Tag: Wet

Thursday, gorge walking (Mr. A’s group)

Posted on | By EBurton642 | 1 Comment

We set off in the mini-bus in the morning with our wellies!!!(very exiting) 45 mins later we arrived at the ‘black river‘ and immediately it started raining :O once we got out the mini-bus we kitted ourselves out with helmets, harnesses and buoyancy aids and walked a little way up the gorge as it was really busy at the bottom. As soon as we started in the gorge we filled up our wellies with water on the first crossing and they never dried out again… Oopsie 🙂 we had to attach ourselves to the rope that Mr. A secured for us and drag ourselves through a freezing cold waterfall. Although it was really chilly it was the start to a great day. Afterwards we abseiled down part of the side of the gorge and into a supposedly shallow but actually waist deep gush of water. Once we were all successfully across we carried on up the gorge and found a fairly dry cluster of boulders to sit and eat lunch on. After an episode where Elise accidentally kicked  over Mr. A’s ‘special’ tea and the photo shoot with some funny faces we set off again. We had been walking for about 10 seconds and Mr. A asked us all if we wanted a challenge….. we were all a little scared. So Beaver (James Topping) decided to step up to the challenge and, once finished with his task, immediately regretted it as he was shivering uncontrollably. We then ventured further and were asked again if we wanted another challenge. Suddenly, everyone wanted to step up to it. After 3 or 4 goes each on the most amazing water slide EVER (but also the most painful (hips still hurt!), we had to unfortunately leave and clamber up to the waterfall at the top of the gorge. At the base of the waterfall there was a pool of water that was over waist deep at some points and we all jumped in! 😀 It was extremely cold but very funny indeed. Once we were done in the pool, we started to climb down the gorge. On our way down we stopped at the slide once more and had another go on it each. After walking down a little bit more Mr. A gave us one more challenge. We had to squeeze through a tiny little gap between some gigantic boulders and try and make it out the other side. Harder than it sounds! We then walked (and slid!) back down right to the bottom of the gorge and were finally allowed to change into some dry clothes (heaven!) After we were done changing we piled back into the mini-bus and had another 45 minute journey back to the centre whilst singing lots of songs and terrorising Beaver when he was trying to sleep…… poor Beaver. All in all we had a very good day at the gorge and, although we got many bumps and bruises, we had loads and loads of fun! 🙂

Thursday, River of Whack (Jez’s group)

Posted on | By Eilish | No comments

Yo yo yo Steph and Eilish here lol, today we started off in the room of whack talking about our whack adventures! Jez asked everyone how their energy level were, most of us said we were low in whack. So we started the day off with some orientearing and learnt how to use a map! I (steph) took a really long time and ended up coming last in this task 🙁

When we finished the orientearing we set off on our next task, climbing a small mountain on our own (no Jez and no Mr White). We were showed how to use the right equipment and a special safety tent. While Jez talked to us Mr White set of ahead to a check point which would show if we were going the right way or not.

Craig started off as our ‘group leader’ ,with the help of Alicia, and navigated his way around the mountain with the use of a map and compass. As we trecked along everyone started to doubt Craig’s navigation skills, but as we reached closer to the top we soon saw Mr White’s red coat in a broken down house, we were as safe as whack! We stopped to get a bite to eat and a drink but soon set off, Mr.White left to go get some “KFC” as we carried along on the rocky hillside.

As we got closer to the top the wind picked up and we all had to scramble down the rocky path and through small streams. The grass got thicker and the water got deeper, we had to watch our step; but Mia decided to do some more of her ‘Mia style tricks’. She tried to run down the hill but instead ‘stacked it’ in a grassy stream. Me (steph) being the hero decided to run after her and save her,but instead fell on top of her…Whack.

