Snowy Scottish winter Skills trip Success!
Seven adult members of the CMC experienced some wickedly wild weather in the Cairngorms during a 4-day winter skills trip to Rothiemurchus Lodge, near Aviemore at the end of February.
Seven adult members of the CMC experienced some wickedly wild weather in the Cairngorms during a 4-day winter skills trip to Rothiemurchus Lodge, near Aviemore at the end of February.
70 mile-an-hour winds buffeted the group on the first 2-days of the trip during a basic winter skills course led by an old friend of the club, Mark Shewry of Mountain Inspirational. After learning the basics of walking in winter (as Mark told the group: "it's not just a case of putting one foot in front of the other!") and using the ice axe to arrest a fall on day one, the crampons came out on day two. After getting used to having 12 metal spikes on each foot the group then had an introduction to avalanche safety on the slopes of Coire an t-Sneachda whilst examining the layers of the snow pack before braving the howling winds on top of the Cairngorm plateau en-route back to base.
After a big dump of snow overnight Jamie, Tony and Nessy joined Mark for an added extra day looking at snow holes and practiced building emergency snow shelters after dodging the hoards of skiers and snowboarders making use of the fine conditions on the slopes of Cairngorm. Once finished digging the group headed toward the summit and in doing so, Tony 'bagged' his first Munro and celebrated with a well earned hot chocolate and cake lower down at the Ptarmigan skier's station.
The remaining members of the group stayed lower down; Graham packed his trusty steed in the car and headed for the mountain biking centre at Laggan, a few miles North West of Aviemore. Barry, Becky & Mike enjoyed a walk round the picturesque Loch Morlich and explored the forest around the Rothiemurchus estate with a café stop and a play in the snow before heading back to prepare a lovely Sunday roast.
The final hill day saw Jamie, Tony and Nessy tackle the 3rd highest mountain in Britain, Braeriach at 1296m (4252ft) and the 2nd Munro in two days. Having started the previous 3 days from the Cairngorm car park is was refreshing to head straight from our accommodation and through the forest. On the way to the top there was an ideal opportunity to practice one of the skills learnt during the first 2 days; on reaching a steep face of ice the trio grabbed their ice axes and cut steps - tough going in the rock hard ice! During the ascent some magnificent views were to be seen and, as you'd expect, the cloud came down just before the summit was reached where handshakes were exchanged before heading back down the mountain.
After much debate, the other 4 members of the group decided to visit Loch an Eilein with its castle in the middle and after a wander, true to form, the four headed for the café.
The final night was spent at the Italian Restaurant in Aviemore where the group made good value of the all-you-can-eat buffet menu. Getting back to the building proved problematic with the day's snowfall making the track to the building almost impassable. Those in Graham's car managed to hitch a lift with a passing Land Rover while Tony tried his best with snow chains before they gave way leaving the 3 in the car to walk back to the building.
There was a subdued mood on the final morning with 6 of the group not relishing the 9 hour car journey back to St. Ives whilst Mike was dropped off at the station to catch the train to Inverness before flying into Luton.
All-in-all it was an excellent trip and the club are already making enquiries about a venue for a similar trip next year.
Thanks go to Mark for his excellent instruction and advise; to Becky for planning the menu and overseeing the catering; to Mike for showing us his not so inconsiderable skills in the kitchen; to Graham and Tony who generously let us put over a thousand miles on their cars; to Barry for looking after the booking of the building and finally to Nessy, for well, just being Nessy!
Jamie Abbott
Trip organiser
