Advanced Winter Skills Trip Review

On the 9th to 11th January a few members of the club traveled up to Oban for an advanced winter skills course. Shortly before setting off on the adventure our instructor informed us that the snow conditions were not good in the original area and we would have to travel up to Glen Coe to find some snow. This meant a 6:00 AM start to get there in plenty of time.

Approaching Glen Coe as the sun rose on day 2 we were amazed at the lack of snow on any of the hills.
Arriving at the carpark and meeting our instructor Zac Poulton our destination for the day came into sight (Stob Coire nan Lochan).

We then started on the journey up to Stob Coire nan Lochan, estimated snowline at 700m so a long way to go to get some snow.

The group proceed, the wind is blowing through the valley but we will be sheltered before long as we exit the middle of the valley.

Then Martin's bag burst and required a little surgery with duct tape.

 Our target gully is slowly coming into sight as we progress up the slope.

Now a test of navigation to see how we are adapting to the scale (1:50000 from 1:25000).

Kris refuses to have his picture taken.

Getting closer and closer to the gully and about at freezing level now.

We approach the main body of snow where we will be doing some crampon and ice axe work to get back in the swing of things.

The summit photo :)

The normal summit view... clouds and sky, damn it.

The clouds lift for a brief moment to review a stunning view.

Now as the clouds are beneath us, water vapor in the air and the sun behind us, we are treated to a rare phenomenon, the brocken spectre.

Now back down that gully, its looking really daunting from the top.

Day 2: Ben Nevis Gully 4

The North Face of the Ben keeps disappearing into the clouds.

We approach the mountain hut to stop for lunch, following that the plan is to do some Ice Axe Arrest practice at the bottom of gully 4 before proceeding and doing some belaying practice.

The summit photos :)

Now back down...

We got back to the van in complete darkness after a wonderful weekend of learning how to be safe in the hills. We look forwards to practicing the skills that we learnt over the weekend in the future.