Tuesday 28 June 2011

Ghyll Scrambling sessions in The Lake District. Church Beck, Coniston. Monday June 27th 2011

After working with Richard Taylor's stag party on Sunday running a rock climbing session, Iain was back out in Church Beck on Monday, in much better conditions - running a ghyll scrambling & canyoning session for a much smaller group.

Richard Gregory booked this session for himself and a couple of work colleagues whilst on holiday in The Lake District from Birmingham.

Photo one shows the party in the first deep pool upstream of the turbine house in Chuch Beck. Today, the ghyll was much lower than two days previous - when Iain & a party of graduate apprentices were struggling to get upstream at this point. See the pictures from that session here!


The second photo shows the group at the point where Church beck really narrows in, the waterfalls become higher & the pools become deeper. There is a possibility for a jump in to the pool from the l/h side of the waterfall and everyone had just done that.

Many groups finish their ghyll scrambling session here - having ascended the ghyll to this point. Upstream from here, the way on is barred by the chockstone pitch which is the final jump on the Church Beck Canyoning descent that we do with clients.




Photo three shows Richard being lowered down the Miner's Bridge waterfall while Rhos & Simon look on.

Many parties coming to Church Beck use this waterfall as the starting point for the canyoning descent of the ghyll. They are not made aware of the additional section upstream of Miner's Bridge.

Kendal Mountaineering services is one of the few Lake District based outdoor pursuits company to actually truly offer a complete Church Beck ghyll scrambling & canyoning session and we do this by taking clients to the very head of the gorge where it is possible to climb down beside the hydro scheme intake and do several pools and be lowered down another waterfall before arriving at Miner's Bridge and the fall in photo three. It doesn't take us much more effort to provide you with this extra 300m of canyoning and we figure you deserve a good session for your money!


The final photo shows Richard swimming towards Iain - having just slid down the chockstone pitch of Church Beck. This is an exciting conclusion to an excellent ghyll scrambling & canyoning session.

Unless specified otherwise by you, all of our ghyll scrambling & canyoning sessions in Church Beck consist of an upward ghyll scramble (also known as gorge walking) followed by a complete descent of the gorge from its top - back to this point.

For £45 per head (discounts apply as group numbers increase) you get an extremely good session with qualified & experienced staff and all of the specialist technical safety kit you'll need to do it.

So, whilst the weather is hot, (or even if it's wet) give us a call at Kendal Mountaineering Services and we'll be happy to organise your Lake District based ghyll scrambling & canyoning session. You'll love it!

Everyone in this group thoroughly enjoyed themselves - as the pictures testify. We look forward to working with you in the coming months.

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