06-02-10, Cairngorms - Winter Skills

Today I have been working on a PJ Mountains Winter Skills course. I was out with Jon and Tim, they are competent summer hill walkers and have done some climbing before but never ventured out in the snow in winter. We ascended Meall a Buachaille via Glenmore and Ryvoan bothy. The thaw is taking its toll on slopes lower than 500m. The path to Ryvoan is very clear and the track up to Buachaille is exposed some of the way up. The snow we found was very saturated and heavy. The snow that had arrived by Thursday is getting melted and bonding itself to the lower snow pack lowering the avalanche hazard. Freezing temperature was just above the summit (850m+) today but with a forecast of lower temps and clear skies this coming week should make the climbing conditions excellent.

We looked at navigation, walking on snow with the axe, crampons and did some ice axe arrest practice. There is more availability on Winter Skills courses this year... www.pjmountains.co.uk/winter.html

01-02-10, Meall a Bhuachaille - Ski Touring

Another couple of centimetres of snow on the drive in Grantown this morning. So we decided it was a ski tour day. Cloud base well below the summits of munros. We headed to Glenmore and skinned our way up Craggowrie - Creagan Gorm - Meall a Bhuachaille. The snow was glorious in places, but hard neve on the summits. We had views on the first peak but needed to take bearings off the last two. We had to put the skins on about 4 times. The ski down off Meall a Bhuachaille was ace, great powder and some cheeky trees to concentrate the mind!