“More than just a training weekend; it was an adventure filled with learning, challenge, and camaraderie. I got to meet lots of interesting new people and the well-organised, practical instruction left me feeling confident and ready to lead Scouts in the mountains.”
This was the feedback from Kevin Field, Lead Volunteer for Clwyd, who recently took part in the Hillwalking Terrain Two Permit course at Yr Hafod, ScoutsCymru’s residential centre in the Eryri National Park.
The Terrain Two permit for hillwalking is part of the Scouts Adventurous Activities Permit Scheme which ensures Scout leaders can safely and confidently deliver activities including archery, caving, climbing and abseiling, cycling, hillwalking, hovercrafting, snowsports, water activities and motorised water activities to their young people
When it comes to hillwalking permits Terrain One equips volunteer leaders to lead walks in areas that are not steep or rocky and are within three hours’ access from a road, while Terrain Two areas are more remote, steeper, rockier and more challenging to climb.
There are different ways to gain these permits – working with local assessors or attending a course such as the ones ay Yr Hafod.
Writing on the Clwyd Scouts website, Kevin said the Terrain Two course was “incredible” not least because of how practical an experience it was.
“We hit the mountains right away on the Saturday,” he writes, “heading over to Cwm Idwal and after some initial relocation tests we then headed up Devil’s Kitchen and up on to the lower slopes nestled between Y Garn and Glyder Fawr.”
He explains they had plenty of time to lead legs of the journey and to work on understanding contours, pacing and relocating at challenging locations. He writes, “You don’t get to use landmarks or obvious features on a T2 course, everything we were navigating to was a small spur, ring contour or rentrant and had to primarily be done by really understanding the terrain and what it looks like on a map.”
In the evening, participants worked on improving ‘poor visibility skills’. “We were out on the local area around Yr Hafod practicing night navigation and really delving in to the dark arts of pacing over rough ground, navigation tactics in the night and working as a team to keep us on the right bearings and distances,” he says in his post. “Super useful stuff and challenging for sure. It was amazing to see the intimidating sight of Tryfan looking down on us as we all skulked our way through the boggy but hilly ground.”
On the Sunday, the group headed back to Cwm Idwal to work on relocating skills. “The instructors were really looking for an improvement on the day before and made it clear, so the stopwatch came out in earnest, the pacing and timings card was dusted off and the watch calculator was frantically used. I think I did ok and was definitely quicker and slicker.”
As the rain lashed down, they practiced with the confidence rope on rocky ground, working on rope work to support movement over uneven ground and to support people who were less confident. Says Kevin, “Nothing quite like hanging from a South African belay in the cold, windy and wet weather to really force you to concentrate!”
Kevin had originally intended to complete the Terrain One permit first. This is suitable for people with little or no knowledge or experience of hillwalking, land navigation or mountain walking, or for those who are rusty on their skills and want to gain confidence.
However, after speaking to staff at the centre, he realised that Terrain 2 was more appropriate for him. Terrain 2 is for those who have good experience and who are already confident in hillwalking and mountain climbing.
Kevin will now return to Yr Hafod in three months to be assessed and is looking forward to progressing to the Mountain Leader courses, also taking place at Yr Hafod.
He writes, “I am chomping at the bit to get back there!”
Yr Hafod is one of ScoutsCymru’s two residential centres in the Eryri National Park, with the other being Cornel. You can find out more about Yr Hafod, the extensive programme of permit weekends run at the site, and how to hire it for your group’s adventures here.
You can learn more about the different terrain classifications in Chapter 9 of the Scouting Policy, Organisation and Rules, 9.12.7 Hillwalking terrains here.
You can read Kevin’s full article here.
