THE BUSINESS OF ADVENTURE

Some areas have a profusion of outdoor possibilities. In the USA outdoor magazines often have features on the top 10 outdoor towns. Well, north Wales and specifically places like Betws-y-Coed and up-and-coming Llangollen are on my list for a UK version.

My trip to the area took me first to the Plas-y-Brenin set a few miles outside Betws, in Capel Curig. The area is steeped in hill and mountain climbing history, sat on the edge of the Horseshoe pass that leads to the climbs of Llanberis and only a short distance to Snowdon (Wales highest peak). The Brenin carries the heavyweight title of being the UK National Mountain Centre and is a veritable institution of outdoor activity.

Palm has been a sponsor of the centre for over fifteen years and the coaches, lead by Loel Colins and Pete Catteral have really put paddlesports on the map at the Brenin. This visit gave me chance to see what they had been up to, how Palm kit was standing up to hardcore professional use and also get some feed back on a few new products. Everything seemed to have worked really well and the guys were super happy with their sets of gear. The vote for best product was unanimously the Aleutian jacket but it was good to see that other items like the gear supplied for the Safety and Rescue Test Centre were getting loads of use.

With all the snow that unusually fell here in the UK last week the views from the centre dinning room in the morning were amazing so here’s a few pics to inspire. If you want to join them they have probably the broadest range of courses available and their web site is now featuring regular offers so take a look.

Next it was a quick trip to the National Whitewater Centre at Canolfan Tryweryn. This is a great facility (more so now that paddling is free) but my journey was not for getting in a boat instead to meet with Rescue 3 UK. To summarise what these guys do would require some more floods such as we have seen in the last few years. If you see the fire brigades rescuing folk from flooded homes then these are the people that taught them to do it. They are amazing flood and swift water rescue specialists and as we are doing some new products for this area its to their expertise we turn for critique. They don’t confine their teaching to professionals either with courses for groups and clubs as well, so if you want to stay safe take a look them up.

Finally another great drive through the snowy landscape took me to Llangollen and Ty’n Dwr. This used to be the old Youth Hostel but has recently been bought and had  £2 million invested in a major refurbishment scheme for…. You guessed it, an outdoor centre! The new owners, the  University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) are one of those newer style institutions that move quickly, don’t get bogged down in unnecessary bureaucracy and act like a business. The result is a centre for study that, in terms of Outdoors, is at the forefront with higher-level courses (they have four outdoor specific degree courses), and probably the best outdoor centre building I have seen in the UK.

 

 

The result is quite some thing to see – certainly most of the people on the tour fancied giving it all up to go back and study…. if only for the 3 star student digs alone!

Paul