Scottish Winter Courses 2013
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Jagged Globe Winter Courses finish during the freeze/sun wave21:39 GMT, 29/Mar/13
Jagged Globe's winter courses came to an end today, set against a backdrop of snowy mountains, blue skies and sub zero temperatures.
The period of high pressure has provided us with stunning weather during this last week and softshell has been the only shell that was really needed.
And the East Ridge of Na Gruagachan that Sergiy, Andrew, George, Adam and Richard had just�come along.
Andrew and Richard descending from the south ridge of NG
The Glencoeman
By contrast, last week gave us high pressure, but also high winds. (Softshell was still fine, honest, so long as it had a big hood you could retreat into).
The winter summits team progressed quickly, learning lots of new skills with Max and finished the week in a position to exercise their own decision-making in the winter environment.
The Winter Mountaineering team (brothers Steve and James) got blown around a little on routes such as Moonlight Gully and Dorsal Ar�te. �Both teams learned a lot about identifying and dodging windslab.
Bye bye. See you all next year. Book now to avoid disappointment.
Another Week of Great Conditions21:26 GMT, 14/Mar/13
Since Mid-February the weather has been stable and cold, save for a bit of wind at the end of last week. The walking groups have been ticking off the local Munros and the climbing groups have been notching up the stars on all the�classics.
This week the Snow and Ice course have been making good use of the frozen snow and ice. Warming up in Glen Coe on Twisting RH/Moonshadow and Raeburns we then moved onto the Ben. Over two days three and four star routes fell including Minus Two Gully, Observatory Buttress, Thompson's Route and Central Right. The Mountaineering team also got in on the act ticking off Ledge Route, Number Two Gully and North Gully.
A forecast of snow today saw the Mountaineers on Curved Ridge, Alistair and Gaz ran East to climb Pumpkin on Meagaidh and Max went up Twisting in the Lochan, Glen Coe.
Winter certainly looks set to continue into next week, and I'm sure people will still be climbing all kinds of routes on the Ben into mid-April.
The ice keeps on growing18:06 GMT, 06/Mar/13
Sorry for not posting much recently, we've been too busy climbing !
Check out these shots from Ben Nevis, Glencoe and Beinn Udlaigh. All grades from I to V,5 !!
Introductory Winter Mountaineering22:20 GMT, 17/Feb/13
A great week of winter mountaineering on Ben Nevis, Aonach Mor, the Wee Buchille, the Ice Factor and the lovely Cow Hill
Curtain raiser to Vanishing Point18:38 GMT, 13/Feb/13
No, not the film with Barry Newman. On Monday Andrew and John warmed up on "The Curtain" �(IV,5) with Andy O, whilst Niels and Shae spent time with Tony on the Carn Dearg cascades.
On Tuesday, with skills suitably brushed up, Niels, Shae and Tony climbed Vanishing Gully (V,5) and John, Andrew and Andy climbed Point Five (V,5). �"The Point" proved to be interesting and good value. Like many of the routes on The Ben this week, the ice low down was very good, but the quality was inversely proportional to height gain.
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The Anoach Eagach Challenge.21:49 GMT, 10/Feb/13
Now we Jagged Globe instructors love the challenge of the Scottish winter. There is nothing like spicing your day up by offering your clients the ubber classic traverse of the Anoach Eagach ridge on the last day of a very full week, when one of your clients has to get the sleeper train back to London and the other a flight back to Europe and let's just add in the fact that the weather was due to close in at dusk. Well it all becomes doable when you have three fit, capable clients and you are out with a colleague who you have known as long as your husband! Off we went.
I let Andy set the pace up our first Munro, this route is hard core as you have to climb up and over a mountain to get to the start. The first hurdle is the notorious 'bad step', called this not so much for its technical difficulty but more for the 700m drop on both sides. �Safely down this we set off onto the ridge proper. Things were made tricky by a thick layer of soft snow but we progressed along with Nacer, Stuart and Jos admirably coping with the extreme exposure.
