INFORMATION ABOUT SCOUTING
Adventurous Activities
Information about Scouting
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.
Adventurous Activities Information
Bruce Macdonald
Activities News

May at Longcraig
May 2018 at Longcraig – Been and Gone! After the particularly cold, prolonged and snowy winter the first month of Longcraig activity has on average been blessed with spring like weather much of the month. The Met Office people think May 2018 may be the warmest on...

Hillwalking training update
There has been an excellent response to last month's announcement of two complementary initiatives to provide training for Hillwalking permits (see original article). David Newton David, the DESC for Craigalmond, is going ahead with organising a Regional residential...

Hillwalking and climbing information
The Region ran a taster training session on 30 April. Eight leaders from across the Region spent an evening with Mountaineering Instructors Davy Virdee and Martin Holland looking at the skills needed to move towards gaining a hillwalking permit. There’s lots of demand...

Hillwalking training
T1 and T2 training opportunities – two initiatives. Check them out and sign up! Continue Reading Hillwalking training
Scout Campsite Directories
The Scottish Campsite Directory has been updated (April 2018) and is a useful resource. The UK directory, which lists some Scottish sites, is also available at UK Scout Campsite Directory .

Youth Involvement Day
The Region held its first Youth Involvement day at Bonaly in October. The Zombie-themed adventure camp was loved by all those who attended. They got to have hands-on demonstrations of axe throwing and how to gut fish and cook it to survive the Zombie...

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World Scout Jamboree 2019
The 24th World Scout Jamboree will take place at the Summit Bechtel Reserve between 22nd July and 2nd August 2019. You can take a helicopter tour of the site here. The event is being hosted by the Boy Scouts of America, Scouts Canada and Scouts of Mexico. It will be...