We carried on along the stream but soon had to stop as George needed a pee, so he stopped on a hill and did his ‘business’. We walked further on through a stream but soon had to stop again seeing as Eilish and Mia now needed a pee! Soon we were back on track and carrying on at a fast pace with Phoebe leading the group! As we reached a waterfall we were soon met by Jez who jumped up from behind a wall and scared us all! We then saw Mr.White treking behind us in his red coat. When he caught up he decided to take a picture of us at the waterfall. Eilish, being the most whack climber of us all, climbed up with her walking stick and managed to fall head first into the waterfall!

Jez and Mr.White then left us again and we carried on, passing the other group on the way. We all saw a sheep, and in a moment of excitment (danger) decided to chase it. It ran away! LOL.

More to follow in the morning, with some pictures…. time to eat

Thursday, Afon Ddu Gorge (Anne’s group)

Posted on | By GKup318 | 1 Comment

Hi – it’s Vicky, Izzie and George K here!

When we found out that we were off to Afon Ddu Gorge, we were so excited because we had been waiting to do it the whole week. After a 45-min journey we arrived and started to don out 20kg of gear each – waterproof jackets and trousers (Eden spent 10 minutes looking for her’s in the bus, absolutely certain that she had brought them with her but they were not to be found anywhere!), buoyancy aids, helmets, wellies, harnesses and Karabinas. We finally started up the hill towards the gorge.

To start off our ascent we first practised a little bit in the lower end of the gorge, where the water wasn’t too deep and the current wasn’t moving too quickly. However, Izzie still managed to fall in! Then we climbed around a sheer rock face after Anne had demonstrated it – most of us managed to get around except George and Joe … everybody was gradually getting wet 🙂 even through our waterproofs!

Vicky’s trousers (aka the puddle-lover) actually filled up until she looked like the Michelin man and when she squeezed them out, we were seriously killing ourselves laughing as she had a hole at the very top of her trousers where it all spurted out! 😀

The next challenge was to scramble around a deep pool, where there was some really smooth, no foothold rocks in the middle. Anne gave the group a choice an adventurous route or an easier one, Eden, Izzie, Joe and Miss Hodgett watched the rivine below the ledge they reached and saw George flailing his arms around trying to catch a disappearing Anne! We were all in hysterics at his funny face 🙂 Poor Clover was the last to participate in getting to the ledge and whilst trying to put her foot up, she unfortunately slipped and was swept away down stream! Everyone was cheering her on and Clover managed to regain her balance and joined us on the ledge.

We carried on our way up the rocks, and whilst taking a breather Vicky was dared to sit down in the middle of a pool, which because of her love of puddles, she immediately agreed to do it! We took another, more grassy, route to have a snack, and after about 10 minutes we set off, waving at the other group as we ascended once again.

All week our group motto was “think of the showers” which kept us going up all the mountains more quickly, and today, with the amount of water involved, just as we were steeping under a small spout of cold water, it was quickly changed by Vicky to “no showers tonight!”

When we finally got the top of the waterfall, we were offered the choice to jump like a pencil into a large, deep water pool of a rocky ledge, into the middle where it was deepest. It was so scary but everyone managed to overcome their fears and all jumped off the ledge twice. Josie (the smallest but makes up for it with her determination) jumped of the highest ledge there was.

We all sloshed our way down the really steep hill covered in really slippery leaves until we discovered that we could slide down faster on our bottoms. When we got to the corner we had to stand up again but Eden’s feet ended up running away from her as she couldn’t keep up with her speed and she stacked it! LOL unfortunately she hurt both of her knees – but not too badly. We have all collected a load of bruises in various places over the last four days! 🙂

The highlights of the day for us were Vicky sitting down in a puddle, Bartek singing ‘Barbie doll’, George’s various faces that he pulls, Izzie’s constant falling over, Vicky’s hole in her trousers and jumping in and watching other people jump in the really deep pool at the top of the waterfall. It was amazing to watch Anne and her skills and all the stuff she can do with ropes and climbing. One of the best activities of the week.

