Another great Cairngorm snow-hole expedition with Stuart and Dave.

 

The forecast for later in the week were for the winds to increase to storm force as winter returns.
With more manageable westerly winds of less than 80 mph and an overnight freeze forecast for Monday night, Stuart, Dave and myself headed up Cairngorm for our planned snow-hole expedition.

As we battled the up the hill I was surprised how much snow loss there had been from the previous day and concerned that we might have an uncomfortable night in a collapsed dripping snow-hole!

Thankfully we arrived just in time to claim and remodel our snow cave for the night.

As the temperatures dropped and the snow firmed up the guys sculptured a lovely line of steps to lessen the discomforts and hazards of going for a night time call of nature without crampons, it worked well!!

There were a couple of other teams up for the night but once inside our dry icy frozen shelter it felt like we had the whole mountain to ourselves and we enjoyed a very comfortable night.

Today after breakfast we headed up to Cairngorm's gusty summit before heading back down, taking great care not to slip on any hard snow and water ice!

On our last day we avoided the 90 mph plus winds and had a more relaxed instructional day looking at micro navigation.

The good news is that winter returns over the next day or so and just in the nick of time!

Weekend and five day Winter Skills Expedition

Despite the mild temperature we had a fun weekend of winter skills with Annie, John, Craig, Stuart and Dave looking at ice axe and crampon use, navigation, avalanche awareness, emergency snow shelters and basic winter rope-work and belays. 

It's a lot to take in during a weekend and really only give a taster of winter so Stuart and Dave are staying on until Wednesday for the snow-hole expedition and to consolidate their winter skills and micro-navigation.

Cairngorm Denali Expedition Training with Colin

A great three days of private winter mountaineering training with Colin on the 13-15 February 2017.

We even had specially arranged fierce winds and driving spindrift on Colin's overnight Cairngorm Denali exped training then calm and sun the following morning while ascending the fixed ropes on Cairngorm's Denali headwall...!

Cairngorm Club Winter Skills Weekend

Another snowy and bitterly cold weekend of winter skills, so perfect!

On day one ice axe and crampon training as well as weather avalanche awareness.
We found an interesting NE facing snow profile showing a very weak easily released layer (air gap) deep within a snow drift at around 700 metres, one to watch out for and a reminder of the big release in Coire Laugh Mor last year, see photo below!

On day two it was Minus 20 (wind chill) and another proper winters day out with the Cairngorm Club looking at micro navigation, avalanche awareness, emergency snow shelters and some basic ropework to deal with cornices.

Snow and cornices continuing to build!

Another day of private guiding with Ed, James, Russ and Ben. Even more snow today with tiring trail breaking up to Ciste Mhearad and Cnap Coire na Spreidhe.
We had a look at winter navigation, mountaineering skills, ropework, avalanche assessment and winter snow shelters.

Even managed to set of a small cornice triggered avalanche when abseiling off a big soft snow bollard which provided an excellent teaching opportunity!

For skiers there's now plenty of newly pisted snow on the upper Ptarmigan area and on the tow track and the Ciste Gully is filling in :-)

Winter Skills, Winter Mountaineering and Guided Winter Climbing in March 2016

There's been a great buildup of snow and ice for Winter Skills, Winter Mountaineering, Snow-holing and Guided Winter Climbing and with the long range forecast looking colder than average it should be great throughout March 2016.
The Easter break is looking especially good for winter courses, so if you want to get out and a have a fun adventure in the snow, get in touch now!

Winter Skills and Winter Mountaineering course dates

We have limited places left on the five day Winter Skills and snow-hole expedition running on the 23rd -27th January 2016. As well as the basic winter skills the last two days are spend on a snowhole expedition in the heart of  Cairngorm mountains.
Further details can be found here.

Two places are left on the five day Winter Mountaineering course running on 13-17 February 2016 This covers everything from basic winter skills to introductory Scottish winter climbing and Alpinism and doesn't require any previous experience other than a good level of fitness and sense of adventure.
Further details can be found here.