OllieBray.com

Magic Moments #19 - Avalanche Search and Rescue Training [preparing for winter]

Last week I asked you to guess what the giant inflatable dome might be used for (it was a pop-up planetarium BTW!).

But can you guess what the picture below is of?

At a first glance it looks like a giant ‘cat litter’ tray!

But actually it used at Glenmore Lodge (the Scottish National Outdoor Training Centre) to teach about avalanche search and rescue techniques.  Hidden underneath several hundred tones of wood chip (to simulate snow) are avalanche receivers. Trainees can practice locating the different receivers using their own transceivers that are set to, ‘find’.  Trainees and Rescue Teams can also practice search techniques using avalanche probes.

Avalanche awareness, avoidance, search and rescue techniques is part of the pretty much any winter mountaineering course at Glenmore Lodge. I’ll be working on a few weekend courses over the winter as well as doing some of my own independent work. If you would want to find out more about Scottish Winter Walking and / or Winter Mountaineering I would definitely recommend a course at the Lodge – it’s a world class training facility with well qualified and world class instructional & support staff.

You can also access some up-to-date avalanche information here.

Magic Moments #16 - Turning Bike Sheds in Climbing Walls [Outdoor Learning]

Up in Moray (New Elgin Primary School, I think?) they have invested in some new secure cycle storage.

Then, instead of leaving the old bike sheds to become ‘dead space’ they have turned the area into a simple traversing wall for the children to play and climb on.

It is undercover as well – so you can even climb in the rain (something that you have to get used to living in Scotland!).

How might you use a bit of paint to brigten up some of those dark and boring spaces in your school grounds?

More on climbing walls and climbing wall holds for children here – from the wall that I was involved in building and the Grove Infant School on Portland (Now part of Isle of Portland Aldridge Community Academy).

 

Mad Dogs and Englishmen: Summer 2012 in the Alps [Newspaper Article]

In the summer I was asked by my pal Clive Burgess if I would go with him to the Alps and help train a couple of guys to climb Mt Blanc for a local Dorset charity. They hadn’t been on crampons before, didn’t know one end of a rope from the other and both sported long term injuries from a lifetime on the rugby field. I was also recovering from my shoulder operation, hadn’t trained for months, let alone had a rucksack on my back. 

The whole idea sounded crazy – so I obviously agreed to the trip!

Anyway, we had a great week in the Alps introducing the basics of Alpinism from Crevasse Rescue to navigating our way out of the Chamonix Micro-Brewery! In the end we were rained off our summit attempt – but I can honestly say I had one of the best weeks in the Alps with my new friends. It was great fun and Al and Conrad were great company on the mountain. hey also raised a lot of money for charity.

Anyway, a report of the trip (written in the normal Clive Burgess flair) appeared in the Dorset Evening Echo on Thursday, for anyone who might be interested….

I've also got a few photos of the trip over on my Flickr Page. My favorite photo is the one below - taken from a funny angle of Conrad laying on the glacier! It took us ages to set up - as people kept walking past and ruining the shot! 

 

Magic Moments #9 - I love my packraft!

Each week I post a photograph of something that I have seen, like or has just made me laugh.

Back by popular demand (last post was Christmas day 2010) as I slowly ease myself back into the blogosphere are OB's magic moments. Where each Friday I post a picture of somthing that I have snapped on my camera and it has made me smile.

This week as I was transferring files to my new computer (MacBook Pro - in case you wanted to know) I came across some Packrafting photographs. Now I came across the concept of Packrafting a few years ago when I was away working on an expedition up in Alaska. They are basically small rafts that are so light you can fit them in your rucksack. I had to get one and so did my pal Iain Robertson. 

When you are paddling them you have to strap your rucksack to the front - they look ridiculous but they are great fun! We cross Scotland by foot and Packraft from Mallaig to Spey Bay a few Easters ago.

Here are a couple of shots from our trip...

Above: Iain paddling down Loch Nevis.

Above: Packrafts on our backs as we head up to the watershed - we are carrying enough food (and whisky) for a six night trip.

More of Packrafting early in 2013...

Outdoor Learning - Fun climbing wall holds

  

 A friend asked me for some advice on an outdoor traversing climbing wall that they are building at the Grove Infant School on Portland. I’m a big believer in trying to make good use of space and I think that traversing walls in playgrounds and climbing walls in school gym halls are a great idea.

I’ve been involved in building lots of school climbing walls over the years and also the training of staff to use them safely with their students. One of the nice things about building climbing walls for young people is how the price of handholds have come down over time but also the variety of shapes that are now available.

Here are some of my favorite climbing wall holds to turn an old piece of playground wall into cross-curricular resource.

Dinosaur Holds

Tropical Creatures

Transportation (love the dumper truck!) 

 

Letters (my favorite)

Lots of great activities for letter climbing holds eg: get from left to right using only the letters in your name, get from left to right using only vowels, get from left to right using handholds that spell a long word, etc…

More advice on building climbing walls here.

