Scottish Rock and Water
5 participants
2 day winter skills cairngorms
Day 1 - skills in the moraines in sneachda, followed by looking at snow anchors.
The groups objectives were to learn how to keep eachother safe in steep snow as they were planning on going to the alps and greater ranges.
we then moved up the rocky rib to the left of windy col using anchors. the freezing level was just below the summit of cairngorm so the snow was very freindly and wet, although very lean. we then looked at snow anchors above windy col, as when we got there i could assess the the snow and group ability and made the call to then continue buildng on steep snow anchors there. the group loved it but i did have to manage it all very carefully but the snow lent it went for that location.
Day 2 - journey day to the shelterstone, very lean so we didnt need crampons, but we did put them on about 2kms before reaching the goat track to familiarise people again with them and that after careful observation of the group i chose to descend goat track, and again in those lean conditions it made for an appropriate venue with the group i had on that particular day.
Area :
The Cairngorms
The Cairngorms are ‘a little piece of the arctic in Scotland’ according to the SMC Munros Guide and the area contains many of the tallest peaks in the East Highlands. Ben Macdui (1309m), Cairn Gorm (1244m) and Braeriach (1296) are probably three of the better known and the whole area is full of steep corries and high plateaux. Access to the mountains is typically from Aviemore or Braemar.
