Winter Navigation in the Snow

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Navigation in the Snow

Peak Navigation Courses run navigation training throughout the year in The Peak district National Park.  For the past two weeks we have been enjoying (?) some snowy conditions which give a different slant to walking and navigating in the hills.

Yesterdays “Intermediate” Navigation Course went ahead albeit with an altered itinerary. Just walking in deep snow takes substantially more effort which is compounded when walking off path and through steep terrain.  There was further heavy snowfall through the night before the course and only four of the eight booked made it through (though this did include students attending from Cambridge and Luton).

Some "re-location" near the bottom of Jacob's Ladder
Then it was off path taking various zig zags from one attack point to another through “The Cloughs” to locate the wreckage of two old aircraft wrecks.

A further steep ascent to The Wool Packs led us to the Edge Path which we followed practising pacing and timing locating various points before our steep descent off path to the bottom of Crowden Brook.

One of the good points about a day led by two qualified International Mountain Leaders in the snow was the quality of instruction and the range of topics covered.  Not only was the day about navigation but discussions ensued about snow, avalanche equipment for winter conditions and a range of other related topics.

The top of Crowden Brook



Because the day didn’t cover all the topics we have normally hoped to on our standard intermediate course, we’ve offered everyone the opportunity to book back on to another Intermediate Navigation Course once the snow melts!

So those who missed because of the snow will get the chance to come and do the course.






Some positive comments about the course have come in already:

"Many thanks for an excellent day today. I enjoyed the day, learnt a lot with a very affable group and the scenery was excellent – can’t ask for more really!
Best wishes
Ian"

"Just to say thanks again for a great day out yesterday - suffice to say I slept well last night! I will probably try and join the course again sometimes soon in non-Winter conditions, but I did feel like I learned plenty yesterday. Look forward to seeing you in March.
Best wishes...
Alex"


Peak Navigation Courses are based in The Peak District and run a range of navigation courses from absolute beginner to experts wanting some “refresher” training.  All of our courses are led by qualified Mountain Leaders.

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