So once again we headed to Glencoe, this time to meet up with 4 current CUHWC members who had agreed to let Dave lead a winter skills course.

The 4 (Sarah, Bronwen, Chris and Simon) had been out the day before, and had some experience between them, so it was an intense couple of days covering lots of skills and lots of ground to practise them on.

First up, we headed towards Buachaille Etive Beag, to run through the basic personal skills – footwork, crampons and axes. After lunch we put these into practice by walking over both Munros and taking the direct route down to the car.

The next day, we planned an ambitious ascent of Bidean Nam Bian, ascending up to Coire nan Lochan, again recapping on the personal skills, while also talking more about route choice, planning and avalanches. The ascent onto Stob Coire nan Lochan provided some slightly more interesting mixed ground and some fantastic views on top. The consensus was to head for Bidean instead of doing any more skills, so we pressed on, up an imposing looking snow arete to find Bidean was also out of the cloud when we arrived. Knowledge from a passing helpful mountaineer told us the descent into the Lost Valley was not suitable. This wasn’t much of a surprise, so we retraced our steps and descended from Stob Coire nan Lochan back to the car, managing to fit in a brief demonstration of rope work and enjoying the good slidability of the snowpack.

It was a fantastic couple of days, with great weather, surprisingly good conditions and good company. Thanks to CUHWC and the guys

Found our first snow not too far from the road

Learning to walk again

Off to find another patch of snow

How not to hold an axe

“Now trip yourselves up”

‘Self belay’

SLIDING!

Surprisingly effective snow for both sliding and stopping

Stationary practice of the self arrest position

Dave goes for a slide

Mid arrest

Head first – looking good!

Another head first

We’ll try that again

Stomping in crampons

Let’s try this for real on a hill.

The top of Stob Dubh

Found an interesting way off

Looking back at Stob Dubh and the group coming up the ridge to Stob Coire Raineach

A lovely snow ramp direct to the car

Next day – into Stob Coire nan Lochan

Starting up the ridge to the summit

Found some rocky sections

More fun

Everyone (except photographer) on Stob Coire nan Lochan

The ridge to Bidean was too nice to miss out on

Taking care on the exposed slope

From Stob Coire nan Lochan, looking north to Glencoe and the Aonach Eagach

Good cornice avoiding on the way down

Final romp down the glen.

for a great weekend, I hope they all continue to enjoy the winter mountains.