High and low

First I was frozen on top of a rock, then I was frozen in some water…

As part of our training, all the first years were taken up one of the climbing crags the Centre uses. Up there we were shown how to set up a climb and an abseil. You use a few slings, a handful of figure-8 knots of varying styles and an Italian hitch plus some rope. If set up correctly you have a fairly neat looking system of ropes and knots that’ll let you roam around the side of the rock without falling on your head. If set up in a slightly disorganised way you end up with something that’ll work, but is prone to jamming up and then releasing in worrying little jumps - having your abseil line jam then release in an unexpected jerk doesn’t do much for your confidence. It was also a howling gale up there, but for once it wasn’t raining.

In the afternoon we went kayaking again. This time I was shown how to paddle properly so for a short time, until the wind turned me around, I was going in a fairly straight line. The fact my boat was longer than I am and that I’d picked up a short paddle didn’t help my aim. Big boats don’t tip over as easily, but once they get it in them to turn around, around you go. You can also build up a good speed which you don’t realise until you try and stop

For some fun we did a seal-launch which involves you sitting in your kayak at the top of a sea wall (or some form of vertical drop into the water) and then being pushed off into the water. Do it properly and you stay upright and paddle away. Do it wrong and you look a bit of a tit for a while as you try to regain your balance. As my boat was bigger than most oil tankers I went in like a missile and popped up again, I don’t think it would have tipped over had I even tried.

Tipping over did happen though, we did an Eskimo rescue where should you capsize, someone else pushes the nose of their boat into your waiting (and frantically scrabbling) hands and you pull yourself upright. Boats shouldn’t go upside down, it’s just not right. Especially when you get cold water up your nose and in your ears. Still, you soon realise you can in fact hold your breath for a while and that you’re not stuck, but time does seem to run 100x slower when you’re upside down with your eyes shut in the freezing water. But I have now been upside down and know what it’s like which is good.

This diary uploader still crashes when uploading entries. I thought I’d fixed it too.

Tags: Climbing, Cold, Scotland, Sport, Work