 

Canada 2012 - Youth Expedition… we are off!

At the weekend we had a successful first training session in Weymouth and Portland for our 2012 Youth Expedition to Canada. I’m excited to return to Canada with a group of young people as it was the location of my first youth expedition back in 1996 (have I really been running these trips for so long?).

As with all Leading Edge Expeditions we will organise and run the trip voluntarily and contribute our own payment to the expedition account. I have been a volunteer expedition leader with Leading Edge since 1996 and shared cost; ownership and accountability remain some of my core philosophies. Over time years I have had the opportunity to lead young people to some of the remotest parts of the world including Mt Rainier, Pyrenees, Alaska, Dolomites and Wyoming. These expeditions have been and continue to be a privilege.

On a personal note I hate the glossy outdoor education brochures that come into schools from commercial companies, talking about chance in a life time opportunities for young people. In my experience these are often little more than adventure package holidays with a massive price tag.

You can find out more about the Canada 2012 over on the expedition website (which is still under construction).

Below is the Trip Description:

The group will fly from the UK to Vancouver in July 2012 for a four-week mountain bike and open canoe expedition in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. The expedition will be self-supported throughout our month away in the Canadian Wilderness.

From Vancouver the group will head north following the Sea-to-Sky Trail to Whistler. From Whistler we will head off-road to the north-east piecing together forestry, reservoir and old mining tracks. We will resupply at Lillooet before heading north to the Quesnel. From Quesnel we will following the Barkerville Highway to the east before heading north again to the Bowron Lake Provincial Park.

The group will spend six days within the Bowron Lake Provincial Park where the main objective will be to canoe the Bowron Lake Canoe Circuit. This 116km chain of lakes forms almost a perfect rectangle with the lakes joined by canoe portage trails. We will be ambitious in our aims and after a wilderness briefing from the ranger circuit we will aim to canoe the lakes in five days.

On completion of our canoe objective the real fun begins. Using historic mining trails we will pick, push and attempt to cycle our bikes up through the Goat River Trail, over the watershed and down to Route 16. We estimate slow progress on this section of the expedition due to the extreme nature of the terrain and the navigation challenges involved.

We will then follow Route 16 and Route 93 through Mt Robson, Jasper and Kootenay National Park until we eventually get to Slocan. The final leg of our journey links Slocan to Vancouver. Using a network of disused Kettle Railways (including trestle bridges and tunnels) we will wind our way back to Vancouver roughly following the Spirit of 2010 cycling and hiking route.

A high environmental ethos will be applied throughout the expedition. We will be cycling and canoeing though designated wilderness areas. Expedition members will be expected to show care and respect for this unique environment.

Being safe and caring for the welfare of every individual is essential on any expedition be it a low level trip in the UK or the ascent of a mountain. This has always been a priority for us, and will continue to be so. High media attention on recent incidents has brought safety to the point where even measured, responsible risk taking is expected to be taken out the expedition equation. This sterile attitude only serves to hold back a young person’s personal growth. Life is about taking risks especially for the development of our future leaders. A Wilderness expedition is obviously a ‘risk’ activity but the skill of the leadership team will achieve the balance between safety and challenging experience for the young expeditioner. 

As always Initial training will take place before we leave the UK. 

This year we will also be using live tracking so you will be able to follow our progress on the Canada 2012 expedition website.

 

Reflections from UK Education Show 2011 (7 of 8) – Some Great Toys (what teaching health and safety should be about!)

I think there is a place for Health and Safety and the teaching of issues relating to Health and Safety for children and young people. I also think we go far to overboard on some very basic safety issues that should really just be regarded as common sense (eg: taking children into your school grounds).

Anyway, I thought that the range of products from Road Masters UK Ltd were a good start on how issues regarding Health and Safety should be taught in schools for a very early age. Learning through purposeful play, fantasy and dressing up at its very best (I wonder if they make their Garden Centre Facia in my size?).

Game to Learn Geocaching Workshop [#gametolearn]

If you want to know why these people all look so excited, happy and engaged in their learning.

You need to read the Consolarium Blog Post about the Geocaching workshop that we ran as part of the recent Consolarium and JISC Game to Learn Conference in Dundee.

Read the full post and see the pictures here. 

Reflections from UK Education Show 2011 (6 of 8) – Climbing Walls

 

Just like last year there were lots of companies at the Education Show demonstrating the sort of things that can be done with playgrounds and outdoor learning spaces. As always the products ranged from outdoor mirrors, to furniture, to stages, to water features to playground paint.

I liked the addition of a few companies offering climbing walls this year – I would like to see more of these in school playgrounds!

Magic Moments #6 - Blow Karting

Dunbar Grammar School (I was head of Geography there once) recently had a cluster in-service day the centered on Health and Wellbeing.  One of the activities on offer to staff was blow karting - these are mini land yachts that are great on the beach.

We took them out at the weekend to make sure they working properly. They did and we had great fun!