Gwilym's Adventure Blog

Day 1 of a Winter Mountaineering course for James and we headed into Coire and T'Sneachda to look at crampon and axe skills as well as lots of chat around safe travel and avalanche avoidance. Working for Wet and High Adventures Ltd  

Mustafa wanted to finish the week with "a nice walk" so we headed up Fiacaill Ridge and stayed to the side (not the scramble bit) before topping out into sunshine. A wander over to look into the Lairig Ghru and then back down to the vehicles for coffee, cake and a review of the week. Another successful week working for Wet and High Adventures Ltd

Ah. Scottish Winter, you were missed last year. I arrived in Scotland yesterday to rain and high wind but today was very different, cold, dry and a bit less wind. Today I just went for a walk into The Northern Corries to see what was what and where they snow currently was. I have been looking at the weather and avalanche forecasts for the last week or so to give me a heads up of what to expect. I now have a weekend of AMI CPD and then the first Wet and High Adventures clients of 2022 on Monday. Looking forward to it

After a frustrating week trapped in and around Glenmore Lodge, I was finally able to get out and about today up into the hills. My 2019/2020 winter season has started! I wandered into Coire an T'Sneachda with an open mind, a set of crampons and one axe. None of the gullies looked complete so it was up onto the reliable, goes in almost any conditions Fiaciall Ridge (II). I did put crampons on for the main difficulties but it would have been mainly ok without as not a lot was frozen, just some powder snow. I wombled about the plateau for a while taking a few pictures and spying on my cousin Will who was climbing in Corie an Lochain. It was a little blowy up top so I headed back down the ridge and to the car to warm up. I am now writing this blog in a cafe waiting for Will to come and join me for a catch up.

On the first day of a Wet and High Adventures Ltd Winter Mountaineering course we had a look at all things snow starting with footwork and axe before moving onto snow anchors - bucket seats, bollards and buried axes. We did some testing on these anchors at different sizes and depths and with different axes. We then had a look at some stomper belays. As always, safe travel and avalanche awareness was a theme throughout the day and coffee and cake for the post day debrief.

On the last day of a Wet and High Adventures Ltd Winter Skills course, we headed to the relative shelter of the Ciste to look at all things steep snow. We spent the morning looking at abseiling from snow bollards, body belaying from bucket seats with a buried axe. We also had a look at how strong snow was trying to get the bollards and buried axes to fail. We manged to shear the smaller bollard but everything else held on. We then had a go at some ice axe arrest skills,  or more accurately, sliding through wet mush with snow and water getting inside all of our clothes By midday we were all wet in places where we shouldn't be from feet through to pants so with the wind picking up and the rain coming in harder we ran for the shelter of a cafe and dripped all over their floor (sorry about that)

On the second day of the Wet and High Adventures Winter Skills course we headed up to Cairngorm 1245m via the Ciste to work on winter navigation skills and continue with our safe travel theme. Pretty chilly and challenging visibility at the top but we all got there in good spirits On the way down, as the weather cleared we were lucky enough to see a few of the resident Reindeer herd chilling out in the sun as well as a Mountain Hare. As always, we finished with a review in the cafe and made a plan for tomorrow.

Out with Jamie and Juliet today for the first day of a Wet and High Adventures Ltd Winter Skills course. We battled the wind into Coire an T'Sneachda to play around with different footwork technique and crampon use. To keep us warm we moved lots of snow around digging sheleters and making blocks. On the way out over the Fiacaill of Coire Cas we had some true winter weather with strong winds and limited visibility that blew use back down the hill for coffee and cake.

Today with a challenging Avalanche Forecast, Jamie and I walked into Lurcher's Crag. This was one of the few options given the pockets of windslab on other aspects. After finding somewhere to park (rather than abandon the cars in The Sugarbowl Carpark like a lot of people did), we started the walk in. It was a little deep in places but by the time we reached the Chalamain Gap, the wind had picked up much earlier than forecast and there was a lot of snow moving around. We had a quick discussion and decided to tactically withdraw for coffee and cake. On the way out we were treated to a free face scrub. I don't mean a nice gentle exfoliation, it was more like being flayed alive as we got battered and blown around. The footsteps we left from heading in were now covered and filled with snow, so we obviously fell in them a few times just for fun. On arrival back at the vehicles, drifting snow had started to block them in. Fortunately some driving skill (or just a bit of ...

Today I was joined by Stu and we took 2 clients each up the East Ridge of Beinn a Chaorainn (I had a quick solo up it last week to check it out). The weather was stunning, warm, low wind with awesome views and just about everything you could ever ask for from a Scottish Winter Day. In fact it is worth at least 8 pictures! Working for Wet and High Adventures Ltd

On the second day of the Wet and High Adventures Winter Skills course we headed to Achlean and completed a round of Carn Ban Mor and Sgor Gaoith. Some limited visibility navigation was required at the top to find the summit (a small platform that juts out into space) before headed back down out of the cloud into the warmer and sunnier low slopes. Lot of discussion about safe travel techniques and managing a steady pace for a long day out.

I was working for  Wet and High Adventures Ltd  today in Coire an T'Sneachda with 4 clients on a Winter Skills course. We looked at safe travel techniques and avalanche awareness, using crampons on the flat ice before finding some steep snow to look at secure foot work and use of axe. The was even time for a little bit of sliding at the end before walking out in the sun for coffee and cake back in Aviemore.