The next section is a bit broader in places and we motored along to the top of Meall Dearg where things properly start to get exciting and committing, this ridge is not only epic in its length but it is also almost inescapable once started, your only option is to go on or turn back, the soft snow was slowing us a bit but we decided to go for it as everyone was moving well.
We entered 'The Pinnacle's' section and things started becoming more demanding and required more care and less speed. This became a concern for Andy and myself, both from the approaching poor weather and also the need to get our team back to the hotel on time.
Although thoroughly enjoying the technical challenge of it all things were just taking to long, we had reached the end of the tricky parts of the ridge but now faced the climb up and down two more summits before we could hope to start the descent. With the clouds dropping I mentioned to Andy the top tip I had been given about a sneaky way off by another JG guide and Glencoe MRT member Dave. It was a bit of a gamble as neither of us knew it but at that moment we had good visibility and we took the opportunity the weather gave us.
It was great to be working with such cool characters as Stuart, Jos and Nacer. They were not phased by the decision and were super slick in helping us get the escape plan in full swing. I went first down the abseil to check it and the snow below were ok. No problems and we were all soon off the ridge and in an incredible hour and fifteen minutes back at the road, amazing, very cool top tip. Admittedly we were now on the wrong side of the valley, but a quick call to Mark and the intro team had us swept up and back at base in time for planes, trains and tea and biscuits. Wow.
Summit Fever.20:49 GMT, 10/Feb/13
Another speedy walk into the north face of Ben Nevis today, but I was out with Everest hopeful Nacer and the order of the day was a long mountaineering route and this Moroccan also wanted to stand on the summit of Britain's highest mountain.
Fitting a classic four star, quality line like Ledge Route into a day with the added desire to stand on top of the Ben requires good efficient movement, our day started off with a blistering walk (run) in! This man is very fit, we slowed down once we put crampons on and moved steadily through the lower pitches into the easier but truly spectacular parts of the route.
We topped out on Carn Dearg right on time put the promised weather was closing in and it was now a race to get around the plateau and up to the summit before the clouds could pile in. Nacer flew around the rim and we were soon standing on top of Ben Nevis and even had a glimpse of a view to the north. Probably not the first Moroccan to stand on the summit but hopefully all this preparation will allow him to be the first Moroccan to stand on the top of Everest when he heads out with the JG team in March.
Brilliant Ben Nevis.20:28 GMT, 10/Feb/13
The end of the week turned into a bit of a Ben Nevis fest. We had a lot of snow to contend with on the Wednesday but the weather was good and after a speedy walk in all four teams were kitting up underneath the Douglas Boulder (only in Scotland is a 300m cliff called a boulder). JG guide Max Hunter broke a fantastic trail in for the Reston us and we all dispersed to our different routes.
Tony and Max took their teams onto the SW Ridge and Andy and I took our guys onto Faulty Towers a great looking grade III. John and I bagged the 'classic' left hand line which looked like a tasty icy groove while Andy took Jos and Stuart up an equally attractive looking corner. It all proved to be as good as it looked, a wee bit of rotten ice took some figuring out to get over but both teams were soon enjoying the mixed climbing further up.
The junction with Tower Ridge was gained and we descended to the gap and abseiled down into East Gully and headed down back to the base and a stroll out with fine views.
Lots of Snow21:35 GMT, 09/Feb/13
This last week started with very heavy falls of snow on strong winds, creating deep cover on upper slopes. On Monday the Snow and Ice course started with a coaching session on ice falls low on Ben Nevis, complete with goggles to combat the almost blizzard conditions. On Tuesday the winds increased to gale force, again with heavy snowfall and so the day was spent in the Ice Factor reinforcing footwork and climbing skills which had been worked on the previous day.
From Wednesday to Friday the weather was much kinder, but the deep snow cover meant that we limited ourselves mainly to climbs lower down and Ben Nevis became our second home, with teams out climbing the SW Ridge of the Douglas Boulder and Fawlty Towers - as well as playing on the Carn Dearg Cascades.
