Adventurous Activities

Information about Adventurous Activities is dealt with by Bruce Macdonald, Manager of the Activity Permit Scheme, who can be contacted at maps@sesscouts.org.uk .

Activities, together with camping, must be considered as the essence of Scouting. Adventurous Activities should be available to all members of the Scout Association from Beaver Scouts to those in the Scout Network, though the nature of the adventure may be different. The range of activities includes:

On land

• Climbing and Abseiling — single-pitch top-rope, single-pitch lead-climbing and multi-pitch,
• Caving and mine exploration,
• Hillwalking — summer and winter,
• Mountain Biking — summer and winter.

On the water

• Bell Boating,
• Canoeing — open inland waters, river, sea and surf,
• Dinghy Sailing,
• Dragon Boating,
• Jet Skiing (personal watercraft),
• Kayaking — open inland waters, river, sea and surf,
• Keelboating,
• Kite Surfing,
• Motor Cruising,
• Narrow Boating,
• Power Boating,
• Pulling Rowing and Sculling,
• Rafting — traditional (i.e. build your own raft) and white-water,
• Water Skiing,
• Wind Surfing,
• Yachting.

Mixed

• Hovercrafting.

Underground

• Caving — with no vertical pitches, with ladders and by single rope technique,
• Mine Exploration — with no vertical pitches, with ladders and by single rope technique.

Under water

• Scuba Diving — sheltered water and open water,
• Snorkelling.

Winter sports

• Ice Climbing
• Skiing On Piste — downhill, cross-country and off piste,
• Snowboarding — on and off piste.

In the air

• There are several air activities that may be undertaken by Scouts but they are not classed as adventurous.
  

  Risk Assessments

Our Regional Assessors have put togethers some useful tools to help you create Risk Assessments for adventurous activities which can be found here.

Permits

Leaders may seek an adventurous activities permit to take Scouts on any of these activities and the more adventurous, the greater the skills and experience that are expected. Some activities in protected surroundings may be undertaken by groups with only the permission of the District Commissioner.

These include land-based activities in ‘Terrain Zero’ and water activities in ‘Class C’ waters. Terrain Zero (T0) includes areas up to 500 metres in altitude and within half an hour from a residence or tarmac road and must not include any steep ground. This includes much of the northern Pentlands. Class C waters in the South East Scotland Region are Craiglockhart Pond and Inverleith Pond in Edinburgh, the Musselburgh Lagoons in East Lothian and the Union Canal (from April to September).

There is a register of assessors in the Region and they are responsible for assessing whether a leader has the technical skills and experience necessary to be authorised to take youngsters into more adventurous areas. The District Commissioner, acting on advice of the assessor, is the one who actually gives the authorisation and hands out the permit. We have a register of leaders with permits and some of them are very happy to take Scouts from groups and units other than their own. A range of water activities are available at the Longcraig Scout Centre.

If you are in any doubt or wish more information, please use maps@sesscouts.org.uk.