helmets and began to practice ropework, practicing setting up belays to provide security on exposed terrain, and support any less confident members of a group, using a variety of slings and nuts. On the crux of the route, a short section of Moderate rock climb, we learnt how a walk leader might place protection during the climb to protect themselves in the result of a fall.

Overall, all four participant learnt a great deal from the course, and are now much more confident about undertaking (and leading) scrambling routes in the future.

We spent an enjoyable two days under the instruction of Louise Worsley, who has led several first aid courses for the club before. We covered the basics of first aid, and then worked through a variety of fun and useful scenarios, covering many first aid situations which could occur while hill walking. The scenarios also taught us how to manage an emergency scene, which turned out to be more important than we thought.

There were 12 participants on the course, with the other 10 coming from other outdoors groups in Cambridge — an arrangement which worked very well.

Everyone passed the course, and enjoyed the two days with Louise. The two CUHWC members, as well as the members of other outdoors groups, should be more confident in dealing with medical emergencies in future.

We started the day by recapping map reading, including the important difference between paths and rights of way, as well as how to read contours. Starting from the bunkhouse, Nick (the instructor) made us navigate around the valley, reading out our location each time and planning our route to a given destination using the 4 Ds: direction, description, distance and duration. We repeated this several times on our way to Green Crag, also covering timing and counting steps on the way as well as some aspects of route planning (avoiding bogs, for example). After climbing Green Crag, Nick introduced us to compass bearings, and we used them to navigate some ring contours on our descent in cloudy conditions. Overall everyone seemed pleased with the course. Various members of the group should be able to confidently lead walks in future.

Gareth Davies of Blue Peris provided an excellent ML course in unseasonable conditions. Some of the navigation and group management techniques taught on the course will be useful when leading walks and scrambles on club trips.

The Mountain Leader training course at Blue Peris (Snowdonia) was really good fun and allowed me to improve my confidence at navigation, particularly in difficult visibility and learn new skills such as rope work for walking groups.

We learnt a lot about ropework on glaciers and rock routes, crampons, ice axes, crevasse rescue etc. and had extensive practice with all of these, but also gained experience in planning and executing longer alpine tours. We also refreshed our knowledge of basic navigation and first aid in the mountains. Spending time in the mountains with a guide has really improved my confidence to now go and plan my own routes and alpine tours. I would certainly recommend it to anyone planning getting into alpine mountaineering.

The Mountain Leader training course at Blue Peris (Snowdonia) was really good fun and had an excellent mix of learning new skills, such as rope work and river crossings, and practising old skills, such as navigation. It’s a great course for people who just want to improve their skills for themselves as well as those who plan to lead groups in the future. I would definitely recommend it to all members of CUHWC.

This highly successful course was run by Jon Parry to enhance all of our skills in Outdoor First Aid and in particular to increase our ability to respond in situations where First Aid or Medical Assistance is needed in really remote situations such as on expedition. We learnt about a full range of First Aid, from dealing with severe cases of trauma to how to avoid, and the importance of not ignoring early signs of dehydration and heat exhaustion, all important and useful knowledge to have in situations both on CUHWC trips and on other hillwalking or mountaineering trips with CUHWC members.

Louise Worsley provided an excellent course teaching participants how to respond to a variety of emergencies in the outdoor environment. The two-day course began with classroom theory sessions during which we were taught the basics of diagnostics and treatment. The best part of the second day was spent practising our newly acquired skills through role play. During role playing a variety of potential injuries were encountered - open fractures, hypothermia, sprains, blisters and exhaustion. In every instance the casualty recovered remarkably quickly.

I am confident that the course participants are now much better equipped to help in a real emergency than they were before the course.

After navigating to the start of Pinnacle Ridge, a grade-3 scramble, we spent an hour practising emergency rope work for helping nervous or injured walkers from the hillside. We then donned harness and helmet before starting up the ridge. On easy terrain at the bottom of the ridge we practised setting up belay stations with various combinations of slings, nuts and cams. The scenario we were set was that “a competent group” member should lead a pitch, set up a belay station then bring up less confident group members. Each of us was given ample opportunity to play the role of the competent member. As we approached the crux, a 5m section graded as a moderate rock climb, we were shown how a leader might place gear for protection during a climb.

Overall the four participants were very pleased with the content of the course.

For a second description of the course, go here and scroll down to Mark's course report.

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!

