Outdoor pursuits training diary, Dartmoor, Devon, UK and Spain

Weekly Diary <2007 - 2008>
Online diary recording the trainees' progress through the course.

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Week 11
Week 12
Week 13
Week 14
Week 15
Week 16

Week 12 - River Dart White Water This week half of the group attend their Single Pitch Award (SPA) training course at Chudleigh and the Dewerstone. This is the formal 2 day training course provided by the Mountain Leader Training Board from which students are given SPA 'trained' status. Meanwhile the other half of the group tackle the Loop on the river Dart at good levels of water this is a grade 3 white water river however on this day it was much lower and therefore much less powerful. The students chose whether to paddle canoe or kayak. It turned out that the kayak was a better choice as they coped much better with the lower level of water than the canoes. These tended to bottom out on the river bed and proved to be more difficult to control.

The 'Washing Machine' takes another victim		Jon tries to look relaxed before attempting triple drop on the Loop