Gwilym's Adventure Blog

Today Will and I headed to Glenshee for some touring but there was far less snow than we had hoped for so we actually skinned up the edge of the unused pistes and skiied a mix of the open and closed runs. Unbelievable really as there was over a foot of snow around in Braemar but the hills were badly scoured

Today I had a bit of a long journey to Braemar to meet my cousin. Due to road closure I had to go via Keith and Aberdeen. Anyway, the road to Glenshee was also closed so we spent some time in the stadium in Braemar using transceivers and looking at avalanche avoidance.

What a windy day! With wind speeds in excess of 140mph recorded on the summits, Beth and I hid in Glenmore Forest for some navigation training. We made it out to Ryvoan Bothy for a snack before heading back in. We still got a bit of a battering and some snow blizzards but it was much better than being completely beaten up on the mountain.

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

Today with forecasts in the mountain of 100mph winds and rain, Beth and I headed to Huntly's Cave near Grantown on Spey to look at ropework and belay building. We were dry under the over hang and the rain stopped after a while and the blue sky appeared. Unfortunately the routes were still very greasy but we still managed to climb a Diff at the end of the session

Back into the coire today with Beth who is on Wet and High Adventures Long Term Development Scheme for some winter skills tuition. A lot of snow loss from yesterday including all the "flat ice" area having melted away. However we had a great day with some navigation, footwork and ice axe skills, decision making and beating the weather back to the car followed by coffee and cake at The Active Cafe