One of many massive waterfalls in the Esk
Today we've been over to Eskdale to play in the mighty Esk Gorge with a visiting Stag group. The Esk is the ultimate Lakeland gorge scramble / canyon trip. The scenery, wilderness like as it is, is enough. But there's so much more. Deep pool after deep pool of pure Lakeland water, and yes it's often fresh from the sky!!
Depending on water levels will depend on how much scrambling is available. During low water there's loads of rock scrambling on offer and this definitely enhances the trip for most. However, after heavy rains there's still lots to do in here, it's simply more watery, makes sense right.
Today was one of those more watery days, so we hunted out all the best jumps, often doing them multiple times. Sections of easy scrambling joined these. For some additional rope play we set up a Tyrollean traverse (zip line) across the gorge, with a waterfall gushing noisily below! Starting from one side, everyone had to pull themselves over the gorge using the fixed ropes. Looks easy, but does require determination. Thankfully everyone had plenty of that :-)
After more play time in the water we fixed up the final challenge of the day. An abseil right next to a massive waterfall and we had a little surprise! The abseil terminates in a deep pool, so we engineered it for the rope to be a little bit too short. Under normal circumstances having a short abseil rope is very bad and not to be recommended. When abseiling into deep water it's actually beneficial to have a short rope. As each person descended they realised that 'oh wow, the rope doesn't reach' so simply dropped off the end to take the plunge into the deep pool.
A sterling effort by everyone. Big thanks to Sam Marsland who was running the activity today, top job as always :-)
This was the first trip out and test trip for some of our brand new wetsuit gear. Some of the wetsuits have already seen some action, but the new neoprene jackets hadn't, until today. The combination of wetsuit and neoprene jacket worked well, keeping people warmer for much longer. In fact we were starting to strip off on the walk out, so warm we were. So thanks to Lomo for this great kit.
Mark
Depending on water levels will depend on how much scrambling is available. During low water there's loads of rock scrambling on offer and this definitely enhances the trip for most. However, after heavy rains there's still lots to do in here, it's simply more watery, makes sense right.
Today was one of those more watery days, so we hunted out all the best jumps, often doing them multiple times. Sections of easy scrambling joined these. For some additional rope play we set up a Tyrollean traverse (zip line) across the gorge, with a waterfall gushing noisily below! Starting from one side, everyone had to pull themselves over the gorge using the fixed ropes. Looks easy, but does require determination. Thankfully everyone had plenty of that :-)
After more play time in the water we fixed up the final challenge of the day. An abseil right next to a massive waterfall and we had a little surprise! The abseil terminates in a deep pool, so we engineered it for the rope to be a little bit too short. Under normal circumstances having a short abseil rope is very bad and not to be recommended. When abseiling into deep water it's actually beneficial to have a short rope. As each person descended they realised that 'oh wow, the rope doesn't reach' so simply dropped off the end to take the plunge into the deep pool.
A sterling effort by everyone. Big thanks to Sam Marsland who was running the activity today, top job as always :-)
This was the first trip out and test trip for some of our brand new wetsuit gear. Some of the wetsuits have already seen some action, but the new neoprene jackets hadn't, until today. The combination of wetsuit and neoprene jacket worked well, keeping people warmer for much longer. In fact we were starting to strip off on the walk out, so warm we were. So thanks to Lomo for this great kit.
Mark
We rigged a Tyrollean traverse too
Abseiling in Lingcove Beck to finish the trip
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