ANOTHER WILD WINTER SKILLS WEEKEND

Another ski goggle day

The guys coping in the severe conditions and still smiling

Nice views at the Ciste car park today

Our 'sheltered' area for donning crampons

Richard still smiling

The ski access road

New month, same weather patterns, wind and snow and lots of it! Sam, Richard, Wayne & Jon are out with me this weekend on a two day winter skills course. Their adventure in the white stuff started on the A9 travelling up last night, stuck for over 2 hours on the snow affected road. The snow gates at Glenmore were closed this morning and there was no skiing up at Cairngorm today. We walked up the road to the Ciste car park with the plan of getting some form of shelter in Coire na Ciste. The visibility at the car park was almost nil and that's the way it stayed for the rest of the day. We got a wee bit of shelter behind the Ciste Crag and here there was plenty of snow and bits of ice for the group to get some axe & crampon skills in. The 50+ mph winds were blowing a lot of snow about and it was a high wind chill today. As always in these conditions the group learnt quickly to get crampons on, sort gear, etc before getting frost nipped fingers! There is a Cat. HIGH avalanche forecast across most Highland mountain areas on northerly aspects so care needed in any planned routes. Hoping for a bit less wind tomorrow for a good hill day and the guys to put all their skills into action.