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Saturday 6 June 2009

Winter skills and snowholes in June!






Fresh snow and light blizzards on the tops. The Cairngorm snow level was around 700 metres this morning.
I was looking after Fi's summer navigation course today although it felt more like a winter skills course in December.
We had to be quite careful with our route choice on the navigation legs due to the amount of fresh snow and slippery conditions underfoot. It was too dangerous to cross any steep snow covered grassy slopes or areas of old icy snow so we headed up onto the plateau from Coire an t-Sneachda via the old Fiacaill ridge snow fence track to Point 1141 and then onto the summit of Cairngorm.
A few obligatory summit photos before heading down and across to the snowhole site in Ciste Mhearid. It was good fun navigating in near whiteout conditions, avoiding the fresh cornices, crevasses, dodgy snow bridges and avalanche prone snow on our route to our summer snow hole.
Everyone was impressed by the amount and depth of old and fresh snow and the hard icy snow shelters - yes Scotland in June!!!

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