15-02-14, Cairngorms - Winter Mountaineering Skills

This weekend I am back at Glenmore Lodge on a 2 day Winter Mountaineering course. The weather was not that bad, cold, with poor visibility above 800m, some fresh snow and not too windy. The team of 4 especially wanted to look at using a rope to secure themselves to the mountain when on steep ground as well as revisiting some essential winter skills. We spent a few hours in a classroom, getting some basic rope work and knots sorted. Outside chatted about some avalanche considerations as we ascended a broad ridge line, got to grips with crampons and moving up steep ground. Looked at how we can secure ourselves to blocks and the snow with bucket seats, re-enforced with buried axes, plus how to descend very steep ground by abseiling off a snow bollard.