On an unusually sunny morning, half the TIs bundled into a minibus towing several canoes, eager to do some canoeing. After spending two days working towards getting some Canoe Award practice, it was time to paddle from a bridge near Nethybridge all the way down to Spey Bay, a trip of around 70km!

After everyone had arrived, and Pete had delivered the minibus safely to Nethybridge, the journey began. A check on the river height showed the river was close to overflowing, and the current certainly felt that way! As we were helped by the current the journey was fast, and with the addition of paddling half of us found ourselves on an island with plenty of daylight to set up camp, using tarps to save weight instead of tents. We even managed to string some hammocks around trees. Firewood was not in abundance at this time of year, but after most people had gone to bed, Pete woke up to one performing a late-night fire dance.

The next morning, we rose bright and early, and after a quick breakfast we began the speedy journey down the river. The high river level made the early rapids less challenging, so good time was made. However, after lunch an ambitious break into the current resulted in two TIs having a brief swim. After scooping the two out, the journey began once again in earnest, with two TIs eager to get dry clothes. We set up camp once again on an island, this time with added washing lines. Pete then gave some food for thought, and after sitting round the fire everyone slept well.

A blustery morning greeted us on the final day, but after pushing off into the flow, the wind soon dropped. Which was just as well, as leaving the main river into the estuary towards Spey Bay was challenging. With Pete forging the way, the TIs completed the last leg towards the van without mishap, even though the wind had returned. Everyone was rather glad to be entering a nice dry minibus, as the rain began as the minibus began moving.

Many thanks to Pete, Nat and Mark for canoeing with us and sharing their wisdom; and to Nethybridge for taking care of the minibus!

A Canoe Trip was originally published in Abernethy TI Course Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

“The TI’s and I have just gotten back from a fantastic 6 weeks skiing in Anzere, Switzerland training for our BASI Level 1. It’s been a highlight of the TI Course for all of us. A lot of us went from never skiing outside of a dry slope to getting confident on all things, although perhaps a bit too confident sometimes. We started off the trip with the long drive down through the UK, across France and into Switzerland. Around 30 hours for some of us! Once we arrived, we unpacked all the kit and spend a good hour taking in the breath-taking views from our chalet across the valley to the mountains on the other side. It didn’t quite seem real at the time — that this would be home for six weeks.

The day after arriving we started the skiing. We would have lessons from around half 9 till 12, have lunch at the top and then we would be set loose to roam the slopes ourselves. Some days we’d stay until the gondola would close at 4, and other days do a few runs, ski home and watch Netflix in the warm living room with cups of tea and fresh Swiss bread and chocolate. The first week was a slow week — a lot of us starting from scratch. It was fun learning new things, but we couldn’t quite be let down black runs just yet! It was fun and frustrating all at the same time, especially after you’ve fallen for the 5th time in half an hour and a 6-year-old Swiss kid has sped past me again. However, we did get to celebrate a fantastic new year in the village centre. The village was packed full of skiers from around Europe, with music, fireworks and snow. A pretty great way to start 2019, and a beautiful blue sky day on slopes later that day.

It felt like it would be forever until we’d go from snow ploughing into carving down reds. But get there we did — each week we got better and better, and got more and more confident at the same time. We started tackling the off-piste after not too long, which became an issue. As soon as lessons were done, we would eat lunch and head to our favourite sections and try bigger and better things; no amount of faces full of snow seemed to dampen our spirits in the powder. A big achievement for a lot of us was in the 2nd week when we were taken down the black run into the village. It meant we could ski down something long and steep and that we were really improving. But also, more importantly, it meant the walk home was nowhere near as long at the end of the day anymore.

