The Courses

Let’s define your hobbies

GET EXCITED FOR SOME REAL SCOTTISH SUMMER CAMP ADVENTURE!

During your stay with us, you will be encouraged to sign up for a new skill focus for every five days of your holiday. These high skill activities are delivered by our super qualified instructors and chosen by you after two days of taster sessions on a minimum of four separate elements. They are all also geared to be run in just about any weather conditions but fear not, we will provide all the equipment and protective gear you could wish for, right down to you hiking boots!

We want you to go home boasting of your skills and achievements in at least one of our major adventure activities. You will be encouraged to push yourself, work as a team and achieve the goals that we set with you. Not only will you become a mini-professional in these adventure elements, but you will also gain nationally recognised certificates. We want you to challenge yourself and really invest a 100% effort into everything that we offer on a Wild Packs summer camp.

Have a good look through the courses form the list below to get your mind thinking about what you may wish to try. We should also stress that all our staff are on hand to help and support you through every part of your stay with us. We are here to encourage you. To help you push yourself and achieve things that you may have thought were previously beyond your ability. We will be right there with each camper, if you do it, we do it.

Courses Include:

River Journeys

The Highlands of Scotland have an impressive range of rivers and lochs that present a diverse and far ranging choice of water journeys. If you envisage a slow and relaxing voyage absorbing views and watching wildlife then there are lochs and lazy-moving rivers in abundance. If instead you want to embark on a full throttle, adrenaline pumping white water ride, tackling rapids and working hard to become a proficient paddler capable of looking after others, then camp Lagganila is the place for you.

You can travel by kayak, open canoe or raft for either single or multi-day expeditions, the choice is yours. Overnights can either be spent on the river bank in one of the many remote and charming camp spots you will pass. Please note that your options may be dependent on rainfall and water levels in the area you wish to visit.

You don’t need to go far to find a river either, we have one running through the back of the camp which as well as acting as the launch site for river expeditions, offers the opportunity for the fishers amongst you to land a nice Salmon or Trout. We operate a strict catch and release policy and again all equipment and tuition is included in the session rates.

Sailing

Picture this: You are skippering your own boat on idyllic Loch Morlich with the Cairngorm Mountains towering above you. You experience a mixture of calm and tranquility followed by bursts of wind spiralling down from the mountains, your adrenalin is racing, pull the sail in tight and speed down the length of the loch!

Well that is the aim at any rate. We expect you to learn the basics first, fall in, practice your skills, fall in, race each other, fall in, listen to all our instructors have to tell you, fall in and then begin to get the hang of it. Once you think you have the confidence to sail single handily around the world, you and your crew will practice your fastest route around the loch in preparation for the regatta during the Clan Battles.

Optimist dinghies for smaller campers, Laser Picos for two children or one large teen and Laser Stratos that can take up to 4 people including an instructor. Everyone will get the opportunity to learn how to sail during their time at camp but don’t worry if it is not for you, we have plenty of other things to keep your adrenaline pumping.

Rock Climbing and Abseiling

Rock climbing and abseiling provide a wonderful opportunity for you to experience the thrills of vertical assent and decent, to develop trust while working in a team and where possible, with determination, conquer any fears in heights you or your friends may suffer from. You will be briefed on the activity ahead and given the opportunity to discuss any concerns or questions you may have. You will then be equipped and trained in the use the appropriate equipment.

The aim is to get you well on your way to achieving you “Single Pitch Award” by teaching you the skills of rope handling, equipment, knots, assent and decent techniques. Classes are held under the close supervision of our instructors and at no point will you be made to do something you are not comfortable with. You will learn at your own pace and if it turns out climbing is not for you, no problem, but well done for trying.

Remember also that at Lagganlia summer camp, we are not climbing on a manmade wall ....oh no.....we are climbing in the Cairngorm national park. You will surrounded by some of the most spectacular scenery in the British Isles putting your skills to the test on real mountains and real cliffs. Bragging rights are 100% included!