There was a good build up of ice on some routes lower down on Ben Nevis. The Curtain came good, as did Vanishing Gully and Waterfall Gully amongst others and our teams tended to swap routes on subsequent days, though Dom and Kasia, who were cruising towards Vanishing were pipped at the post by two climbers who traversed in from the right. Fawlty Towers was their consolation prize.
We stayed flexible in our route choices as word spread about a number of routes being "in"; target The Curtain, but teams in front, meaning pop around the corner to do Waterfall Gully, plus the chance to practise a little leading, again on shorter ice-falls in Coire na Ciste.
After a week of very high avalanche risk the temperatures rose today (Saturday) and wetted out the snowpack. Tomorrow's forecast for lower temperatures should firm up the snow and means that the avalanche "sundial" has suddenly turned green, which is great news.
Introductory Winter Mountaineering17:54 GMT, 09/Feb/13
Myself and Mark had a great week on the Introductory Winter Mountaineering course with Paul, Sharon, Joe, the Two Johns and Nacer. We experienced the full variety of weather that a Scottish winter can produce - Strong winds, snow, hail, rain, sleet and even some occasional �sunshine. Many skills were learnt and practised, summits were reached and many plans for future adventures made.
Snow swimming.20:48 GMT, 05/Feb/13
Another truly Scottish forecast today but Tim was not put off, I placed a few options on the table and he chose the most character building, a long, steep walk up into Coire Nan Lochan. With the winds down to a light 70mph we felt like the mountain was spoiling us and we were in danger of become soft.
We started the walk up in heavy rain which was not so nice, the deer and the deep turquoise waters of the river distracted us, along with the trail breaking in knee high snow. �As we gained height sleet and then snow started to fall which was much more manageable. The route up to the base of the climb required care to avoid any suspect snow but we were soon standing (it was chest deep on me) at the bottom of the rocks and I was keen to get out of wading/swimming mode and into climbing. All the practise Tim put in yesterday paid off which was a good job too as it was not a day to be fumbling around.
Two moves to the right �and we were in a completely different world, hard snow ice greeted us and we romped up the first couple of pitches. Although he had cursed me yesterday for insisting he did everything with his gloves on, today it became clear why, not the place to be baring skin and Tim's improved dexterity allowed for swift and efficient changeovers on the belays, not to mention warm dry hands.
We had to blaze the way up the route as nobody had been in since the new snow had fallen, I reckon both Tim and I could give Micheal Phelps a swim for his money in the 100m freestyle. The top groove had loads of perfect snow ice in it and this more than made up for all the powder lower down.
I had psyched Tim up for the top out as if it was 70mph on top we would be crawling, so goggles were set in place and a solid briefing was given. It was a bit of a welcome anticlimax as the winds were 35mph max so we soon had the gear packed and had a enjoyable stroll down in the snow. We found a great 'shovel up' snow hole which our intro team had made and had the luxury of its shelter for the last of our butties and flapjack before descending to the road. Perfect.
Dicing with snow devils.20:54 GMT, 04/Feb/13
A new week but the same winds, in fact they were a wee bit stronger and the forecast was giving 120mph in gusts, so we did not want to be any of those, there was also quite a bit of fresh snow falling and being blown around so all in all a tricky decision this morning. I was working with Tim today, he is off to Denali and is up for three days of mountaineering to brush up his skills.
We decided on the Zigs Zags on Gearr Aonach as it kept us away from the suspect snow slopes �and protected us from the wind. On the walk up we heard a huge crack of thunder and looking up saw a snow tornado spinning in a tight vortex almost the whole height of the cliff, impressive but slightly intimidating as it was where we wanted to be. deck settled on heading further up for a look, Tim is fit and strong so we were soon gearing up at the base.
Tim was soon blowing the cobwebs off all his previous knowledge and only needed the odd prompt to get things right (I won't mention doing up his harness though!), we moved swiftly up to the more interesting sections and after crampons were attached headed up the first steeper section.
