Gwilym's Adventure Blog

Back out with Angus and Graeme in Corie An T'Sneachda but looking at climbing skills this time. With some input from me, the guys took themselves up Fake News (Grade II) This was another day of being observed as I work towards becoming a Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor .

Today I was out with Angus and Graeme looking at Winter Mountaineering skills in Coire an T'Sneachda. The weather did turn quite Scottish at times but there were still a couple of opportunities to take photographs I was being observed by Giles as this was part of my assessment to become a Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor .

Our attempt on Fiacaill Ridge was thwarted by wind today so we dropped back down onto some snow to look at abseiling from snow bollards, managing changeovers in bucket seats and continuing to work on confident foot work in snow (probably the most fundamental skill of all). A little bit of navigation practice them followed as we headed back out to the ski centre and of course, coffee and cake. Always nice to see some Ptarmigan but they were struggling to stay camouflaged on the limited snow cover. Practising tying knots with gloves on is an essential part of winter climbing but can be done in the warm

A clear start to the morning saw 3 of us walk into Coire an T' Sneachda to see what as happening. Sadly I had a false start and got turned back by some poor conditions on the start of Terms on Endearment. Even the classic lines such as Aladdin's Couloir and Aladdin's Mirror were incomplete and as I was by then very cold,  I headed out via the 1141 cairn back to the car with my tail between my legs whilst the other 2 climbed a pitch of another route before joining me back at the vehicle

Today was not a work day but Matt and Jamie volunteered to let me practice on them in preparation for MIC assessment (next year I reckon). With a forecast for being very blowy later, we headed into Corie an T'Sneachda and climbed 5 pitches on the Twin Ribs before a quick descent and getting blown out of the corie back to the car park. If you are looking to employ someone to teach winter climbing then you should be looking here  for an MIC holder as that is the appropriate award.

Today (on what turned out to be a blue sky low wind day) Olly and I walked into Corie An T'Sneachda to climb a route. On the walk in we looked the options and headed over to Mess of Pottage with a view to climbing Hidden Chimney. I did get as far as having my harness on and one crampon when Olly dived for one of my gloves that had travelled less than a metre for me and messed up his old knee injury. A rest did not improve it so we headed to the moraines for Olly to practice his emergency shelters and then hobbled (him not me) out back to the van. Olly had bought some new axes and this was to be their maiden voyage and as he is back home tomorrow they will have to wait for next year

Back out on the hill today working for Peak Mountaineering . The clients and I headed into Corie An T'Sneachda to look at emergency procedures, steeper ground and navigation along with the ever present avalanche awareness. We even had a bit of "whiteout" time today which was great to practice navigation in. We saw a couple of Red Grouse today but still failed to find them a Ptarmigan as they requested. There is always tomorrow.

Today with more high winds forecast Beth and I headed into T'Sneachda to look at emergency shelters, crampon work and the all important avalanche awareness. We actually sat in the shelters to have our lunch and they worked really well. On coming out the wind had picked up and there was a lot of snow moving about so we navigated out along with a lot of other people leaving the corie. The van was rocking at the car park as the wind was picking up.

Today I took Beth to climb Fiacaill Ridge before heading up onto the plateau and navigating round to the summit of Cairn Gorm 1244m. What a day, cold, low wind and winter is definitely back on the agenda

After travelling up from a cold Somerset to a warm Scotland, I bimbled into Corie An T'Sneachda with Jake to see what was remaining from the thaw. There is still snow there though the climbing options are seriously diminished (Invernookie was a stream in the lower half and most of the buttresses were black). There was a team on Goat Track Gully. We took a random line of mixed ground from the flat ice upto Fiaciall Ridge and dropped back down after a 5 min facial scrub from the biting wind However, there is plenty of snow for my winter skills course coming up and it is due to get colder during the week.