Wales Outdoors

CAVING AT PORTH YR OGOF

It rained so last night, so much so that I thought the caving planned for today would be seriously curtailed, if not canceled. But my fears were groundless. I awoke to bright sunny skies with excellent prospects for this to continue for the day. There's nothing I dislike more than getting changed in the rain; I was happy...

I had two clients who wanted a caving trip, a father and son combo who were away for the week, killing time over half term.

I decided on Porth Yr Ogof as it is easy - ish to get to and an excellent beginners trip.

We crawled around the maze for much of the morning, exiting for a spot of lunch and then back in for the traditional exploration of the river system and some of the more obscure passageways... we even made it to Hywells Groto, a dirty crawl through muddies water and over achingly placed fist sized boulders.

They were happy, and glad of the wetsuits issued for the afternoon session - man, that water was cold!

OUR COASTEERING GUIDELINES

Following on from Tuesdays post I thought it timely to describe in a little more detail the activity known as coasteering and outline our procedures and policies. The following is taken directly from the An Intertidal Thing website.

COASTEERING INFORMATION

Definitions - The UK Mountain Training Board defines the activities in the following ways:

Sea Level Traversing- Primarily a dry Rock- Climbing activity.
Coasteering- Usually a wet activity involving swimming and jumping from height into water as an integral part.
Adventure Swimming- Another name for Coasteering or a non-technical variation of canyoning.

We currently use two venues Ogmore to Southerndown and Bracelet Bay to Limeslade Bay at Mumbles. The activities at these locations are very different from each other.

Ogmore
This is a great although exposed venue. We cannot guarantee that Coasteering will take place. We need calm sea conditions and we need the tide to be going out.

Situated on the Bristol channel, this area has the second highest tide range in the world (12 metres), we need to be aware of the condition of the sea.

There are some good sized jumps, nothing huge but good fun, and just the best traversing that you will ever have.

This is best as part of the multi activity beach day.

Mumbles
Here the activity is Rock Hoping. We do not get wet but we traverse close to seal level, hoping from one rock to another, avoiding the brine. There are some good cave sections and a real challenge at he end, the smallest cave you could ever attempt to enter go through.

Again, this is best as part of the multi activity beach day.

Kit
It is walking boots for both locations with full wetsuit, bouyancy, helmet and gloves for Ogmore and old clothing and a helmet for Mumbles.

Staff
We run the coasteering with a staff ratio of 2:8, an instructor and an assistant to eight clients. This ensures safety and a great sesion but is expensive. The Rock Hoping at Mumbles is 1:8.

All of our activities are now run with a minimum staff ratio of 1:8 and we try to supply two staff for every session.

For 2008 our standard rate is £55 pp for a day and this increased rate reflects the enhanced staff ratio and improvements in kit provision.

We now believe that our provision is second to none and we think that the small increase in costs to the client is worth every penny.

LICENSING FEES

The now HSE run licensing scheme for adventure activity providers are putting up the cost of this inspection scheme above the rate of inflation.

I believe that he scheme is necessary and wish it had the teeth to deal with the loopholes that exist but I do query where the money goes.

I am a business that offers adventure activities to under 18's, so, I must have a license.

The new rate will be £715 for the inspection, plus and hourly charge (last inspection £30 per hour), for a license that for most is awarded for two years. This is equivalent to approximately £35 per month.

What does the industry and the provider get for this generous payment?

The provider gets a license on a rather nice piece of non standard sized card and the industry gets a minimum standards watchdog.

This seems rather expensive.

One wonders what the fee of £715 is for, as payment per hour is charged at inspection.... Admin, certification, ermmmmm...... I can produce a rather lovely first aid certificate and I charge £2.50 pp.

BACK IN THE GORGE

So, here we are again - the second week that I am banging on about provision of adventurous activities at Dinas Rock - I wonder if next week will see cause to be writing yet another blog about other companies (and these have begun to get a little tiring, even for me,).

Some may be asking who am I to be writing about others in so damning a way? Or perhaps where is the legislation to deal with such issues? Or maybe even where are the other voices supporting my stance? Well, let me first describe the events of last Thursday and then I will go on to try to answer those questions.