Loggin’ off for hot chocolate now! LOL

Wednesday, Anglesey, Cable Bay (Anne’s group)

Posted on | By IJones172 | 2 Comments

It’s Eden and Izzie here!

Today we went to Porth Trecastell – (Cable Bay), on Anglesey Island to do some sea level traversing! It was a 45 minute journey, but it passed quicker than we expected 🙂 We were kitted out (HEAVILY) with helmets, harnesses, cowstails, short jackets, buoyancy aids and all our waterproof gear.

We got there about half ten and went down on the beach to do some practice rock climbing and scrambling. It was slippy and wet but fun and necessary. Next we went to a large wall, where we had to plan our own route up the rocks to reach the top of the wall, which wasn’t easy! We all helped each other and used teamwork to our advantage :).

Then we went back to the minibus where we sat with all the air blowers going trying to warm us up to eat our lunch and put on our harnesses and cowstails. We all put one item of food in Anne’s first aid kit in the waterproof bag to eat later on the rocks.

We then set off on the rocks to scramble and climb our way along the beach. As we were scrambling across there was a drop, with rushing water below and jagged rocks on the side. Three of us made it to the other side, including the instructor, but then suddenly, Josie’s foot slipped so she was hanging on to this rock by just her hands, using an incredible amount of upper body strength, and with Anne’s help, she managed to clamber back to her feet again! Vicky was really excited about jumping into the sea at the end, and at every available puddle or rock pool she jumped in, soaking her feet and waterproof trousers. Later on she jumped in a big one though and slipped and fell over, and me and Izzie couldn’t stop laughing! She was actually really happy and laughing about it though 🙂

After about an hour scrambling we stopped at a big drop to eat our snacks and have a drink while Anne set up loads of ropes to form a Tyrolean traverse – which is sort of like a zipwire across the waves in the gap. All of us were really excited to cross over the zipwire, apart from Eden who was really scared to do it. Anne went over first and we sorted out the order we wanted to go in. Miss Hodgett helped us to clip on our Karabinas in the right way and one by one we slid over the waves on the rope. Then it was Vicky’s go. She started off okay but then managed to get her ‘behind’ stuck on the rock that you needed to push off to get started. She was stuck for ages and everyone was laughing, including her, but then eventually she un-lodged herself and managed to drag her body along the rope. Then it was Eden’s turn to swing along the rope. She was really frightened, but she gathered enough courage together to push off. She screamed halfway down but everyone was really supportive of her and she made it to the other side. The others clambered across until Miss Hodgett had joined us on the cliff face. We then clipped our Karabinas to an orange rope that ensured we would not fall off, and we scrambled up to the green rope, where one by one we swung back to the other cliff top.

We climbed straight up the steep cliff face to reach a muddy grassy path, which is where we started to descend. There were puddles. Lots of puddles. Muddy puddles. Vicky went crazy, and decided to jump in every puddle we came across, but then near the minibus she jumped in one, slipped, slid for 10 metres then fell down. It was really funny, especially when Izzie had to use all her might to jump out the way to prevent getting splashed. We then finally reached the minivan, were we took of our equipment and played games all the way home.

We got back first, which was a great surprise because we thought we were last. We were all cheering in the minibus;) We got first dibbs on the showers AGAIN!:]

Wednesday, Snowdon (Mr. Alderson’s group)

Posted on | By Dominic | 1 Comment

Today was our highest mountain climb. We took a path called the Pyg on the way up which was named after the closest building to the bottom of the path, who’s initials were p.y.g. Mount Snowdon is 1085M tall, the highest mountain in England and Wales. Ten minutes into our ascent we were forced to stop to put on our water proof clothing because the rain started straight away, not scheduled until after lunch. We were faced by many waterfalls during our trip created by the rainfall. We had to step over the water falls, which were very slippery. Some people had a drink from the fast flowing waterfalls. When we were near the summit we found a finger stone ( a large post marking junction in the path) with lots of coins (mostly Pennines) stuck in it. When we past this it was about 20 minutes from the summit and we had a very windy journey up the last leg to the summit.

