This week I’ve been working on a Winter Mountaineering Foundation course based out of Ballachulish. We visited Stob Mhic Mhartuin on Monday with soft snow on the hill, which we used for movement and arrest teaching. There were graupel showers during the day. On Tuesday we headed to the Nevis Range ski area and looked at crampon work on harder snow and ice and an intro to transceiver searches. Windslab was forming throughout the day.
On Wednesday we made an ascent of Stob Coire Raineach to use some of the skills we’d learnt and continued the ongoing theme of avalanche awareness and avoidance. It was snowing on strong south-westerlies in the morning with rain above the summits later on. On Thursday we headed over to Glen Feshie and dug snow holes before heading up Carn Ban Mor in driving snow on a south-westerly and poor visibility followed by some night navigation. It was raining heavily as I headed south today. An enthusiastic group who were keen to learn made for a very enjoyable week despite some fairly challenging conditions.