Seemingly minor first aid incidents can rapidly become very serious in a wilderness situation where exposed to the elements and with no immediate access to hospital facilities and carrying only minimal amounts of equipment (ie when hillwalking). Priorities change and first aid becomes a much more inventive process of ‘making do’ with what you do have with you. A group of Cambridge hillwalkers attended a two-day wilderness first aid course at the end of Easter term 2010, in order to learn effective first aid knowledge, procedures and skills for a ‘wilderness’ situation...

Thursday dawned bright and early (very early for those who had returned home at dawn from May Week festivities...) and a group of fresh (and not so fresh)-faced hillwalkers found their way to Jesus forum ready to begin the eagerly anticipated Wilderness First Aid Course. Introductions revealed the tremendous scope of participants’ outdoor activities and the (rather limited) extent of prior wilderness first aid knowledge. Nevertheless, our trainer Louise was undaunted and optimistic. The day’s proceedings got off to a fascinating start, with an abundance of acronyms and acrostics to guide us through the twists and turns of basic wilderness first aid knowledge. Theory was complimented by practice throughout, with participants donning sunhats and shades to venture out into the ‘wilderness’ of Jesus College gardens for ‘live’ scenarios. Significant sleep-deprivation failed to manifest itself, even in unconscious casualties, and panic attacks were definitely energy-abundant, whether triggered by trees, feathers or other unusual ‘phobias’. On Friday, participants progressed to broken bones, allergies, serious wounds and spinal injuries. Unfortunately, having been told that spinal injuries can only occur after a 1m drop or a collision with a speed difference of 30mph, one participant demonstrated that it is all too easy for the memory to combine these conditions so that a 30m drop is needed before ‘spinals’ become worthy of consideration... Nonetheless, much was learned in the relaxed but conscientious atmosphere.

Overall, the course was a resounding success, teaching an enormous amount to all and much enjoyed. We greatly appreciated the knowledge and wisdom passed onto us by our brilliant trainer, Louise. But this appreciation became particularly real when a number of us found the need to apply our newly acquired skills less than a fortnight later, on an unofficial trip to the wild backwaters of the Norfolk Broads. It was a shock for some to see real blood in place of stripy green and yellow gaffa tape, to the extent that one casualty almost became two... However, the situation was salvaged by the other capable wilderness first aiders, with the help of a positive group spirit (bordering on general amusement), some trusty latex gloves (unfortunately a pair which had already had an intimate acquaintance with Jesus’ gardens) and copious amounts of duct tape (note: in climates liable to see some sun –probably no need to worry about Scotland or the Lake District – choose SILVER rather than BLACK duct tape, in order to avoid burns). Within two more days, wilderness first aid experiences multiplied to include severe shock, high impact collisions (human on human...), phobias (of fish...?) and grievous burning of the tongue (surprisingly difficult to hold under running water for an entire minute...). I hasten to reassure readers that none of these injuries were incurred whilst actually hillwalking. However, it only goes to show that the skills learned in a Wilderness First Aid course can come in handy in almost any setting or situation.

Report written by Kirsty Brown, 11/08/2010

The ML training course run by Plas y Brenin is an excellent course for competent and experienced hillwalkers. In 6 days it covers pretty much all areas of hillwalking skills including advanced navigation, emergency ropework, emergency procedures, group leadership and campcraft. It develops your knowledge of the weather, the environment and the landscape.

The centre is very well run, the rooms are smart, the food excellent and the staff friendly and excellent teachers. The cost may be high but it is well worth it.

A great course for those new to navigation is the Pete Hawkins Bronze map and compass course. You will be introduced to the nuances of navigating over the course of two evening lectures and two practice days in Tideswell, in the Peak District.

Pete goes beyond the Bronze syllabus and allows you to practise not just map reading, but also compass navigation in a small group setting. Pete has 25+ years of hillwalking experience, and knows how to tailor the course at an individualised level, making him an ideal teacher.

I learned a whole lot in a really relaxed atmosphere, and the course was easy to get to by public transportation. If you need a place to stay, I recommend Poppies B&B as is it as cheap as a youth hostel, is ideally situated for the course, and is actually quite nice! I certainly would recommend this course for beginner navigators!

The outdoor first aid course I attended was refreshingly different in content and way of teaching to other first aid courses I have been on previously. The excellent quality of teaching and interactive scenarios was a great way to learn, not just about treatment but also about the victim's point of view.

It was a hard two days, with over 8 hours teaching both days, but the result is well worth it. Since the course, I have felt much more confident about treating people in the outdoors and would recommend every hillwalker to do a similar course.

On the first day of the unofficial New Year trip to Corrour, those of us who hadn't done any winter walking before hired a guide to teach us anything he thought we needed to know. We learned to walk using crampons and ice axes - uphill, downhill and sideways - and practised slipping (in my case often unintentionally) and grabbing the ice axe.