Mr Alderson's group at the summit of Snowdon
Mr Alderson's group at the summit of Snowdon

When we got to the summit we saw one of the Snowdon mountain railway trains. As you can see in the picture of the summit we were very wet and it was extremely windy. Dan Wells was on his knees at the summit because of the wind and height. 🙂 We walked down from the summit and walked past the Snowdon café, now closed for winter. We took the long Miners path back to our minibus. The path was quite well built and easy to walk on but very tiring. We got to the minibus shortly behind the other group who we saw coming down from the summit. We were soaking wet because of the rain and wind but we had a 10 minute minibus ride back before we could get dry. It was a great achievement being at the top of Snowdon and also being the highest person in England and Wales who was standing on the ground. On the way back we went through the Llanberis pass which was a spectacular veiw. When we got back we put all of our clothes in the drying room and went for dinner. After dinner a group of 9 went to the climbing wall, including Sam and me. When we got back we had a hot drink and went off to bed for the end of a very tiring day.

Tuesday, Snowdon (Anne’s group)

Posted on | By CBanham505 | 1 Comment

Today we were trekking up the very daunting mountain formally known as Snowdon. Snowdon is 1085 metres above sea level. Some people say being small is an advantage, and in many cases it is, like getting through small spaces or getting a kids bus fair, but when it comes to trekking up mountains this can be a bit of a disadvantage. Trust us, we know! First we went up Pyg path, which was not too bad but was a bit steep and tiring. As we got further up it got, let’s just say it was more than a little bit gusty, in other word gale force winds which tried it’s best to throws us off the mountain. During this there were many times where we nearly fell off the mountain and we had to support each other. Soon it got too dangerous and we had to head down, this is easier said than done. Walking down this very steep slippery bank, with gale winds and tons of rain, not what I would call fun. Slipping and falling all over the place and various people (me and clover), very kindly George (Kup) grabbed the back of my back pack as I was getting swept all over the place and nearly pushed over as well as me (Clover) almost get pushed off the side of the mountain by Vicky who had been pushed herself. We had a very amusing lunch in a yellow parachute like tent thing, which we had to sit on so it wouldn’t fly off, it felt like we were in a steam bath as it steamed up so badly. We headed back to the van on the path called Miner’s path, this was much easier than the way up. As expected we were all wet and windswept when we got back to the van. We were all rather relieved the we were sitting down and soon returned to find we were back first once again so we all had a nice hot showers. So over all it was a rather eventful day!

Tuesday, Tears of Whack Joy (Jez’s Team)

Posted on | By SCherotich622 | No comments

Hi Steph & Phoebe here whacking it out after a good day by the sea. Today we went sea level traversing in the wet, cold, rainy, foamy, barnacley coast of Wales. On arriving at the cliff I was a “little” nervous lol, and felt the need to sit down rather than climb……..Luckily Jez’s team talk about how “exciting” this is soon got me on my feet and bumbling along after the others, with Mr White being my partner in red. Who I soon left behind with no rope to help him….. However he is a pretty good climber! Because he had no rope……

Steph here…. After about 2 hours we took a break and lunch by an old tomb from 2500 BC and saw some old people and a fluffly little cute dog. We then set off back to a small bay which had a rope set across it called a Tyrolean. Jez had set this up while we had lunch and then showed us some tricks that could be done while waves crashed over us. Craig bravely went first across the WHACK gap, but failed to do the spin, just like all of us except Mia (see videos and pictures). Last but not least was Mr White who hung upside down after a successful spin….so whack.

