Monday 24 January 2011

Winter Mountain Leader day 2

Today we walked in to Coire an t Sneachda as a big team looking at navigation and observing the weather and snowpack as we went. Once in the coire it was initially all about crampons, teaching the use of them and personal skills on them. There were many teams about on the easy gully lines as well as winter skills and mountaineering teams (many of whom were making good use of ice and rock bulges below Stirling Bomber).
We looked at snow profiles, walking rustchblocks and quick pits and how appropriate they are as methods of assessing the snowpack. From here we headed up the steeper ground to the col on the Fiacaill Ridge. We crossed it and dropped down the east side to navigate our way out back to the bus.
Saving the video for tomorrow as I'm giving evening talks on Winter Hazards and Avalanche Avoidance tonight.

No comments: