SNOWHOLE WEEKEND

6 men, 4 Snowhole entrances

The team, getting ready to dig

Snowhole in the sun

The digging

Getting there

Complete, time for a brew

What's for dinner then?

Full monn, nearly

Morning sun, from the sleeping bag

The North East Face of Ciste Mhearad

Lovely morning for Cairn Gorm summit

Summit of Cairn Gorm

Coire an t-Sneachda from Cairn Gorm

Coire an t-Sneachda

Cairngorm plateau, hot!

Lunchtime views

Joseph, Tim, Jonathan, Ben & Chris have been out with me for the last couple of days on a snow hole trip in The Cairngorms. Snow shelter trips are great fun as well as a survival skill when things go wrong! Planned overnight in a snow can be and should be a comfortable and brilliant experience. The best ones are the type you can stand up in and have lots of room to move about in. It's worth spending plenty of time constructing them. We're lucky in The Cairngorms to get good, reliable snowbanks and snow drifts that are relitively easy and quick to walk to. This time of year can be hit or miss temperature wise. At the moment the temperatures on the summits have been above freezing but it's still worth venturing up for an overnight. We set off in lovely sunshine and it felt Spring like up on the Cairngorm plateau. The guys were soon into the swing of things, getting stuck in with the shovels. We made 4 nice entrances, giving us lots of room to move about in whilst digging. In 5 hours we had made a fine wee 'hotel'. There was a beautiful clear sky at dusk and a full moon. Temperatures overnight were above freezing but we had a comfortable, drip free night. The following morning the guys were into action, warming up on the North East face of the drift, exiting the cornice with some great climbing moves. The guys were keen to get some map and compass skills in on their second day out. We headed up to Cairn Gorm and then over to Stag Rocks for lunch. It was a lovely clear morning with great views of the Northern Corries. Very warm across the plateau in the soft snow. A fab couple of days with a keen and fun bunch of guys.
I was testing out a sleeping bag this weekend from a new outdoor gear company, Sumiteer Equipmet . They have kindly given me their top of the range Glow worm 800 bag. It coped well in the mild, damp conditions that we get in snow shelters. Full marks for them delivering an affordable, quality Goose down bag. So far very impressed.