“If you don’t know your warthog from your windslab then this is the talk for you!”
Well I do know what a warthog is now thanks to Barry and Annabelle’s wonderful evening of winter discovery. We mulled over all sorts of interesting topics from different types of crampons to when should you ‘short rope’? Answer; If you are fond of the person on the other end, or they owe you money.
Amongst a great many other things Barry is an Association of Mountaineering Instructors (AMI) registered technical advisor and Mountain Rescue qualified search party leader and loves nothing more than to offer some sage advice to those heading out into the mountains in winter. This was particularly timely ahead of the AMC Scotland trip to Ardverikie on 9th March. Where better to address these important questions than the slightly drafty yet homely upstairs of an 1800s historic dockside pub on a wet Wednesday in February.
If you had walked in at the wrong moment you might have mistaken it for a business conference, albeit one with an unusual amount of beer, ropes, and pointy things. The reason is a lot of the concepts that are used in the corporate world are useful within expedition planning and execution. We covered conscious competence vs unconscious incompetence, confirmation bias, and analogy with air accident investigation. If you are a massive nerd like me then check out ‘black box thinking’ by Matthew Syed.
If you are interested in the Scotland trip please get in touch and don’t forget that we do have walking crampons and axes available to borrow as well as the emergency group shelters. You can borrow these whether you are on an official trip or planning your own.
Wishing you an action packed winter, have fun and take care out there folks.