Watching him cruise up the first bit I was concerned he might be getting bored so I decided to brave the wind and go around onto the nose and one of the more spicier variations. This is considerably harder than the standard route and today required; hooking and torquing with the axe in addition to jamming and undercutting with hands. Some very neat footwork was on display from the man and the only time he was fully challenged was when an exceptionally strong gust of wind fought for control of his body......and won!
With Tim back in charge of his own body we snuck up the rest of the pitches and re-joined the standard route at the top. With time and the weather pressing we then reversed the standard route with a couple of abseils and some moving together, back at the start we swiftly de-roped and headed back to the van feeling very happy that the mountain had tolerated our presence.
Snowmen in retreat.22:57 GMT, 01/Feb/13
Flushed with our success on Wednesday the plan for Thursday was to try one of the grade II gullys on Ben Nevis's north face. It was going to very much depend on the weather but after consulting the forecast and the avalanche conditions we decided it was worth the walk to see if we could repeat yesterday's sneaky beaky approach.
The walk in was swift and efficient which is essential when wishing to tackle one of these routes, we slowed down as we came under the face and I tried to distract the gents from the physical effort by waxing lyrical (well I thought I was) on the history of the mountain and in particular the extraordinary exploits of Jimmy Marshall and Robin Smith.
As we gained the basin of coire ciste the snow really set in, this was not good and Andy and I warned the team that we might have to turn around if we decided the snow conditions were not safe for us to continue. Fully suited, booted, cramponed and goggled up we began our journey up towards the base of the route. It soon became apparent to Andy and myself that things were deteriorating and we went through what we were thinking and why with the guys, they were in complete accord with us and we headed down.
The whole �process was valuable education for our would be winter climbers and yet despite the turning around it was not to be the end of our day. Andy and I pushed the team hard on the way out and we flew! This allowed us to get around to the ice factor and have a great couple of hours on the steep ice wall. Perhaps not what we had hoped for but it allowed for some intensive movement and technique coaching, in addition to the physical challenge and most importantly its very good fun!
Under the radar.22:29 GMT, 01/Feb/13
A very breezy day was on the cards for Wednesday but the team were keen and not even put off by the thought of walking back up into Coire Nan Lochan again, they are made of stern stuff this crew. JG guides Andy Chapman and Alex Ekins joined us today to bring the ratios down and allow for some graded climbing.
We were going for the stealth approach today, and trying to sneak in under the weather and use the mountain as cover from the storm force winds. The cunning plan seemed to be working as the Corrie basin was very sheltered, we could see the winds screaming over the summit but we had no intention of going near there! We had decided to attempt Dorsal Ar�te a three star grade II, this gave us a escape route into an easy gully if it proved to be to windy on the ridge.
Nick joined Will for our ascent and it proved to be a perfect partnership as Nicks previous experience, on Everest no less, proved to be a really bonus in the wild conditions as he could help guide Will through his first multi-pitch winter climbing experience. The guys were not slowed down by the weather or the climbing and Wills grin just got bigger and bigger as we gained height.
Things started to become a wee bit windier as we came close to the top and proved to be fairly exciting when we gained the plateau. These two gentleman held it together though, at one point I thought we would have to hold each other together as one of the stronger gusts came in. By timing our movement with the lulls we gained the relative shelter of Broad Gully and as the gents were keen to get out of the wind I tied our two 60 meter ropes together and they abseiled the full 120 meters straight down in one go.
A quick de-kit and refuel at the bottom then it was down off the mountain for tea and biscuits back at base. A great day which had looked very unlikely on paper in the morning but demonstrating that it is often worth that extra effort to go and see as long as you are prepared to change plans if its to wild.
Snow, Rock and Ropes.22:27 GMT, 30/Jan/13
Day two of the mountaineering course and it was time to get technical and increase the angle of the terrain we were operating on. Not the best of forecasts but the guys were keen to get out and gain more knowledge and experience.
It was a sweaty walk up into Coire Nan Lochan good job everyone had availed themselves of the full three courses at dinner. Crampons were attached early before it got too steep. The milder weather and more sheltered location made this much easier than yesterday.