So, the company of the previous weeks blog, Morfa Bay, were working in the area again. This time of course it was OK as they only brought along about 60 clients..... mmmmmm.....

The end of the day for us is pool jumping at Loonies Leap. We arrived at this location to find a group from Storey Arms OEC. This centre happens to be the premier centre in the Brecon Beacons National Park, or at least it is the most well known, being situated at the base of Pen Y Fan, the highest mountain in southern Britain and being owned by Cardiff City Council. It is the place where kids from all over South Wales go to experience adventure.
So, good for them, getting kids out into the wilds...

NO, NO, NO. Shame on them for being one of the only centres to still run deep water pool jumping and gorge walking activities without providing buoyancy for their clients. So, to clarify, we are a small business but we provide boots, full wetsuit, buoyancy and canoe helmets for all clients. Storey Arms ran a similar session to us for a group of children that were no older than 11 years, and were possibly younger, kitting clients in wellies, waterproofs and a climbing helmet.

At the pool jumping site the kids were told to remove all items of clothing except their bathing costumes, leaving these items on the bridge. They then walked barefoot(!!!) across gravel, climbed down a steep wall, walked across a small and rough weir and were placed inside a loop at the end of a safety rope and asked to jump into the pool. They had several jumps each and by the end of the session were visibly shaking with cold.

So, we have NO BODY PROTECTION, a group of young people waiting beside a drop into a deep water pool without any buoyancy (what if one of them fell into a group of others and 4 kids fell off the side, hitting their heads on the rocks as they entered the water?), RISK OF SAFETY ROPE SNAGGING WHILST THE CLIENT IS UNDER THE WATER and last but not least a risk of the client becoming severely cold. I am sorry, but this type of provision is simply no longer acceptable.

A blog of mine last year lead one of the heaviest users of the area to review their kit provision and at least now they issue buoyancy. I really should not have to be writing about an LEA in this manner.

So, onto the answers. I am nobody. I simply own a business that happens to provide gorge walking at Dinas Rock and I happen to run the sessions in a safe way. It costs me to provide the kit that I do as other providers can use the money saved in not doing so to promote their business through greater advertising exposure or simply to put the money in their pocket. I therefore have to work harder to gain my income. So, why shouldn't I shout about the shoddy experiences parents are paying good money for their kids to take part in, experiences that I can prove to be, at best, not best practice and, at worst, to be actually endangering the young people taking part.

The Adventure Activities Licensing Authority have no ability to overrule most 'technical advisors' guidance. Storey Arms will have risk assessed the pool jumping at Loonies Leap and it will be cleared as a safe way to operate by their technical advisor. AALA it seems are unable to force a change in operating procedure.

Many do agree with the main thrust of my blogs, maybe not with the style or the manner in which I choose on occasion to name and shame. So, these credible witnesses, these well qualified outdoor education specialists and centre managers, all of these have in the past supported the arguments that I have placed in an open forum here, at the Wales Outdoors Blog, and also arguments placed in global emails that I have circulated to all centres and adventure business over a period of the last ten years. The thing is, none will support me in the open because I choose a 'confrontational' style. The activity community is a small one and people really do have to work together. As I have only ever worked for an LEA on one occasion and as I choose to work with only a very select group of activity suppliers, then I do not need to make or keep friends in the activity community. I am a free agent and that enables me to have a free voice.

So, please Morfa Bay, please think about your impacts on activity locations rather than profit for your company - and also please ensure that groups going underground wear caving kit, not simply their summer beach clothing.....

And, please Storey Arms, at least make a decision to work towards living up to your reputation and start to provide your clients with reasonable kit for the activity, the obvious item here being BUOYANCY when in deep water.....

PROVISION OF ACTIVITIES

So, there I was, just arrived for a days gorge walking with my group of 21 boys, three teachers and three instructors. It was a fine day, hot, lower water levels in the river, perfect for the eleven year olds. We split the group into three, each instructor taking 8 clients, lovely small groups of well equipped, (wetsuit, boots, buoyancy and canoe helmet) well cared for clients.

Then something happened that I had not witnessed for some time. Man, I am fed up with this type of thing but hey, I said I would keep on reporting what I see as poor provision......

