BB1718 : Team-Building Exercises

Wednesday 7th June 2017

Over the years, most of us through our employment have enjoyed, or more likely endured, various team-building events.  They inevitably involve some form of torture that is supposed to engender bonhomie and possibly greater understanding of oneself and one’s colleagues.  One of the joys of retirement is not to have such horrors inflicted on one anymore.  That’s enough “one”s!

In all our years onedering wandering the fells, the only such institutional events I recall seeing were training exercises in navigation (or survival) for would-be soldiers or exercises for schoolboys in working up a thirst before later discovering how to quench it.  Consequently we were somewhat unprepared for what we discovered today.

There was no hint of it when we set off.  Although a decent day was forecast after the recent heavy rains, this was subject to winds gusting up to 60 mph.  We decided to avoid the higher tops but still pick up two Wainwrights for Stan on his current round. Terry and I had already bagged Black Fell and Holm Fell.  Sam is new to the game so we told him he had to get himself down the climbing shops to buy himself a decent bag in which to put them.

Start point was Glen Mary Bridge near Coniston from whence we climbed up alongside the stream and waterfalls to Tarn Hows.  

Anxious to do something a little different from the oft-used route, I discovered that there was a ridge walk along Tom Heights, a low range just to the west of the tarn that offered superb views round from the Old Man, the Crinkles, Bowfell and on to the Langdales and more.

From here it was an easy task to drop down to the end of the tarn.....

..... then climb Black Crag (or Fell) with its two cairns plus a lump that the OS map thinks is the highest point but we do not.

Comitibus: Don, Terry, Sam, Stan

We dropped down to the Coniston Road and made our way over to the Hodge Close Quarry, taking the steep rock-strewn path down to the bottom as used in bygone days as the trolley route.  There we encountered a young lady and a canoe (I should explain that this large quarry is water-filled and with precipitous sides).  She explained that she was waiting for a group of people on a corporate team-building exercise.  

I am not quite clear what these folk were going to do but it seemed to involve abseiling down the cliff and leaping into the deep quarry water.  Her role seemed to be to rescue them if the Kraken awoke and threatened their survival.  Those who successfully avoided the Kraken would then escape by a submerged passed that led, no-one was quite sure, perhaps to a land that was safe and warm. Or maybe into another quarry.

We had quite expected, indeed demanded, that Terry would strip off and indulge his passion for skinny dipping.  Perhaps the presence of the young lady put him off.  He then astonished us by saying that he had been there before on precisely such a corporate exercise and had indeed escaped via the submerged passage.

Meanwhile the young lady was getting increasingly bored with having no-one to rescue.

We retraced our steps up the trolley trail and headed for the quarry edge (from which I kept a significant distance as it is quite sheer).  We found three guys, all with instructor's insignia, plus a large quantity of life jackets on the ground.  They too were bored with having no-one on whom to inflict their torture.

We carried on a short distance, stopping to exchange corporate yarns whilst taking lunch.  Then the victims arrived.  Scores of them, age range from teens to some looking like retirement was beckoning if they survived the day.  Actually most seemed surprisingly happy.  Although they had helmets, I very much doubt that they knew what was in store.

We didn’t stop to find out.  Our target was Black Fell which we reached without too much difficulty even if we did take a longer route than intended.  

The descent was trickier.  We had to improvise a way down a short pitch that would be an easy enough scramble going up, but not so clever downwards.  That was when teamwork counted, Stan co-ordinating the moves.

An optional extra was Ivy Crag which was a brief climb but as the wind was really whipping across the top, it was a brief stay also.  

We dropped down to Yew Tree Tarn, congratulating en-route an old girl who was celebrating her 70th birthday.  Old?  Two of us have already passed that mark!

Back at the car, a final decision had to be made.  Where should our team-building event take place?  Far from being the first time, it would be the Hare & Hounds at Levens.  It is in danger of taking over from the brewery in Staveley as being the BOOTboys corporate event destination.

Don, Wednesday 7th June 2017

47DON=70  

I was delighted that so many friends were able to help commemorate my significant birthday in such an enjoyable way ( BB1714 : 47DON=70 ).  

Fortunately, we have never needed to call out the Mountain Rescue Team and I hope we never will.  However, it has been a comfort to know that they are there, just in case.  They have done, and will continue to do, a great job in aiding those who have found themselves in difficulty on the fells.  My thanks go to all who have supported me in this appeal to help the Kendal Mountain Search & Rescue Team continue fulfilling their vital role.

Map shown: Ordnance Survey 1:25k

BOOTboys routes are put online in gpx format which should work with most mapping software. You can follow our route in detail by downloading bb1718 .

To discover which Wainwright top was visited on which BB outing - although it may not be that up to date - or for the totals of the mileages and heightages (ditto) see the Excel file: BB Log.

You can navigate to the required report via the Home Page

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BOOTboys 2017

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