The next few weeks went by in a flash. Life in Switzerland became normal until the last week of assessments. We’d spent the last 5 weeks preparing for this moment and it finally came. We met our trainer Al on the Sunday night, and he was a super nice and friendly guy which calmed a lot of our nerves. We got on through that week slowly but surely till we finished at lunchtime on Friday. We then had lunch and reflected over the assessment and thought about all the feedback that we’d been given about progressing our skiing to the next level. After lunch we enjoyed one last incredible afternoon on the slopes, skiing as late as we possibly could knowing that once we got home, we’d start packing up for the journey back to the UK. But eventually we made it home (as late as we could manage) and began the pack up. After packing up we enjoyed one last evening together in our lounge with some mulled wine and music looking back over 6 weeks that I’m sure none of us will ever forget.”

Anzere Antics was originally published in Abernethy TI Course Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Up first are the local ski evenings at Abernehty Nethybridge. Split into different times for school years P1 to P7, these dryslope sessions are a great opportunity to get some time on skis before hitting our local slopes at The Lect or Cairngorm.

Our New Year Houseparty is the best way to send out 2018 and ceilidh your way into 2019! Buffets and banter. Cakes and ceilidhs. Adventure activities and afternoon naps.

Looking to get your BASI 1, or just fancy a big ski trip to the Alps? Join us in Switzerland! Everyone who goes talks about it until at least June. You could be that guy too.

New for 2019 is a pair of Winter Walking Weekends! With one in the Southern Highlands and one in the Northern Corries we’re going to have a lot of fun this Winter in the hills. Think big fleeces, hot Thermos’, and stunning views from the top of snow-covered peaks.

(We may have ran some similar training courses many moons ago, but no one can say for sure which decade those were in. Drop us a message if you were on one of these back in the day!)

Fresh Tracks is our growing ski weekend for young adults — there’s been a name change or two over the years but it’s still the same opportunity to have some expert tuition and catch the skiing bug this winter.

As you can see, we’re pretty busy! Drop us an email with any questions about our Winter activities and we’d love to chat to you about welcoming you to an Abernethy Centre.

See what we’re getting up to on Instagram.
Pester us to use Twitter more.
We have a Facebook page you should probably like.

Hmm sitting here thinking what to write about and it dawns on me that we’ve been back from skiing for 4 entire weeks! That’s madness I tell you, where has that time gone? I’m reminded just how much I enjoyed Anzere. What’s better than skiing every day for 6 weeks, except perhaps the sickly sweet taste of perfectly ripened pink lady apple on a hot summer’s eve? But alas, all good things come to an end and so, several packets of Haribo later we arrived at the pearly cliffs of Dover and off I went home to Southend-on-Sea, only to realise just how boring it truly is. I suppose all of the excitement in Switzerland and the west coast of Scotland doesn’t compare to a slap dash hair cut at Taylor’s Salon or a greasy chinese takeaway from Mr Pings. But I digress. After a week of chilling out I looked forward to returning to the adventure up at Ardgour. I’ve grown to like the routine of waking up at 7:45 and grabbing myself 3 slices of Nutella on toast before morning meeting where we find out the days plan. A quick rush to get ready by 9:15 and then out of the door to enjoy, what is essentially, 3 hours of getting either wet or cold before lunch on the move followed up by a further 4 hours of outdoor shenanigans. Dinner at 6 and then time to recover. That makes it sound like a chore but the days here really are great, mostly.

Anyway, after all returning safely from our holidays we began the new term by taking a shaky canoe trip around the bay to familiarise ourselves once more– it’s amazing how much you can forget in just a few months. Since then we’ve spent a lot of time bagging hill days or bike rides, climbing or getting ready for our canoe 3 star which takes place next week. And that’s about it for our time all together at Ardgour. The end of an era some might say. Soon we’ll be canoeing the Spey, learning to lead climb at Nethybridge and then dotted around Scotland starting our placements.