A group of 80 people turned up in two coaches. Their instructors from Morfa Bay Centre had already arrived.

I work with a group of local providers and we have set an upper limit of 30 clients to one location as we feel taking larger groups than this is unfair on other users, both the general public and other adventure activity providers and also because the standard of provision is likely to be poor in overcrowded situations.

I spoke to the Morfa Bay team and expressed my dismay at them turning up with such a large group and they didn't seem to think that there was a problem. Oh well. Ho hum, been there before......

We set off on our walk and returned to the car park for lunch. We spotted a Morfa Bay group returning from the Blue Stalactite Mine, 19 clients and two staff....... the clients had a helmet and a torch but were allowed to enter the dangerous mine environment wearing shorts and t shirts and trainers. This is absolutely unacceptable. Firstly a group underground of 19 people is dangerous and secondly the mine is equivalent to a cave environment, but more unstable, and so full body coverage and wellies or walking boots are essential. The spectacle of 19 clients and two staff was repeated at the end of the day as groups rotated.

SO, I WILL SAY THIS AGAIN.........

I want to see good provision with small groups taking part in fun but educational experiences and being led by instructors who understand the impacts of group use on the environment and who are employed by business that are prepared to invest in the proper kit and staff for the job in hand. A long sentence that - you work it out!!

I do not want to write any more of this type of blog entry. I want to see careful appropriate provision. Thats it.

Is that too much to ask for? 

FOOTWEAR

So, why is it, that following recent improvements in kit provision by most groups at the South Wales gorge location, following on from Wales Outdoors continued highlighting of the poor provision being displayed, is it possible to still see clients of some companies wearing inappropriate footwear?

Gorge walking does not have a national governing body award and so the Licensing Authority allow technical advisor's to guide the companies that employ them in their choices of kit and in how the activity is run. This leads to various levels of provision for the client and most obvious now, a wide range of footwear choices.

So, why is the choice of footwear, or foot protection, important in the gorge situation? Think about it.... smooth, jagged rocks, slippery at times, wet environments, swimming through pools, climbing and traversing sections combined with walking up and down rough tracks and steps.

Wales Outdoors used to provide Wellington boots, a compromise but one that offered good lower leg protection and some ankle support as well as excellent grip on wet rock. Wellies are not good for swimming though so, as of mid 2006 we decided to move across to Viking dry boots, and we are the only company offering this excellent choice of footwear for gorge walking. They are fully lined rubber walking boots with full ankle support and walking boot soles.

We see some companies working in the gorge wearing canyon shoes - one wonders how these companies have risk assessed the steep walks as there is absolutely no ankle support or indeed any ankle protection for those periods when walking over broken ground. It should be understood that canyoning is not available in the Brecon Beacons.....

We see companies using wellies and getting clients to remove their boots before jumping into pools, clambering out, cold and unstable, over sharp stones and shingle. This is a method that we used to employ when clients felt their wellies might fall of when swimming and it was always a cause of concern to us. But remember Wales Outdoors is a relatively small private business not a Local Education Authority Centre charged with the care of the boroughs children.

We see companies that provide wetsuits allowing clients to participate in deck shoes or totally inappropriate trainers. Far better to not issue a wetsuit in  warm weather and invest instead in footwear that is appropriate. I am positive that these companies are leaving themselves wide open for negligence claims following a slip or fall or trip accident during the activity.

So, I am writing here to highlight my thoughts on the varied provision of gorge walking, once again, in the hope that there can be a final push by local companies and centres to truly make the adventures experienced at Dinas Rock as safe and with as much consideration to client care as possible....

So, please, no more deck shoes or trainers.......

Here We Go Again......

On Wednesday I noticed a group on the main face at Dinas and after a while approached them and spoke to the instructor. I said that it was against BMC and the old Environmental Charter Group policy to be abseiling on the main face and that I had made it clear to the instructors employers YEAR AFTER YEAR, for the last 6 or 7 years, that using this face was unacceptable. The company she was working for was Call of the Wild.

And then I get an e-mail from Tourism Swansea Bay stating that the manager of Call of the Wild is now sitting on the executive committee of Tourism Swansea Bay, the baby of a Mr Geoff Haden of the famous and amazingly eroded Karabiner fame...... So what do we have here then......