I made the most of some mixed ground and had the team swinging axes and dealing with snow, ice, rock and frozen turf, they seemed to take to it like ducks to water and were not phased by the steeper more exposed ground.
Once we gained the Corrie basin it was time for a chat about the snow and where we thought would be safe and where the 'no go' areas were. Ed's avalanche safety lecture Monday night had done a great job and a sound and sensible choice was made.
We spent the rest of the afternoon looking at creating snow anchors and testing them to destruction. This proved quite hard to do in some case despite the wet snow, we had three people pulling very hard on the rope with all their body weight and the axe did not move. Time soon made fools of us and we had to pack up and head down, but a very productive day even with the challenging conditions.
Fully Scottish.21:22 GMT, 28/Jan/13
An international flavour to this weeks intermediate mountaineering course, we have Vearly from Hong Kong, Nazer from Morocco and Will from England. They have a wide variety of experience between them from almost Summiting on Denali, big mountains in the Himalayas and a couple of Mont Blanc ascents as well.
The extreme weather forecast this morning did not dampen their enthusiasm and after we discussed the limitations it could exert on the day we consulted the map and came up with a cunning plan. This did begin with a trip to the fab new Cotswold Outdoor shop in Fort William to pick up a few�forgotten essentials, the new shop is very dangerous to credit cards, Craig and his staff were fantastic at sorting out the guys needs and helped make it a little bit less painful with a very healthy discount.
We already knew the gondola onto Anoach Mor was not running due to the forecasted 80mph winds, the summit weather station was recording 60mph as we left the car park on the steep walk of the righteous. A steady plod up had us at the top station hiding from the worst of the wind and wet snow, we got tucked in and used the shelter to get fully kitted up for the weather, the team discovered all sorts of good and bad things about their gear in some very testing conditions. Goggles on and off we went.
The winds were not exceeding 40mph except it the very odd gust so I decided as everyone was coping so well we would head further up onto the steeper ground and see how the team coped with getting crampons and harness's on in the wild conditions.
It was challenging but everyone managed to get into spikes and we had a refresher of moving up and down steeper ground, had a practise of what to do in case of a trip and had the delights of trying to get a harness to stay up on damp, icy waterproofs. Will definitely needs to develop some hips as his harness had a tendency to head south!
After getting to grips with the going up we then had to figure out going down but this was not a problem for the extreme team. We ran out of time and had to beat a retreat down through the forest which provided us with some relief from the wind and sleet. Making the van without head touches (but it was close), we headed back to base well pleased with a day which had looked very doubtful this morning.
Highland Fling.20:20 GMT, 25/Jan/13
Thursday dawned crisp and clear so another good day out was on the cards, the Intro team had a fantastic day consolidating their movement skills yesterday so they decided to focus on rope work today as many are off on expeditions to the greater ranges and will need some basic rope work skills.
Technically Burns Night is celebrated here in Scotland on the 25th but with most of the team away on Friday we all knew we had the delights of haggis neaps and tatties to look forward to when we got back, the team got into the spirit of things early and were applying their new crampon confidence to some traditional Scottish dancing. Their movement skills are now solid and dependable, the steep, icy slopes proved no problem and seemed much less intimidating than the similar terrain at the beginning of the week.
We had a great day as it was much less windy than on previous days, this allowed for a bit of standing around, watching and learning. A key element is the hands on experienced gained, lots of tying of knots clipping of karabiners and generally getting more comfortable being around and handling ropes.
Mungo explained the mechanics and practical issues people encounter when using fixed lines to jummar up when climbing the bigger peaks at high altitude, this went down well with those people who are off to Island Peak and Denali. Everyone had a go at abseiling which proved as popular as ever.
We warmed everyone up with a journey through some steep ground which led up onto the ridge proper and afforded us some breathtaking views over the west coast munros. A gentle walk off the hill almost ended in disaster for my team as we were to busy talking, (ok if I am honest) I was to busy talking and we were late back for the last gondola down. Luckily Mungo had sweet talked the liftee and he let us on, phew. Back to base to enjoy the piping in, addressing of and even eating of the haggis if you fancied!
