Thursday 23 February 2012

WETTER, WINDIER, WARMER - BUT BETTER TOMORROW!

Coire Leis
Bob digging emergency shelter
Time for lunch out the rain
Heading out of the drifts in Coire Leis
Last day for Bob on his winter course with me this week. The plan in 'normal' circumstances was a nice mountain day putting all the skills together from the last three days but with weather like we have then plans do change! We set off in the usual theme of warm weather, rain and no views all away up the Allt a' Mhuillin.  We decided to head up into Coire Leis on Ben Nevis and if  the winds weren't too bad then a day up to the abseil post and on to The Ben summit. But near the CIC Hut it was clear that the tops were out of the equation today! So Bob was happy to consolidate is axe and crampon technique on in the coire and then we made a couple of 'emergency' snow shelters with just the axe's this time, giving a better idea of how long and how much energy would be required to get some shelter in a real case scenario. It seemed like everyone else had the same idea to head up to Coire Leis today, it was getting quite busy at one point. There is hope on the way tomorrow with drier and more importantly much colder temperatures. Let's hope this is a halt to the melting and back to winter! A big pat on the back for Bob this week who has endured some pretty awful winter hill conditions and was still smiling through the rain and wind today!

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