Call of the Wild not only use this face for abseiling they also use the Mellte for Gorge Walking and this is against Brecon Beacon National Park guidance.

This maverick approach to adventure activity provision is clearly undermining the good work of those who wish to work in as sustainable manner as possible. I know of no other company flouting BMC and BBNP policy and guidelines in this manner.

Environmental Destruction + Complete Disregard For Safety = Tourism Swansea Bay

It seems as if all tourism organisations are corrupt and self serving.... I gave up trying to assist the industry long ago.

Oh, by the way, my court action against Mr Haden was a success. He settled out of court, paying me the money that he owed me for contracted work but that he had refused to honour. What an fool for generating personal stress and wasting the courts time. Ho hum........

Beacons Rescue

This weeks Brecon and Radnor reports on the search last Tuesday for two men who were lost in 'foul weather' on Pen y Fan, the highest mountain in Southern Britain.

The weather really was not that bad, the guys had no map, no waterproofs and after walking around for eight hours called in the Mountain Rescue who warmed them and walked them off the hill.

These guys intend to come back and had the audacity to claim that the walk up Pen y Fan was training for Mount Kilimanjaro. They involved 40 rescuers and a police helicopter.

I say that they should be billed for the rescue. I am fed up with complete idiots out on the hill. Fathers that have the best walking waterproofs but throw a towel over their eleven year old son at the top of a mountain when it starts raining, mother and daughters who ask me are they at the top of Pen y Fan when they are at the top of Fan Fawr, poorly equipped and unskilled people in hazardous situations.

Stop the walking magazines 'sexing up' mountaineering, stop the promotion of honey pot routes, issue good information on courses and kit and let the idiots know that they will be billed if it is proven that they set off  for a walk unprepared. Accidents do happen but would you be insured if you drove a car with no brakes. Walking up a British mountain in the winter with NO kit or experience is a similar act and should be treated as such. 

There is no excuse for this. All know that boots and waterproofs and a map are important. I met a guy once that had been using a compass for a few year and wondered why he kept getting lost. It had reversed polarity! I kid you not.

The B and R should have slated the guys but reported the event as if it had been a jolly mistake. Oh well. Thats local reporting for you!

The Thursday Post

With the advent of new sites to discuss some of the issues that I have been blogging about here, I have had a rethink regarding the purpose of this site.

The stats have been an average of 12 unique visitors per day. Not a great deal of traffic but these visitors have been spending a fair bit of time leafing through different articles. It is therefore worth continuing and as the stats have a consistent upward trend it is interesting to me to see how many visitors this blog could finally attract.

I have therefore decided to review the way in which the info is stored, re-publish some of the important articles, such as the first aid info and kit provision blogs and maintain these as a technical resource. These pages will be clearly linked to in a re designed side bar.

I do hope that the visitors keep on coming and that the site becomes a useful resource to those looking for information on activity provision and adventures in Wales.

Once again - feel free to comment. I moderate the comments only to keep out abusive remarks. ALL comments that are not abusive are published.

New Instructor Association

Following my ethical objections to BAHA and my amazement at the IOL's dreadful organisation in Wales (more of that in a future posting) I think that it is about time that a quality, ethical association of outdoor professionals is developed and I think that I will give this a go over the winter.

I attempted similar about 8 years back with the BOIA but had to shelve this in support of the Brecon Beacons Charter Group. As the charter group was deliberately dismantled a couple of years ago in favour of the disastrous Beacons Active there is locally, and I think nationally, a need for a comprehensive standard for instructors to join with.

I shall create a website, membership cards (business cards and CV templates for members personal use) and underpinning the association will be VERY strong and comprehensive ethical, environmental, HSE and client care commitments that all members must sign up to.

Members will be able to change and develop policy through on line discussion and voting with one local meeting to be held each year to ratify decisions.

This member led association will have open forums that drive its day to day responses and thus will be able to respond to market conditions and press interest almost instantly.

Ideas and support in the initial stages welcomed form instructors in South Wales with instructors further afield being invited to participate in 2007.

I think that we can make a real difference to the industry by, in effect, developing a trades union for outdoor staff.

HELP WITH A GREAT NAME PLEASE!!