Steep ice and no wind09:58 GMT, 25/Jan/13
A few photos from yesterday at Beinn Udlaidh. Western Gully (III), Quartz Vein Scoop (IV) and Peter Pan Direct (V,5) all climbed yesterday.
Out of the shadow into the sun.23:36 GMT, 23/Jan/13
The righteous were rewarded with a very fine Scottish day out today, sunshine, snow and mountains as far as you could see in every direction, just amazing. The forecast was for a much better day, (it could hardly have got any worse), and the met office delivered as promised. We took full advantage of the favourable conditions and went for one of the very fine mountaineering days that Glencoe can offer; a traverse of the crater rim of Stob coire nan Lochan 1115m.
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Mungo and I encouraged the team to 'be bold and start cold' for the walk-in, it is a bit of a steep one and the key thing is a slow steady pace, the only thing that hampered our progress was the frantic photo taking, but who could blame them? After the two days we have just experienced days like today need to be enjoyed and savoured to the full, �I reckon Sarah's face muscles will be as tired as her legs with the size of the smile she had.
� The crampons had to go on very early as the path was frozen solid in places, everyone was much happier and moving very confidently in their spikes now, good job to as they went on at 10.30 and stayed on till 4.30. We gained the inner basin in good time but it was a moment of choice for the team. There are two options; a great scramble up the east ridge with some proper climbing and short sections with significant exposure, to the slightly less hairy but distinctly longer west ridge. We have a great instructor to client ratio on these courses and so were able to accommodate both options, Mungo took the endurance squad up the west ridge and I took the adrenaline addicts up the east.
My intrepid gentlemen were not slowed by the deep snow, brisk winds, climbing or exposure to the big drops and after discovering the delights and new found security of an ice axe swung into frozen turf we gained the top in a very respectable time. Our compadre's had traversed under the very impressive north face of Stob Corrie Nan Lochain and even had a taste of ice climbing as Mungo set them challenges on some of the pure water ice steps, a good steady pace saw them climbing up to the top and there was a blizzard of photo taking and story swapping.
The walk off went smoothly although distraction arose in the form of the Anoach Eagach turning pink in the setting sun and a large herd of deer in the valley floor. We ended up back the car park just as it went dark, can not get much better than that, although Marks toes might have something to say on that matter.
Mungo Madness.23:13 GMT, 22/Jan/13
After continually nagging and prompting the Intro team came up with today's title in the van on the way back from a truly wild day out in the highlands. You can tell how extreme it was by the fact that Mungo had his goggles on for most of the day, as he is a rough and tough Scot this is not something we see very often.
This morning saw a bit of 'tactical faff' as Mungo and I endeavoured to find out how much of last nights avalanche safety lecture the gang had remembered. I am pleased to report that we have a bunch of very switched on people in our group and they obviously did not avail themselves to deeply in the excellent bar at the hotel. They were confidently answering questions and asking some good considered ones of their own. Considerable buffeting had been promised on the forecast and we were soon out in the heart of Glencoe to see if it was true.
Out of the van and after another good session with the map we headed off up the mountain, our objective today was Buachaille Etvie Beag a beautiful mountain with a few options should the weather prove to be too challenging. Mungo must have had three shredded wheat for breakfast as he broke trail in the deep snow all the way to the col. Here we got kitted up for attempt on the north summit of Stob Coire Raineach 925m, this was going to be exciting and demanding for our team as the weather was putting up a good fight and was not for the faint hearted or poorly equipped.
� The lads and lasses really excelled with the gearing up, the wind gusted, the snow flew in all directions and the cold tried to worm it's way into any weakness in people's clothing. All the glove practise yesterday paid off �as Mungo and I did not have to assist at all, pretty impressive stuff when you consider most of the team had never handled let alone worn crampons before.