I look forward to the next half of the TI course and the continued learning that is to come. Already I’ve learnt a tremendous amount. There are the obvious lessons about becoming an outdoor instructor but, what has really amazed me is the learning about myself –more than any other period in my life I’d say. I’ve learnt a lot about who I am, my strengths and weaknesses, and who I want to be. You learn a lot about your true character when you’re told you’re doing an overnight wild camp with no time to prepare whilst you’re dressed in a pair of Adidas running shorts and black vans. Even just living in a house with 12 other people has certain challenges to start off with but ones you soon learn to overcome. But the most exciting thing about Ardgour is its’ Christian environment — an accepting culture that lets you be entirely yourself. It gives the opportunity to learn about God in so many ways — whether through church, morning readings, independent bible studies, house groups, small groups, Ian Leitch’s teachings or just talking amongst friends about the faith that has brought us all together. And that for me is the best bit so far — growing in my relationship with God.

TI life was originally published in Abernethy TI Course Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

26 hours and 1200 miles later, we made it to Anzere! Possibly the most eagerly anticipated part of the course had arrived, and weren’t we all excited. For a few of us, this would be our first time on skis, a fact met with cautious excitement, as ahead lay six weeks of sun, snow, sore bums and the Swiss Alps.

Week one… and so it begins. Apparently pro skiers just happen to make it look easy, we do not. The newly acquired appendages make us look like new born giraffes as we shuffle around the nursery slopes. Thankfully, not only is Pete patient, he is also a great instructor. By the end of the week he’s got us ploughing all over the mountain. We begin to take one, two and three chair lifts across to the other side of the resort, discovering incredible scenery and snow along the way.

Week two… frustration. Heavy snowfall closes half the mountain for most the week. Add to that trying and failing to hone new techniques, like skiing parallel, culminates in a week of frustration…

Week three … weather warning! Continued heavy snowfall over the weekend meant the mountain was closed Monday, so we spent the morning analysing videos of former students. The following evening of chilling out was rudely interrupted by some sort of avalanche squad, notifying us that we need to be evacuated to the local hotel due to the increased avalanche threat. The free food on offer made the disruption a little easier to take. Once the threat had passed, and the mountain opened up once more, week three became the best week yet. Stunning views as a result of the weather, an eagerness from everyone to get better and a new instructing style from Louise finally led to parallel skiing all round! Success!

With one week until we begin our BASI level 1, week four will really be make or break…*

*The TIs (including Paddy) have their BASI this week (our blog is a little behind!) The great news is that 3 TIs, 1 Ski Module student and 1 staff member sat their BASI Level 1 last week — and all passed!

Anzere Update was originally published in Abernethy TI Course Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

One year ago I had never paddled down a white water river, climbed up rock faces, skied or gone down mountains on a bike full speed. Though I am an outdoors enthusiast and like a good adrenaline rush I never thought of making it a career.

For years I wanted to become a teacher, but I thought a classroom would not be the right place for me and I mean, how many teachers are actually loved by their students, right? (I know there are many exceptions out there!) Now I get to become a fun teacher in the best classroom of the world; the outdoors. Now to many of you a year of outdoor activities sounds like a walk in a park, like an extended holiday, but I can assure you that as much fun this course is, it’s also really hard work: Imagine having to go outside no matter what the weather is like, in rain, wind, hail, snow you’ll be on the bike, in a canoe or kayak, or walking on a mountain for a whole day. Thankfully there is no wrong weather you just have to dress right but it does play with your mind and motivation (Scotland does have a way of looking absolutely stunning in rain).

And then there are also good days, when you’re on a lake with blue sky, only in a T-shirt while seals pop up only a few metres out to greet you. Or you’re out for a hill walk and the views take your breath away and you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the world. Those days make me completely forget about the days I’ve been wet, cold and miserable I call it sunshine amnesia :)

So what’s the TI course about? It’s all about growth; you’re growing in your knowledge and every day you get to improve your skills in the activities, but you also grow personally; Living in a small community with people you’ve never met before brings out all sorts of new sides of you (sides you thought you never had, I for example have discovered how much of an extrovert I am and that I hate being alone, or sitting in a room in absolute silence), soon you will also discover some strange quirks of the other TI’s: Harry for example eats cereal only out of one bowl and you better not dare to take it, Jon puts milk in his tea before he adds hot water and Paul’s favourite challenge is to see how little water he can get away with drinking in a day (Just to name a few). And before you know it the people who once were strangers have become your family and you couldn’t imagine life without them.

One of my biggest personal challenges has been to continuously grow in my faith. Having worked for a large, charismatic Church before I came to Abernethy made it easy to live out what I believe as I had people around me who thought alike and challenged and supported me continuously. Moving into a rural area with a church congregation of 30 people is quite a change, but God has taught me so much about honour and obedience as well as rediscovering the beauty of a personal relationship with Jesus in the quiet place. We are now about to hit the half way mark of the course and I have no idea where the time has gone, but I am really excited for what’s to come; we will finish our time here in Switzerland, hopefully with our BASI 1 qualification in our pockets, then head back to Ardgour to continue training before we start our placements at the other centres. I can’t wait to finally try out what we have learned and introduce kids and adults to the amazing adventures you can have in the outdoors, and be part of their memories that will last for a life-time.

TI Life — The ups and the downs was originally published in Abernethy TI Course Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

In order for the TIs to prove that they really were trainee instructors and not part of the shady team who carried Ardin away they had to complete a wide range of challenges — revealing clues about Ardin’s whereabouts.

Thankfully Ardin has now been safely recovered and is enjoying life at Ardgour!

This week half the students have been on their ML training while the others have been away on a 4 day exped combining both walking and canoeing. They’ve just returned and from the sounds of it are looking forwards to a hot shower and a good dinner, followed by a long sleep!

Kidknapped! was originally published in Abernethy TI Course Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Over the last few weeks they have:

• Ticked off their first (and arguably most important) qualification — and are now all first aiders.
• Done many hill days in preparation for up coming Mountain Leader Trainings

• Had a 3 day camping expedition in Bridge of Orchy — with some stunning views

• Visited our Nethybridge centre for a week of climbing and starting to learn to roll a kayak…

• and have had their first outings on whitewater!

as well as finding time to take some brilliant selfies on Chief Instructor Pete’s phone!

The last few weeks… was originally published in Abernethy TI Course Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Is that because they have already fallen out and stopped talking you ask? Or because everyone has fallen ill with sore throats?

No — This week the students have been away from the centre getting their first taste of an Exped. They spent Monday to Thursday improving their canoeing and sea kayaking skills, having some great chats and hiding from the rain under tarps!

With three days of sunshine and one day of horrible wind and rain (showers may be a slight under-exaggeration!) they didn’t do too badly — and it all ended with beautiful blue skies (and a small swim for Tanwen and Paul…)

Today is a little less lovely and the students are out bagging their first Munro of the course — a side effect of the TI course is that you learn to get up and head outside whatever the weather, and maybe even to enjoy the rainy days!

We’re enjoying having them back at the centre, even with the noise, and are hoping for a weekend with some sun to help us celebrate some birthdays here at Ardgour!

Sunshine and Showers was originally published in Abernethy TI Course Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The students have had a busy first week with a bit of a taste of everything — biking, climbing, hill walking, canoeing and kayaking all in just 5 days! We obviously haven’t given them enough to tire them out at almost all of the students have made the most of their first day off to head out on another hill day — making the most of the dry weather which can be rare!

One of the highlights of the week was out trip to the Bothy for Team Fellowship. We managed to avoid both the rain and the midges and enjoyed a paddle or walk out to the bothy, swapping on the way home.

It was a great chance to start to get to know each other better — chatting round a campfire (and pulling silly faces) is always a great way to break the ice!

We’re looking forwards to getting to know them better as the weeks go on!

New Students was originally published in Abernethy TI Course Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.