Over the Easter holidays a gang of our older scouts, young leaders and adults joined our friends at Hertfordshire Scouts for their annual initial moutaineering course at Lochearnhead in the Scottish Highlands. Over the week they learned many winter mountaineering skills as this year’s mountain winter lingered comfortably into spring!

Whether it was navigating in poor visibility, digging snow holes as shelters or getting to grips with ice axes the scouts took basic hiking skills and developed them into those of mountaineers! This was set in the majestic scenery of the Scottish Highlands which the scouts got to see in all their moods from glorious spring sunshine to steady winter snow.

The highlight of the week was its climax with a 3 day, 2 night hike camp wild in the mountains, high above the snow line, some camping on Ben Vorlich and some at Meal Nan Tarmachan

A huge thank you must go to all the instructors and staff at Lochearnhead and Herts Scouts for hosting our contingent for the week. We’ll be back next year 🙂

On a chilly weekend in March 14 scouts from Raptor troop trecked into the woods for a weekend of survival skills. Over 48 hours they built and slept in their own shelters, built their own compasses and navigated using, of all things, trees! Saturday evening they gutted and cleaned fish, making dinner using nothing but their penknives. On Sunday the scouts tracked animals including badgers and foxes, getting casts or tracks and even getting some photos of one local fox 🙂

A tough weekend where all the scouts, including 3 who had only been with us for a few weeks, really showed what they could do!