The ascent went smoothly with Mungo again blazing a trail and the top was gain in a surprisingly short time. The summit proved to be blustery but this did not dampen the enthusiasm or take anything away from the sense of achievement gained. There was a flurry of picture taking then it was down to the serious matter of getting off. We had been on the top for less than 15 minutes but our footprints were completely obliterated by the wind and fresh snow, it also made the path invisible, so it was out with the map and compass and probably one of the more extreme classrooms for a bearing lesson. Armed with a trusty compass we set off into the swirling mist and started back down.
The col was regained and not satisfied with their efforts so far the team opted for an ice axe arrest session, are they all mad? I am not sure but they certainly threw themselves (sometimes literally) into today and put in lots of effort and perseverance. Perhaps not rewarded by stunning views but certainly a day to remember.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs?21:08 GMT, 21/Jan/13
I am not responsible for the title, it was the best effort the new team of Intro to Scottish Winter mountaineering could come up with. Mind you they had a very full day today in some extremely 'Scottish' weather so probably can not be too hard on them. The conditions certainly did not show any mercy, strong winds, blizzards and cold temperatures made for a testing day both for people and equipment.
After bravely dealing with the chair dismount at the top of the lift the next challenge was getting all the gear on and stowed in the right place. We encouraged (they might say bullied) the guys to do all of this with their big gloves on, it really was not a day to be exposing any more skin than was necessary. Not only is this going to be a key skill this week but it also going to help prepare those of the team who are off to Mont Blanc and Island Peak.
A time was spent looking at the map, discussing options and how navigating can be considerably more challenging in winter, then it was off up into the great white unknown. Walking poles proved to be popular in managing the deep snow and we were soon further up the mountain starting to introduce movement on steeper, icier ground.
Once the basic footwork had been picked up, everyone was soon scampering up and down the icy slopes with confidence. A journey around the mixed rocky ground found us in a nice, sheltered (relatively) spot which gave an opportunity to look at snow and slopes in more detail. Avalanche awareness, education and avoidance are a big part of our days out and the more people know the better. Our investigations involved a certain amount of digging which helped keep everyone warm.
The boys got right into cutting steps with the ice axe but this useful skill is usually greeted with grins of excitement as people get to swing around the technical kit, it's all part of the winter fun. So you can imagine the reactions when the crampons came out!
We thought we had timed the day perfectly as the chair looked to be still running on our return to the top station but it stopped before we could get there, the stroll down in soft snow was beautiful though and it ended a very fine first day. Now many of the essential winter skills have been introduced we hope the rest of the week will allow the team to practise and perfect them while exploring the fantastic mountains of the West Highlands.
End of the first week16:46 GMT, 18/Jan/13
The first week of Jagged Globe courses came to an end today with the Introductory Winter Mountaineering Course making an ascent of the Zig Zags and looking at navigation tick-offs along the ridge of Gearr Aonach. Fantastic views in bright weather with the tops looking stunning under the fresh snow. �It was a little breezy, but not as windy as forecast. �
The Winter Mountaineering Course spent the day practising expedition rope systems.
Avoiding Slab17:51 GMT, 17/Jan/13
Our summit day nearly didn't happen. On the way into Coire na Ciste to climb No. 4 Gully we observed (and spent time learning how to identify) areas of weakly bonded windslab. However, by sticking mainly to wind-scoured �areas of older snow we made our way up to the narrows of the gully and found fresh but stable snow. We exited onto the plateau, then made our way to the summit of Ben Nevis. First time at the summit for most - and by a mountaineering route.
Day 2 Introductory Winter Mountaineering18:07 GMT, 15/Jan/13
18:03 GMT, 15/Jan/13
The first of the Introductory Winter Mountaineering courses saw us getting our snow legs in Coire Leis of Ben Nevis yesterday - and our crampon feet and other winter skills on Aonach Mor today. Time for sun cream and sunglasses. Lots of new snow and fine forecasts means we're thinking about a Ben day tomorrow.
2013 season begins!17:08 GMT, 15/Jan/13
Our 2013 Scottish Winter Courses kicked off at the weekend. Dave Haygarth was out with David McMeeking. Here are a couple of pictures. We'll post some more up in the next few days, along with an update on conditions.
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