2 DAY WINTER SKILLS COURSE

Robbie on the ridge

Rob with a good axe placement

The guys on top

Great cloudscapes

Cairn Gorm & Coire an t-Sneachda

On the ridge

The Flat Iron

Sneachda

More ridge fun

Rob enjoying his first taste of winter

Cloudscapes

teetering

Lunchtime

Top of Jacob's Ladder

Cairn Gorm

December and my winter season is well under way now. The first group winter course today. Rob and Robbie are on a 2 day introduction to winter. Like all my courses they are bespoke and with a small group we always try and get many 'skills' into the day. Considering this was the first time out on winter Scottish mountains the guys progressed quickly with bags of confidence. We headed into Coire an t-Sneachda and to the Flat Iron area. Ice has formed here so a good place for getting some crampon techniques in. We also covered cutting steps, am essential and neglected skill in winter. After lunch we headed up to the Fiacaill Coire Sneachda ridge. he snow conditions were variable, some soft wind slab, ice, refrozen snow up to the ridge line. Same conditions along the Fiacaill. The guys loving it and by early afternoon we had some lovely cloud formations and some sunshine. Hardly any wind so very pleasant. A top day out and great to see the return of cold conditions with summit temps around -2 C. Some fresh snowfall tomorrow.