Pre-probationer hill day January 2023
It seems like the weather knows the precise day we are going to do a hill assessment of the pre-probationary members of Keswick MR team. So in what can best be described as ‘Borrowdale’ weather the prospective team members met with current team members at Seathwaite for a hill assessment day out. The purpose of this day is ensure that new team members have the necessary skills to look after themselves whilst out on callouts. Typically on a callout team members carry large bags of equipment up steep slopes in all weathers and any time of day or night. Conditions were actually ideal for this test.
Each candidate was given micro-navigation tasks as we made our way up towards Sty Head Tarn, veering off steeply leftwards up onto the top of Seathwaite Fell. The wind blew hard and the rain fell, mostly horizontally, and the rivers were flowing spectacularly. All of a sudden but only momentarily the sun came out revealing the fells around. After around 4 hours of trudging around everyone descended back to the valley. As far as the pre-probationary team members are concerned, they will now be invited to attend training evenings over the next 3 months to get to know us and for us to show them what being in Keswick Mountain Rescue Team involves. We look forward to spending more time with them over the next few weeks.