Mountain Biking

With us, it’s serious Mountain Biking, why? BECAUSE WE HAVE REAL MOUNTAINS! Ok, well that said you will still have to work on your techniques and assess your abilities before we go charging off down old ski slopes at a billion miles an hour. We have top of the range mountain bikes and safety equipment on site and the camp is surrounded with gentle trails where you can safely build your confidence.

You will be encouraged to play a part in deciding on a suitable route, assessing the risks involved and discussing effective group management. Selecting, caring for and maintaining the equipment. Routes and techniques will also be discussed by campers with the opportunity for anyone to add their views and opinions. While participating in the activity, campers will be encouraged to take turns leading the group and being the back marker, thus developing their leadership, listening and the helping of others skills.

Get ready to get seriously muddy on this skill not to mention developing some pretty killer cycling legs! Pink spandex cycling shorts are however banned on camp, they scare the wild life.

White Water Rafting

So when you get back to school after the summer and your friends tell you how exciting they thought their one week trip to France was, you can blow them out the water by explaining what you got up to. While they were doing the same old thing each day, you were learning how to be a key member of a paddle team and how you get yourself down a river not only safely, but in the wettest and most exciting route possible.

Rafting on the stunning River Spey encourages team work, good listening and determination when the team is starting to feel a bit tired from paddling. Each raft is accompanied by a qualified instructor who instructs the students on paddling skills, voice commands and safety. The aim of the instructor is to make the activity as fun and exhilarating as possible while keeping the team motivated.

During this skill, you will leave camp by boat, bound for the coast! Yup, you, your instructor and the rest of your group are going to go on an overnight adventure that will start high in the mountains, travel down the river Spey and finish up in the Spey estuary where you will be met by a camp van and taken back to camp. You will learn how to plan for a trip, what equipment is needed, mooring, camping and paddling techniques.

Gorge Walking

If you have ever wondered what a river looks like from the perspective of a fish, this activity will answer that question for you. Yes the water maybe a little chilly but you will be wearing a wetsuit, over jacket and trousers and safety helmet to keep the elements out as much as possible.

Gorge Walking is a fantastic, exciting and fun activity and often the favourite activity of all campers! Adrenaline flows as you plunge down slides and experience the thundering power of nature, as you stand under a waterfall. For those of you whom have no idea what we are talking about, gorge walking is essentially hiking up a river! Walking on paths can get so boring at times, its way more fun attempting to hike up a waterfall.

You won’t just be hiking up the gorge, you will be coming back down it again and this often takes way more skill than you might think. In places you will need to abseil down the waterfalls and when the need demands, jump off the top with points being awarded for style grace and duck impressions.

Everyone is cold and wet but that does not dampen team spirit! This activity raises the self esteem of participants through personal challenge (as you decide whether to 'take the plunge' or not) and achievement. It also facilitates team working, as individuals support and encourage each other to make it to the end of the gorge.

Field Studies

A stay at Camp Lagganlia provides a fantastic opportunity for campers appreciate the exquisite scenery, fauna and flora of the Cairngorms National Park. You are encouraged to be more aware of the fragile environment and how to preserve and look after it but that’s not all. During this course you will have the opportunity to help on conservation projects running in the national park. These could range from tree planting, re-building of dry stone walls, fixing hiking trails, helping record fish numbers in the rivers, monitoring of protected nesting sights on rare animals like the Osprey or Golden Eye duck.

This course is very hands on despite what you might assume; it is not a course for tree huggers. The national park is a phenomenally diverse environment and the knowledge and skills you will learn will assist you in subjects such as Geography and Biology. You will learn how to safely capture and identify different species of bird, mammals and even moths, under the tuition of the national park rangers and RSPB.

You will also learn how to identify suitable natural building materials to make a shelter in the wild, collect the various elements and be responsible for building your very own wild accommodation. (You won’t be made to sleep in there overnight if you don’t want to but these camp outs are often the most fun and rewarding as you prove to yourself you are cable of surviving in the wild.) You will also be taught how to collect the right kind of wood, build and start your own fire using techniques a little cooler than simply lighting a match.

This course is your chance to become a real life “Ray Mears” and don’t worry, we lock the wolves away for the summer.