Snow and ice look fantastic, but winter mountaineering needs a
whole new set of skills and equipment if you want to stay safe. So an
enterprising group of OMers led by the resourceful Dave Mycroft used
the forum to set up not one but two self-organised winter skills
weekends in the Cairngorms this winter, Dave picks up the story...
Winter Skills The DIY Way
There's something about Scotland in the early part of the
year... no tourists, no midges but plenty of the white stuff and
as good an excuse as you'll ever find for a dram of the local
firewater. OUTDOORSmagic members took advantage of the best winter in
years to learn the art of winter hill walking on the first OM winter
skills courses.
Back in the height of summer, OM's editor replied to a forum
question suggesting people could always hire a guide between them to
learn the basic winter skills - and the idea was born. Little
did I know when I agreed to organise instruction for those first four
members that it would turn into a mini invasion north of the border!
Over the last three weekends no less than 25 OMers have been put
through their paces in the classic training ground of the northern
corries of Cairngorm.
Six months ago the first moves were made as we booked
accommodation and instructors, and then we waited and waited. Would
there be snow? Amongst all the frenzied kit buying, plane, train and
automobile arranging this was the question that dominated everyone's
thoughts.
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Thank gawd, it snowed,
lots :-) - Dave Evans
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Aviemore
Bunkhouse (h) was our chosen accommodation, and the professionals
from
Kendal
Mountaineering Services (w) were selected to provide the
instruction. Iain from KMS suggested we pick the end of February and
beginning of March at Aviemore for the best chance of guaranteed snow
- and how inspired a choice that turned out to be! As the
first weekend approached the country got hit by a cold spell and tons
of the white stuff was dumped on the selected playground.
The Dirty Dozens
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Self arrest practice so
you can stop from any position- Darren
Christie
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Over the two main course weekends groups of 12 headed out into Corrie
Cas and Corrie an t'Sneachda armed to the teeth with hardware. Under
the guidance of Iain and Alex we spent day one learning how to use
our axes to halt a slide no matter what position we were in. We slid
forwards, backwards, feet first and head first down the slopes, at
first using our axes to pull ourselves to a halt, then moved on to
stopping ourselves without an axe.
This was followed up by learning the essential art of step cutting
and step kicking, to make sure we never had to put the ice axe
braking techniques into operation. The use of crampons followed
swiftly after lunch, and then weary legs were given a rest as we
learned how to bur our axes in various configurations to provide
belays so strong that even six people doing a tug of war on a rope
couldn't shift them.
Apres Skills...
The evenings were the usual OM affair, with a short stumble out of
the bunkhouse door putting people at the door to the Old Bridge Inn,
and the real reason why we flooded north - Whisky and beer!
After eight hours in the knee-deep snow a respite was well received,
as was another outstanding contribution from Roger on weekend one
when he contrived to feed a dozen people on a budget of £2 per
head.
Day two dawned early on weary legs and fuddled brains, but the
chill winds soon cleared the cobwebs away and once more the group
headed for the glorious Cairngorm. Miraculously the weather
cooperated and sunshine even managed brief appearances. The second
day was filled with more techniques on how to secure a rope to a
belay in this winter wonderland, then the all important art of what
to do when things went wrong.
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No-one said a survival
snow hole was going to be luxurious - Graham
Lovatt
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At the same time as a pair of climbers on the BMC International Meet
from Glenmore Lodge were getting lost on the Cairngorm plateau OM
members were learning how to make a variety of holes in the snow to
shelter from the biting cold. From a "Lean To" to a "Snowhole", by
way of a "Grave" and a Trench" everyone learned the techniques being
put into real life use just a few short miles away. To complete the
learning curve the instructors also demonstrated the importance of
Avalanche Hazard Assesment, cutting blocks out of the hillside snow
to demonstrate the shear test and Rutchblock test.
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Learning to stand up on a steepish slope...
Sort of. - Nick Bates
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Indoor Ice., Ice, Baby...
The weekend came to an end all to quickly, and the long
drive/flight home came round again. After the first weekend a hardy
group headed west to Kinlochleven for a session at the Ice Factor and
a foray into the Mamores to put their new found skills into practise
- but that's another story! So was it worth the long wait from
booking back in September, and the long haul north? Well the comments
of "A great time", "Brilliant weekend", "Fun" and "Roll on next
winter" give the only answer. If you missed out this time you missed
something special! Special thanks must go to Iain and Alex from
Kendal Mountaineering Services for not just providing excellent
instruction, but doing it in a way where we felt like a group of
mates out having fun together.
Kamikaze Badger