We finished the traverse along the sea cliffs making sure plenty of waves crashed onto us, before clambering to the top again and taking the muddy path back to the bus. It was a whack day with the highlights being;

Mia’s sound effects

Phoebe’s braveness

Mia’s whack help towards Phoebe

Steph, Craig & George being pack horses carrying everyones lunch

Take care, speak tomorrow, Phoebe and Steph Whacking out

Tuesday, Tryfan (Mr Alderson’s group)

Posted on | By SSkirrow306 | No comments
Mr Alderson's group on the north ridge of Tryfan
Mr Alderson's group on the north ridge of Tryfan

On Tuesday we climbed the very difficult mountain called Tryfan the mountain is only 915M high but you need to scramble up the whole mountain straight from when we stepped out of the car park, we were climbing over huge rocks and boulders. The weather was not that bad when we started. We got about half way up the mountain and had a bit of lunch and then it started to rain very heavily so we had to put our water proof clothes on which was very hard because we were already wet and it was hard to get the trousers over our boots. The weather was terrible and it was raining really badly and there were really high winds. With the winds and rain it got very hard to climb the mountain. When we got very near the summit we had to stop for lunch on a very steep and slippery hill because we were protected from the wind there, but not the rain. Many of us got soggy sandwiches 🙁 When we got to the top of the steep hill we started to get blown away by the very high winds. We then had a short trip over some rocks and boulders to get to the summit ( Adam and Eve). Adam and Eve are the two large parallel rocks at the summit which look like people from a distance. We stopped for a minute at the summit and then started our decent down the sister path to the one we had lunch on, this was not so steep but still slippery. By this time the rain was chucking it down and we were drenched, Mr. A said it was the hardest rain he had ever walked in. When we got to a man made path at the bottom of the slippery rocks we started another decent. This was on grass which was very slippery and lots of people fell over, even Mr. Alderson. Melissa decided the fastest way down was by sliding on her face.  When we got to the bottom of the path, after many falls, we started to walk over the rocks to the minibus. When we got back we had to sit in our wet waterproofs which was a horrible feeling.  We got back to KMC and the seats were very wet! 🙂

Monday, Team Whack (Jez’s Group)

Posted on | By Eilish | No comments

Today we climbed up Tryfan the mountain that all other mountains want to be like when they grow up. It was 915m high, and it took us 4 hours to reach the top. A grade 1 scramble that involved Team Whack (Jez, Mr.White, Alicia, Eilish, Steph, Mia, Phoebe, Liam, Craig, Georgie, George) taking on an exciting (dangerous) adventure.

From the word go, it was ridiculosly high and vertically ridiculous. We had to work as a team to haul each other up steep gorges. Eilish felt sick having to push Phoebe’s rear end every five minutes. Luckily she didn’t have too many beans for breakfast. Half way up we looked down to see fighter jets passing beneath us.

We also bumped into three Norweigen soldiers hacking their way over the mountain.  By two o’clock we finally made it to Adam and Eve and took a short break, sheltering from the 50mph wind gusts and cloud eating.

Photos and descent to follow as we need to eat … Alicia and Eilish…Whack Out

Hi, Georgie and Mia here, just had spag bol, it was WHACK. LOL. So, after we put on our waterproofs we set off to go down the rest of the mountain. It was like a human land-slide, mud, wet rocks, rain, wind, and a lack of balance 🙂

Mia fell 93 times, encrusting her clothes in mud. Craig slid at every opportunity to join Mia in the mud. It was a pathetic exuse for steps, and reminded me of a water-slide, minus the swimming pool.

Highlight of the days were;

  • Georgie doing a forward roll into a bog.
  • Phoebe repeatedly saying ‘i cant do it!’ lol 😉
  • Mr. White’s singing that drove everyone crazzzzyyyyyy.
  • Jez’s definition of ‘dangerous’ being ‘exciting’ lol
  • Liam thinking every rock is worth money, so filled his pockets.
  • And George saving my life (Mia) after I nearly fell down the mountain (“about 32cm’s Mia”- Mr White)

A whack day with a whack group, have a whack night!

Mia & Georgie. Blog tomorrow, WHACKOUT!