Learning ice axe arrests was good fun although our instructor felt we should concentrate on not needing to do one. We even tried some very easy "ice-scrambling". I discovered the truth in the phrase "the right tool for the right job" - in other words if you try to put Dave's size eleven crampons on Caroline's size four boots, Caroline will spend a lot of time carrying one of them.

The Student Alpine Week course run by the International School of Mountaineering was attended by Simon Williams, Alex Pericleous, and Dave Farrow. They were also some duffers on the course. It started with two days of rock climbing, via Ferrata and general skills on mountains.

The third day was spent walking up to the Cabine D'Orny, where we learnt the basic of glacier travel, the use of ice axe and crampons, and roping up. The next morning we made an alpine start to cross the Trient glacier before a scramble, alpine style up the Agille Du Tour. The last day was spent on a rocky peak near the hut before walking out.

Many skills were learnt, and others improved, that will allow us to maximise our enjoyment and safety in the British hills. The quality of instruction was excellent, with the guides teaching rather than guiding and always willing to answer questions with well-reasoned answers. We would recommend anyone thinking of alpine peaks, winter routes in the UK or simply some fun and adventure to consider the ISM courses or similar ones run elsewhere.

Over the summer Alex Pericleous and Caroline Hepburn went to deepest darkest Sussex for a two day wilderness first aid course. After initial chaos (including nearly having to spend Friday night in a bus shelter) we were picked up in a landrover and taken to where we were meant to be. The first aid course took place in a forested area where we set up camp and were warned that if the rain came we'd still be first-aiding.

We practiced various techniques for bandaging, splinting, and recovery-positioning on each other. We improvised stretchers and splints from logs, coats, ropes, roll mats and pieces of rucksack frame and Alex (perhaps foolishly) allowed himself to be tied in a sleeping bag to a stretcher in order to be "carried off the hill". The resusi-ann was duly given CPR and even attacked with a defibrillator but as usual nothing could be done to bring her round. We learnt the signs of and how to deal with hyper- and hypothermia. We dealt with spinal injuries and made cervical collars from roll mats and triangular bandages.

The main feature of the course other than the teaching were the scenarios. These were very realistic (fake blood included) and we were told at the beginning to do exactly what we would really do. It's a lot harder to cut through a pair of trousers than it looks. Our scenarios were 1) walking along and randomly seeing a man lying unconscious in a stream (hopefully shouldn't happen too often), and 2) a member of our group went for the midnight toilet break and fell down a gully.

Since we were camping on site we were shown how to light fires using sticks and bows, although I don't think any of us managed it, and we built a shelter made of sticks and leaves. Apparently people have spent the night in these things and they are quite warm, but you tend to wake up covered in slugs. No one volunteered to try out ours! The course was very practical and useful for situations where you may find yourself somewhere where an ambulance won't get there in five minutes (up a hill maybe). We were encouraged to improvise in the lack of proper equipment - although triangular bandages have seemingly infinite uses.

First Aid is both about the basic knowledge to make a potentially life-saving difference and about having the confidence to deal with a medical situation. Being a regular hillwalker and also a classic Cambridge undergraduate medical student [i.e. one who might be able to tell you the metabolic intermediates in the Krebs Cycle or what receptors mepyramine works at (actually I probably can't tell you these anymore) but wouldn't have a clue about how to actually do anything], I though it was time I learned some useful practical skills!

The first day involved an introduction to first aid (with some refreshingly simple physiology), followed by practising putting people in the recovery position and doing CPR on (although it seemed more like trying to do GBH to) Annie, from which arose the important question of why all female resuscitation manikins have this name. We also looked at burns, choking and seizures. On the second day we dealt with bleeding and bone and muscle injuries and practised tying bandages and slings while our instructor regaled us with stories of all the bits of fingers cleared from the cutting machines in the factory he once worked in. Allergic reactions, shock, bites and stings, burns, hypothermia and low blood sugar were also dealt with. A special question about how to deal with broken teeth, should someone in a group manage to fall on a rock (Alex!) then brought that day to a close.

The two-day Activity First Aid Course was certainly an extremely good general introduction to First Aid if you have not done any before, and it is a suitable course for those wishing to do ML. The course is designed for those involved with outdoor activities and, indeed, all 5 of us on the course had specific involvement with such activities. That said, the "Emergency First Aid" or "Mountain First Aid" courses such as those run at Plas-y-Brenin would have more direct relevance to hillwalking, but in terms of value-for-money and convenience I suspect the St John Ambulance Activity course is one of the best around.