WINTER SKILLS IN GLORIOUS AFTERNOON SUNSHINE

The guys in  the heat, descending from Windy Gap

Looking across to the Mess of Pottage

Virtually full snow cover on the plateau

Coire an Lochain

Snow shelters in Core Domhain

Alpine Coire an t-sneachda

Unfortunately it's time to go home and leave it all behind

The locals getting into Spring mode

Alladins Couloir

Andrew, Iain , Donald & Mike were out with me in The Cairngorms for a one day winter skills course. Just like previous days this week it started off dull but by early afternoon the cloud burnt off and we had glorious sunny skies and light winds. We got lots of skills into just one day, we started at the foot of the Fiacaill Ridge were we went through basic boot, axe and crampon techniques. After mid morning we headed on a mountain journey and over to Coire an Lochain getting onto some steeper terrain and covering avalanche awareness. The sun cam out after lunch and we got to the summit of Cairn Lochain. Descending to Coire Domhain and covered snow shelters. We then entered the 'furnace' dropping down from Windy Col into Sneachda, covering descending on steep ground and more avalanche awareness. The cornices here were staring to melt in the heat and fluffing. To round off an excellent day we went through some axe arresting. Well done the guys, lots of good craic and fab day out.