I took a class of 25 ten and eleven year olds on a school trip to
Southern Snowdonia. There follows the week's itinerary and a more
detailed description of our assent of Cadair Idris.
Monday
9.15am Depart Lewisham
4.30pm Arrive Mountain Centre
7.00pm Evening walk
9.15pm Child looses wellie in stream
10.30pm Children sent to bed
Tuesday
2.30am Children go to sleep (or at least I do)
6.30am Woken by children running in corridor
10am Orienteering
1.30pm Gorge Walk
7.00pm Ropes Course (Teams of 5 have to carry a can of water over a
series of rope obstacles between trees.)
10.30pm Children sent to bed
Wednesday
3.00am Children go to sleep
6.00am Woken by children playing football in dinning room
10.00am Rock Climbing
1.30pm Trail through a slate mine
5.00pm Swimming
10.30pm Children sent to bed
Thursday
3.30am Children go to sleep
5.30am Woken by children playing darts on my bedroom door
10.15am Start ascent of Cadair Idris
1.15pm Reach the summit of Cadair Idris
2.00pm Leave the summit
4.00pm Return to minibus
7.00pm Packing up
9.30pm Torchlit Pajama Party
9.45pm I fall asleep
Friday
8.45am I wake up
9.15am Coach departs
9.16am I fall asleep
3.59pm I wake up
4.00pm Arrive back in Lewisham
Cadair Idris
At 10.18am on Thursday 25 Year 6 children (11 girls and 14 boys), a
Mountain Instructor, a Mountain Leader, and two teachers, one teacher
(me) ML trained, set off for the Cadair Idris Summit via the Pony
Path. This was the route chosen by the instructor which would give
the group the greatest chance of getting to the summit. Only one
child had climbed any 2000ft mountains before and most had no prior
experience of walking in the countryside, apart from a residential
trip a year earlier when they walked 6 miles round trip to Pitch Hill
(257m).
The weather forecast was sunny, 20*C, low winds. Each child was told
to take rucksack, lunch, waterproof top, spare sweater/fleece, two
750ml water bottles, suncream, (camera), wear light clothes, two pairs
of socks and walking boots. Anything essential, not owned by the
child, was loaned by the centre.
About two miles along the Pony Path I discovered that one child had
not filled one of her water bottles! She claimed that we only told
her to take the bottle, not to fill it! Halfway up another girl
complained that her feet were hurting - she was only wearing one pair
of ankle socks! Fortunately, Anthony was (for some reason) wearing
three pairs of socks so her removed the sweatiest pair and loaned them
to the girl, I don't think she dared complain.
Initially there was a bit of *are we nearly there yet?* and *is it
lunchtime?* but the children had been well briefed and told what to
expect. Ravina, the only child to have climbed any mountains before,
was sure footed and walked up the hill like she was on an escalator.
A group of five children were really going for it and were determined
to be the first up, running off after each stop, and the group leader
had a hard time keeping their enthusiasm controlled, giving clear
instructions of where to wait at the end of each section. He later
said that he thought that they'd have got to the summit in about 90
minutes given half a chance.
There were four rest points, and they always lasted for at least 5
minutes after the last person arrived. But the promised sunny weather
failed to materialise - it was overcast all day.
At about 1.15pm the first few children reached the summit. The
remainder of the class arrived over the next 15 minutes.
The descent was mostly uneventful and took about two hours.
A great day out was had by all - the first mountain experience for all
but one child.