Michael Grounsell
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Michael Grounsell - Ullswater, The Lake District, 1965

I have been reading the stories of Jim Norman. He was my team instructor on course U100 at Ullswater Outward Bound Mountain School almost exactly 50 years ago - well within a couple of weeks of exactly!
This was his last course before returning to university to study psychology, and porbably put to good use all of the raw material he had collected.
He was a remarkable instructor and what I learned from him in four weeks under his tutelage has stayed with me since. He did turn a self conscious young schoolboy into a more mature human being!
I loved the mountains before attending the school but I learned even more about the techniques of climbing and team working which has stayed with me. I still spend time in the mountains, I had seven days climbing in the Alps for my 60th birthday present and this year I am walking the first quarter of the Camino.
I have wanted to express my thanks to this man for so many years and it was just luck which found these stories he has written.
Just to perhaps jog his memory, if he does read this, Watkins Patrol received the biggest bill for damaged equipment since we used our map cases as sleds on the grass. Also, I was the course member who managed to suffer heat stroke on the TOD expedition and had to be searched for!
Great experiences made even better by a fantastic human being in the form of an Outward Bound Instructor.