MountainSphere Adventures | Navigation Weekend 20-21 May 2023

I have stopped operating navigation weekends in midwinter due to the likelihood of cold windy weather. So how do the weather gods respond? By bringing forward that cold windy and wintry weather to a navigation weekend in May! It was certainly very cold but not too windy early on, as this weekend’s navigators gathered at Bell, and we picked a nice sunny spot for the morning nav briefing. We enjoyed sunny but cool conditions for the day’s hiking, with the wind picking up that afternoon. Stephane and some of the other blokes on this trip did a magnificent job of getting firewood so we had a nice warm fire in our sheltered campsite as the wind picked up during the evening. It was a windy night and Sunday was blowing a gale. It didn’t deter the hardy group of navigators and we enjoyed a scenic and educational walk in bracing conditions. Clients learned a heap of new navigation skills and mastered the process of planning a route, setting the compass and walking off-trail whilst keeping the navigation spot on. Lunch on Sunday was blowy but at a scenic little spot by a river with the trees writhing in the wind. Some steep scrambling was capably accomplished by the whole group and we returned to Bell invigorated after a weekend of cold and windy walking, but thrilled to have learned a huge body of new skill to increase confidence in the bush for future adventures!