My mountaineering experience is just about confined to a couple of trips up Ben Lomond, once with my Dumbarton cousin.
She did describe getting the tawse. She showed me how you had to put both hands out in front of you, facing the teacher. The teacher, male or female, then gave you three very hard whacks with it. She added that some teacher’s aim was not too good, and you could get it on the wrists, which was very painful indeed. I don’t know how often she got it, probably at least 6 times.