Winter Skills Course - Feb 2024
“Would highly recommend fit4 adventures. Great trips, expertly planned and led. Come away from the weekend with invaluable knowledge.”
On the 17th-18th February, we held our first winter skills course of the year. Unfortunately, following a few exceptionally cold ‘snaps’ where the summits saw temperatures as low as -20 degrees the week preceding our weekend was rather warm and wet. Temperatures in The Highlands swing between periods of thaw and freeze which alongside our wet/maritime climate acts as an ice factory plastering thick layers of ice on the mountainside with each cycle. With temperatures cycling above and below zero degrees it doesn’t take much of a warm spell to cause havoc in the mountains causing this precious snow and ice to melt before our eyes before the cycle continues again. Unfortunately for us, this warm spell fell the week before the trip so the once snow covered peaks were now stripped relatively bare for this time of year.
But…that did not stop us from getting out and high in the mountains seeking the best conditions we could find and we had a great time.
A small group allowed us to rattle through some of the key skills to become proficient in the Scottish winter before delving a little deeper into more niche and nuanced skills the group wanted to learn more about.
Day 1
After a quick brew and introductions in the cafe, we started our day from the Cairngorm Ski Centre and made our way into Coire Cas. En route we discussed kicking steps and cutting steps with the ice axe, two great intermediary steps to ensure safe travel when travelling on small patches of snow without the need for crampons.
A little later we found a great location to get out the rope and display some very basic techniques requiring no more than a rope and three knots to provide security to a weaker member of your team or in an emergency situation, such as someone has lost a crampon and cannot get off a steep icy slope! We first used rocks to provide anchors and wrapped our heads around the versatility a rope can provide before introducing ways of using nothing but snow to attach the rope to the mountain. I think everyone was shocked to see how strong snow anchors can be, even 4 people pulling as hard as possible couldn’t break it!
As with all the skills we are discussing on this blog, they require good judgement to create and are best learned under the supervision of a qualified instructor.
After a short break for some tea and a sandwich, we carried on our journey into Coire Cas and set up an area for a little bit of ‘fun’. This consisted of multiple bum slides down the slope to form a slick slide on the snow, a perfect playground to practise ice axe arrests. These gain the most attention in winter skills courses, they are fun and who doesn’t love sliding in the snow. But it is important to remember that these are a last resort method of stopping yourself if a slip becomes a slide in the mountains which can have real consequences. As always we encourage our clients to remember that good footwork, crampon techniques and body positioning are more essential to master to prevent a fall in the first place. However, at the beginning of the season, everyone including the most experienced mountaineers should refamiliarise themselves with ice axe arrests, just in case!
We practised all these things:
1 - The self-belay, before any momento has built up, get your axe into the snow as deeply as possible and then establish a solid base again.
2 - Slipping feet first on your front
3 - Sliding feet first on your back
4 - Head first on your front
5 - Head first on your back
Once we had practised and nailed all the ways you can fall down a slope we began our descent to the cars before the rain arrived in the late afternoon.
Evening Weather, Avalanche and route choice in winter
Had we had a little better weather we could have discussed this out on the hill, but we were all pretty keen to get showered, fed and then keep the ball rolling with an evening chat on planning a route in the winter. From understanding what the weather forecast means to us as mountaineers, how to interpret an avalanche forecast and subsequently choose a safe route away from the risk of any avalanches which suits the weather forecast too! Not an easy task but one which sets us up perfectly for choosing a route as a team for Day 2. Together we decided to head up Ben Macdui, the second highest peak in the UK, to highlight any potential risks, calculate how long it should take and subsequently what time we should meet in the morning.
Day 2
More of a journey day, putting all the skills from yesterday into practice.
We first covered some navigation techniques which led us into Cairn Lochan, a large bowl which holds snow even during these warm periods. From here we had a little steep snow to tackle, the perfect time to get our crampons out and learn a few techniques that can be used to get us up what would be impossible without crampons! The group led the way through this section and chose a safe way through, under our watchful eye, and they did a great job in finding the lowest angle ground and choosing the best technique as we went.
From the top of Cairn Lochan we reached the Cairngorm Plateau, one of (if not) the most difficult places in the UK to navigate, especially in the cloud.
Here we covered techniques you can use to navigate poor visibility and together we used the map and compass to cover 4km of featureless, cloud shrouded ground to reach the summit of Ben Macdui - rewarding not to have to rely on a smartphone to find the way!
Practicing navigation skills in very low visibility
From the top of Cairn Lochan we reached the Cairngorm Plateau, one of (if not) the most difficult places in the UK to navigate, especially in the cloud.
Here we covered techniques you can use to navigate poor visibility and together we used the map and compass to cover 4km of featureless, cloud shrouded ground to reach the summit of Ben Macdui - rewarding not to have to rely on a smartphone to find the way!
At the summit of Ben Macdui
From the top, it was up to the group to collectively retrace our steps across the plateau and back to the carpark. This is a great way of paying attention to what the ground is doing beneath your feet and the features surrounding us, the key skills to being able to map, read and essentially not get lost in the hill.
The group smashed it back to the car and we arrived back 30 minutes ahead of schedule, as a testament to their navigational skills, even following a stop to admire the Cairngorm’s wild reindeer herd, simply beautiful!
A packed weekend which we hope left everyone feeling knowledgeable, confident and inspired to continue to progress on their pathway into the mountains!
Testimonials:
“Would highly recommend fit4 adventures. Great trips, expertly planned and led. Come away from the weekend with invaluable knowledge.”
If you have any questions about upcoming winter skills courses or would like to book a private trip for you or your friends, get in touch and we would be more than happy to help!