Author Topic: Help for beginning scrambling  (Read 3073 times)

Islandplodder

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Re: Help for beginning scrambling
« Reply #15 on: 10:16:29, 22/10/18 »

Cheap ones will do fine.  They give you a great sense of stability, save your knees (especially on the way down) and are good protection against any stray cows on your route, and are great for testing the depth of the bog before you walk into it.
But I do find they improve my sense of security in places I find a bit iffy.

ninthace

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Re: Help for beginning scrambling
« Reply #16 on: 10:57:15, 22/10/18 »
+1 for poles.  Used correctly (most people don't) they let you use your arms to add to your motive power going uphill - it's a bit like pulling yourself up on bannisters.
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Rob Goes Walking

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Re: Help for beginning scrambling
« Reply #17 on: 11:02:16, 22/10/18 »
+1 for poles.  Used correctly (most people don't) they let you use your arms to add to your motive power going uphill - it's a bit like pulling yourself up on bannisters.


What's the correct way to use them (not just uphill but especially down)? Do you have a link I could read? I read this but that appears to contradict you and says, "You may want to shorten your poles for going uphill. Keep the poles close to your body and don't plant them ahead of you. You want to give yourself a little push up the hill, not a pull."

Bigfoot_Mike

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Re: Help for beginning scrambling
« Reply #18 on: 11:36:06, 22/10/18 »
https://www.thebmc.co.uk/hill-skills-using-trekking-poles


Try this link.


I don’t find that they need to be shortened going uphill. If you use correct technique, you are not placing the tip of the poles up slope. You may need to lengthen the poles on steep descents.
« Last Edit: 11:42:22, 22/10/18 by Bigfoot_Mike »

ninthace

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Re: Help for beginning scrambling
« Reply #19 on: 11:56:35, 22/10/18 »
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jH9e4QGUP4. If you have 20 min to spare.  Everything you would like to know. Ignore the bit about right an left loops - cheap poles don't have them but the grip is v important.  The video starts with him holding the poles wrong!

I don't shorten my poles for climbing either.
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Mel

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Re: Help for beginning scrambling
« Reply #20 on: 13:18:18, 22/10/18 »
I have one pole which only really gets deployed on tricksy descents as a confidence and stability aid. Sometimes I've used it on ascents if there's  a steep drop to the side, again for confidence and stability.


The rest of the time it is stowed away.




richardh1905

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Re: Help for beginning scrambling
« Reply #21 on: 08:44:17, 23/10/18 »
I don't know the Go Outdoors poles but I would just try the cheapies - you can always get a better pair later if you feel the need.
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dav

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Re: Help for beginning scrambling
« Reply #22 on: 13:56:15, 23/10/18 »
If that catbells path scares you, then your problem is with the 'exposure', the drop away of land around you. It gives you that whirling feeling like you are about to lose your balance - virtigo!The only way to overcome this is with practise. The more you expose yourself to this fear the more you will overcome it, until it will no longer bother you. Forget scrambling for now but take yourself out along some of the less sharper ridges until you become accustomed to the exposure, then go from there.

Dazza

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Re: Help for beginning scrambling
« Reply #23 on: 20:06:11, 23/10/18 »

Really? Because jontea on the forum warned me there was a scramble near the summit and places on the Internet talk about a scramble to the summit like countryfile. Does it perhaps depend which path you ascend by? Or are they all wrong?
There is a little exposed bit but only if you get off the main path. I remember this bit from previously and ended up going that way again this year  (I was following someone new to catbells who doesn't care about heights) and yes that left me a little wobbly. That bit is very short though but a narrow path and a drop to the right. I managed though but not my preferred route!

However it is dead easy to avoid as it's on the far right of the last bit of cat bells. If you stick to the middle or to the left you'll have no exposure problems at all. However Catbells is harder than Loughrigg (though easier to navigate) but walking poles do help a lot.
Dazza
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These boots were made for walking so that's just what I'll do. After I've re-proofed them of course...

tonyk

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Re: Help for beginning scrambling
« Reply #24 on: 22:56:13, 23/10/18 »
If that catbells path scares you, then your problem is with the 'exposure', the drop away of land around you. It gives you that whirling feeling like you are about to lose your balance - virtigo!The only way to overcome this is with practise. The more you expose yourself to this fear the more you will overcome it, until it will no longer bother you. Forget scrambling for now but take yourself out along some of the less sharper ridges until you become accustomed to the exposure, then go from there.
Spot-on.I used to work on roofs and transmitter masts installing aerials.This was in pre health and safety days,climbing without a safety harness where one mistake could mean serious injury or worse and the only way to be comfortable with the risk was to be exposed to it constantly.A couple of weeks holiday mean't having to start again and it took a week to get back to my comfort level.
 As for Catbells,perhaps best left alone at the moment as it does have a bad reputation for accidents,probably down to attracting more inexperienced walkers than the more classic Lakeland routes.My sister has climbed it and she would never desribe herself as a hill walker.Why not take yourself to a local climbing wall and get used to some serious exposure whilst using a safety harness? It would help to make low grade scrambles more comfortable.

 

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