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| Plenty of map and compass work |
Day 2 of Matt's Winter course with me this week. It was another very Wintry day in the Cairngorms. We had snow falling down to Aviemore this morning and the Coire Cas carpark had quite a few more cm's of snow lying in the carpark.
Today's main topics were movement on steep ground and navigation. But I guess the overall day was dominated by trying to cope in energy sapping deep snow.
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| Coire Cas carpark at 10am |
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| Snow showers from the word go |
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| Map and compass from the word go |
Now you know I never exagerate anything in the mountains. The snow really was quite deep at all levels, right from leaving the carpark area. Shin deep and energy sapping plunges up to your knees was the order of the day. This was coupled with very low cloud. Ideal conditions for Matt to hone his navigation skills!
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| Matt enjoying the sheltered, steep ground |
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| Deep snow |
We found some steep ground to build on the axe and crampon skills from two days ago. The SAIS have actually gone back into action today and reports will be out for the weekend for the Cairngorms area. Avalanche awareness & assessment is a vital part of any Mountain journey, even if it is May.
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| Plenty of wonderful rime ice |
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| Well below freezing on higher ground |
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| More rime |
We made our way onto the Cairngorm plateau by lunchtime. It was a world of white. There was hardly any rocks or vegetation poking out of the deep snowpack. Lots of trail breaking and navigation. True whiteout conditions all the way along the Northern Corries circuit. The only rocks encountered wee on our descent from 1141m.
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| Cairngorm plateau |
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| Whiteout |
Challenging conditions with some beefy graupel and snow showers thrown in. The goggles were on and a pair of windscreen wipers would have been useful.
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| Compass skills |
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| Enjoying the challenge |
We eventually came out of the cloud at about 800m. All navigation was done purely with map and compass. No GPS, no mobile phone, no downloaded Internet routes, etc. Top marks to Matt. A real winters day. More of the same with winds thrown in on Saturday. Are you prepared for Winter?
Great couple of days with Matt.
Winter conditions sticking around in the Cairngorms for sometim yet. Anymore takers for a late season winter skills course?
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