Paul James, MIC - Mountain-Expertise.co.uk - Winter and Rock Climbing Conditions

Sunday 31 January 2010

31-01-10, Cairngorms - Winter Skills



Another cold dry day in the Cairngorms. I was working for Walkabout Scotland again with Sarah and Scott on the second day of a winter skills course. We headed to Glen Feshie and ascended Carn Ban Mor. It was windy at times but didn't really snow despite dark grey skies. The cloud base was at about 850m so meant we had to use various navigational techniques to find the summit and the snow hole site. We looked at pacing, timings and walking on bearings. We managed to find some steep sections of neve which had formed from snow being blown in over the last couple of weeks, allowing us to practice front pointing and daggering with the axe (right Scott). We also dug out some emergency shelters in the snow drifts, both Sarah and Scott immediately appreciated it is a lot easier with a snow shovel than just your axe!

If you would like to gain some winter skills to stay safe in the mountains in winter this year visit www.pjmountains.co.uk/winter.html.


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