Winter Skills, Drumochter

Greg, Jilly, Katherine, Mirsie and Sally-Anne from the Glasgow Hill Walking and Mountaineering Club and I were out on Geal-charn, Drumochter, today. We were looking at Winter Skills including a bit of avalanche awareness and safe route selection, movement skills, ice axe arrest and a brief look at emergency shelters. The snow was soft pretty much everywhere, which wasn’t ideal for crampon practice, but we did get them on discuss their use and try them on a few small rock steps.

Sally trying out daggering
Sally trying out daggering

Plenty of snow above 750m; a feature I’ve used before has been completely filled in, which means there’s a depth in that sheltered location of 10m or more. South and south-west slopes are relatively scoured although any gullies on those aspects are subject to cross-loading. Lot’s of avalanche debris around, but there are still some sizable cornices and it will be interesting to see if they survive tomorrow’s thaw.

The group on an East facing slope at 750m with a scoured South facing slope behind
The group on an East facing slope at 750m with a scoured South facing slope behind

The snow pack was moist at all levels today, rain showers on lower slopes falling as damp snow above 700m on a South-Westerly wind.

Mirsie trying ice axe arrest
Mirsie practicing ice axe arrest

 

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