Snowdonia Mountain Skills

Congratulations to four new Mountain Leaders. Was a real pleasure to assess them in their journey to the award (and in some cases, train as well).

Cracking weather for an ML assessment. After the winter and spring up to this point, we were spoilt!

Day 3 of ML assessment in the Lakes. Sunny and windy

Iceland is absolutely stunning at the moment. Tomorrow it's all change with the weather

Back in Iceland for another school tour. Looking lovely and white.

Proper avalanche conditions on many of the high mountains in Scotland after bumper snowfall and then strong winds re-depositing the snow as wind slab. Several people have been avalanched across Scotland and yet the avalanche forecast is Considerable which means avalanches are Likely to be triggered by a single person. How to relate this to normal life: If you had a considerable chance of being stabbed to death if you walked down that dark alleyway, would you still do it? It doesn't mean you can't go out, but it does mean choose your routes with care, avoiding avalanche slopes where wind slab has built up.

MOUNTAIN LEADER ASSESSMENT £440. North Lakes

We have one place left available on our Mountain Leader Assessment in the Lake District 20 - 24 April 2026.

Contact us at [email protected] for more information.

It really works

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/astonishing-916-increase-in-breeding-birds-seen-at-englands-premier-rewilding-project/

It's really great to be back in the mountains properly. This time last year I was recovering from a fractured ankle. I thought this tale of recovery might encourage others.

In August 2023 I slipped on a muddy grassy path on the top of High Raise. It caused me to sit down on the other ankle. I heard and felt a crack but was in total self denial. After around 10 minutes of swearing and feeling sick I managed to get to my feet with the help of my walking sticks. I then proceeded to hobble off the mountain aided by Steve who chose the best route for me. I was determined not to call MR and managed to get down to Easedale road-head (swearing with most steps!) where Steve (who once we had reached the track had run ahead to fetch the car).

I spent the next two days convincing myself that it was a really bad sprain. As a first aid trainer I should know better and if I had had a client in the same situation I know I would have called for help!

What should I have taken heed of compared to sprains in the past?

* Strange numbness on the outer side of the ankle
* The feeling of nausea didn't go away for over 24 hours whereas with sprains it normally goes in minutes
* An intense scratchy pain very different to sprains.
* Not known pain like it 😂🤣

Why didn't I go to A & E for 2 days? This will sound crazy, but total self denial. I knew that if it was confirmed broken I would have been told no more walking for 8 weeks or more.

In Carlisle it was confirmed as a classic Weber B fracture. They nearly didn't do an x-ray as the young doctor on duty thought that if I had made it all the way off a mountain then it wasn't broken, but when he checked with someone above, they told him to do an x-ray!

So it was 7-8 weeks in boot but weight bearing using crutches to start with and then try to put more weight on it. After that, it was a case of learning proprioception again.
By October I was doing decent length low level walks such as round Crummock Water and Buttermere. By November I walked round Ennerdale Water, and did my first short fell walks; Holme Fell and Loughrigg. By January I was snowshoeing in the Pennines (great for ankle recovery) and also did a decent fellwalks in Langdale and Wasdale and by February climbed the back wall of Helvellyn in crampons.
Time to full recovery; probably 8 months. I did my first proper winter mountain walks in February but didn't wear full on winter boots as my ankle was still swollen. I finally managed my B2s in November this year

Things to bear in mind;

* Do lots and lots of exercises. The bone is probably the least of your issues. The tendons and ligaments take a lot lot longer to heal. I was told to look up an NHS pdf on exercises for Weber B fractures. I also found more online once out of the boot.

* People often say a bad sprain is worse than a break. That may be true but it is almost impossible to break an ankle without spraining the tendons as well! To put a bone to that much movement means the tendons will also be over- stretched

* Don't just walk on smooth pavements. I never had physio, but dog walking meant that I headed across uneven ground which manipulated the ankle into different positions stretching tendons etc. (for a long time I was being thrown off balance by lack of pro-priaception and flexibility but it does return in the end so long as you keep exercising)

* Make sure you take calcium supplements (as well as Vitamin D and K) or have calcium rich diet to help with bone healing.

* In the recovery stage you may well have to buy different shoes. Your ankle will be swollen and also less flexible to get into tighter boots. For a while the only footwear I could wear were my crocs. I ended up buying a new pair of boots for winter (Hoka Kaha Frost boots).

* Many people, including myself, find that the physical healing takes 8 months or more, but the mental healing takes longer. A fracture can lead to loss of confidence for a long time to come. One footwear brand that has really helped me is Hoka. . Their boots have brilliant grips (please note I wasn't wearing my Hoka boots on the day of the fracture!)