A couple of Saturdays ago, I headed up to Aviemore to run a winter skills course for some friends from CUHWC. Very soon (0830), the van broke down. Turned out to be nothing dramatic – just the brake pads rubbing, but as the breakdown service had lost my policy details we took all day to get back to Cambridge.
On Sunday we took a second attempt. This time in the Polo, with minimal gear, and all of us booked into a hostel. Success! We got to Penrith for the best bacon butties I’ve ever had, and got to the Cairngorm ski car park by 5pm. We jumped at the opportunity to spend an hour on a small snow patch going over the basics and stretching our legs.
As we had lost a day with the van breakdown, I was worried about trying to squeeze a 3 day course into 2 days.. Luckily the wind and snow conditions meant that going high and getting some Munros done (the original plan) was unlikely to be sensible or beneficial. The group were also excellent, having loads of previous walking experience in all weather and picked up things quickly, allowing for some fast progression.
So on the first day we headed into Coire an t-Sneachda, had a quick session on moving on snow, resulting in some sliding fun (ice axe arrests). We then moved into the Coire proper to have a look at some old avalanche debris, and use crampons. Despite the consolidated and melting pack, we found some (non vertical) ice to show what crampons do really well. As the group we picking this up well and conditions were good, we headed up an easy angled gully next to the goat track, looking at avalanche avoidance and testing on the way.
After that excitement, we went for lunch in Coire Domhain. Unfortunately there were no remnants of snow holes to look at. The plateau was pretty devoid of snow, but we headed to Cairngorm summit anyway. After bagging the Munro, we headed back into Corrie Cas for some more detailed avalanche tests and a walk down through the ski area.
The next day we concentrated on rope techniques, going into Coire an Lochain and getting a good look at the great slab. After some digging and testing of various snow anchors, we practised our bucket seats and buried axes while ‘pitching’ up an easy slope. After some navigation to the top of Cairn Lochan, we used a snow bollard to descend onto Fiacaill Corrie an t-Sneachda. The further descent gave some more practice of classic Scottish mix of snow/ice/slush/rock. The wind was picking up and it was getting late, so we rushed off back to the hostel catching a rain shower in the last 30 mins.
Despite the less than ideal conditions, the course was enjoyed by everyone, and there was much discussion about running it again next year.
Yellow Van Mountaineering 