With the onset of Spring and the start of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition season, instructors at Aspen Outdoors Ltd are sorting out their summer gear, thinking through and refining what bits of kit to take when leading groups in the hills. In this blog Murray Wilson talks about the kit and equipment that …
Category: Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
Isle of Raasay
After a quick ascent of Ben Macdui with a client I got back to my car at 2pm, with plenty of time to drive to Skye for a two day, impromptu trip to the Isle of Raasay. I wanted to explore the island for a potential Duke of Edinburgh's Award Gold expedition in April. Ambitiously …
Snowshoe Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Expedition
This February six 17 year olds from Shrewsbury School became Duke of Edinburgh's Award pioneers, undertaking the first ever snowshoe expedition. Normally expeditions happen between March and October, avoiding the winter. Our expedition however, after a great deal of planning and preperation, took place high in the snowy Cairngorm mountains in February. Here is an account …
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Hammock camping, campfire cooking trail runner
So my plan was to do a big 60km reccy of a gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award route in Perthshire, running it in two days travelling really lightweight, sleeping in my hammock and cooking on a fires - so no stove. My rucksack weighed 7kg with food and water and all my overnight kit. I …
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Glen Rosa
On Friday afternoon, after our first Duke of Edinburgh's Award expedition of this season finished up, I did some furious unpacking and repacking to get ready for a weekend on Arran. Out came all the soaking wet kit from a rainy practice expedition and I packed running kit for two sunny days in Arran. I …
50,000 steps on the Mini Cateran Trail
Keeping track of your daily steps and competing with family, friend and colleagues to reach the highest total is kinda popular just now. Fitbits and Garmins seem to be on everyone's wrists: keeping track of steps, calories and distance. We took one with us this weekend and reached the smug total of 52,000 steps, …
