Skills, Southerlies, Snow & Smiles

Practicing front pointing on icy smears in Glencoe

Its been a busy and very wintry start to the year through January and now early February for us which hasn’t allowed much time to post on the blog so a quick catch up. After last years exceptionally lean season this one has been a refreshing change to more normal winter weather. Good amounts of snow lie in the mountains at the moment with the snowpack building nicely along with full gullies and the right recipe for ice. This has also come with high winds which have been with us most of the year so far making things tricky for getting up high. Alll the ski area’s will have been dying to see some snow after recent seasons they seem to have been blighted with high winds effecting both the roads and uplift. The January storms though will have potentially been building things up well for better weather through February and March perhaps also beyond and some late season ski touring. 

Our skills courses have been in full flow with plenty of courses going both on the West Coast and in the Cairngorms. There has been plenty of snow for delivering some good winter training even if due to winds we have had to deliver them at lower levels. Bad weather is often good on winter training impressing the need for those skills to be solid and navigation perfected. That said some sunny days would also be nice. 

Our Nevis skills and summit teams have been busy ticking off skills often in Glencoe before tackling the Ben. The Ben is currently in a pretty serious condition with the Mountain Track all but vanished beyond the Red Burn giving a pretty serious steep, long and icy slope. Unfortunately for someone I saw recently they made the error of popping there bag down which duly slid off at warp speed past the zig zags on on into Glen Nevis, perhaps highlighting the need to stay on your  feet and not end up like the bag. Certainly at the moment its not micro spikes terrain and full crampons and axe required. As is the ability to navigate with the summit area under a deep cover of snow. 

Strong South Eaterly winds making for tough going in the Cairngorms

We have also been busy in the Cairngorms delivering courses where the wind seems to have been at its strongest with often very poor visibility mixed in. Many mornings have also seen the Glenmore ski road shut giving a sit start approach. But with the high amount of snow its meant the lower areas and the Ciste gully have provided good training alternatives to getting up high. With the amount of snow there is it may go on for a while with many areas well filled in and good base across the hill. 

Jo on good ice on the Pumpkin V,4 Creag Megaidh

Unfortunately due to being busy on the hill we haven’t managed to get out for ourselves that much although Jo did manage to get a good day in on the ice at Creag Megaidh ticking off the Pumpkin with Dave a V,4 in great condition. I managed a couple of turns on the planks with a drop into the Northern Corries. Im hoping that this continual snowfall and build up might lead to some good late season ski touring in the Cairngorms. 

Build up and looking good for a long season

As far as the forecasts suggest at the moment winter should keep going for a while yet with no major thaws forecast and certainly with the amount of snow in the Cairngorms we should have a good February ahead, perhaps hopefully less windy though. We have a busy period coming up with plenty of courses and teams out learning new skills and getting up into the winter mountains.