Winter Mountain Leader Assessment

For the last 5 Days I have been on a Winter Mountain Leader Assessment with Steve Spalding (High Expectations) based in The Cairngorms

There was a mixture of sunny Alpine Days and claggy Scottish Days. Over the 5 days I was assessed on teaching axe and crampons, using a rope on steep ground and a 3 day (2 nights in a snow hole) expedition looking at Navigation and self preservation in winter.

All the members of the group passed the assessment and a good time was had by all.

There is still reasonable snow cover on the plateau which should hold for a few more weeks though it is starting to collapse into the rivers and streams.

It looks like there is very little Winter Climbing left in Corrie An T'Sneachda although Summer routes look to be climbable (crampons on approach would be needed) both there and on the other side of the plateau ie Hells Lum and Stag Rocks.