Teaching Winter Skills Workshop

They say every day is a school day, but last weekend it was definitely back to school for me as I was on a Teaching Winter Skills workshop in Fort William.   The training process that mountain leaders go through is structured to ensure that skills and experience are steadily built up before a leader becomes qualified.  As a Summer Mountain Leader, I have attained a level of competence required to lead in the uk mountains in summer.  However, although I absolutely love being out in the winter hills, preparing for my winter ML assessment is not a walk in the park,  as the standard required is understandably high. The Mountain Leader Training Association offers CPD courses for aspirant Winter MLs, to help us hone and perfect these techniques, with a view to assessment, or for qualified leaders to keep their skills current. This does not replace the initial training programme that we must all undergo- as these courses are entirely optional. 

Obviously the winter environment is very different form the summer one.  For novice clients, there will be a ruck of new skills to learn, and teaching this in a fun and non-threatening way is part of the skills of a good leader. On day 1 of the course we headed up on to Aonach Mor with instructor Tim Blakemore of Northern Mountain Sport to look at ways that we can safely and effectively pass on skills of movement, step cutting and sliding.  

That evening, we had a chat in the classroom about avalanche avoidance- essential! Tim told us about how new research is showing that not only is it important to understand the causes of avalanches, but that we should also be aware of how poor decision making and heuristic traps lead novices and trained experts alike in to avalanche zones.

On the second day, we were treated to a fantastic mountain journey on Ben Nevis.  This was the first time that I have begun the normally tedious approach to the Ben from the locked forestry car park- the advantages of being with a guide! Within no time we were sat in the CIC hut having a cup of tea, before heading up in to Coire na Ciste. After a quick look at snow conditions, we climbed Number Three gully. Most of us took the easy exit left, but we took advantage of the opportunity to build snow anchors and bring up some folk via a much steeper corniced exit on the right. 

After this, a quick bit of navigation in the mist (above) brought us to the top of Number Four Gully. Here we built more anchors, and lowered/abseiled in to the top of the gully. 

 

The top was pretty steep, but in these good snow conditions, it was possible to walk down unroped back to Coire na Ciste where a speedy bumslide brought us back to our morning's tracks. 

Thanks Wally, for taking these brilliant photos, and big thanks to Tim and the other guys on the course for a great and informative weekend.

Snow and nutella sandwiches

We have just got back from a week on the mainland visiting family in England and spent Friday night in the back of the van on the quayside in Ardrossan. We had to blow away the cobwebs and it was a beautiful snowy day so got straight out on the hill as soon as we docked.
There are a few things that I get really excited about, and these include snow, and nutella, and with a couple of well laden butties the day was looking very promising.... (sorry about the stupid photo, but you get the idea...)

We went over the ridge between North Goatfell and Goatfell called Stacach. It is an easy scramble in summer conditions and in winter a major mountaineering expedition needing axe and crampons. When we got to the ridge, the wind was very strong, so we decided to pick out a cunning traverse that avoids the narrowest part of the ridge. Again, in summer, this is a narrow but simple path to the East, but in winter crosses avalanche prone snowfields above big drops. Avalanches are not regularly recorded on Arran but that doesn't mean they don't happen. Care required! The overhanging cliffs were smeared with icicles. At the top the rocky crest was encrusted with rime ice that had grown weird formations in the damp but icy winter blast of wind that was hammering across the top.
This all added to the fun and we stopped along the way to do Stacach Gully- a grade I/II mountaineering route, with a short ice pitch half way up. Unfortunately we forgot the drive-ins for protecting turf so we top roped it. Wally set up a belay on a sheltered ledge and we took turns to lower each other into the snow filled gully. The gully was fairly open on the right, but the left wall was flanked by blank rock and ice smears, and the ice pitch up the middle was fragile, but bits were banked out enough with snow that it was straightforward on a top rope. I went second, which was a good thing, as I kicked out the bottom a bit and left very little for anyone else. Again, sorry, but it was the kind of sugary ice full of bubbles that didn't like being kicked. Fortunately we are due for a good freeze thaw this week and it should reform. Hopefully a bit better.
After all this fun, we headed for the summit of Goatfell, and enjoyed a chat with a fellow walker on the way. (Hi Tim). The half light of the sun shining through the clouds and on to the icy rocks was absolutely stunning and although it was very windy and cold, we hung around for a bit to enjoy the atmosphere (there was plenty of that!).