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Day two of the Glenmore lodge introduction to winter skills. Feeling more confident using the crampons and ice axe than on the previous day. Our pace was a bit faster but again we took many breaks to learn something new or practise a particular skill.
On of the main topics of the day was snow shelters. Our instructor dug us a "snow grave," terrible name but very effective - the reduction in the wind from even a fairly shallow trench was considerable. We also visited some snow holes that had been dug by other groups, no time to build our own as they take a good few hours. We went inside one which had a very low ceiling, fun for a few minutes but a bit nerve racking to spend the night there!
We were walking around the Cairn Gorm area again, this time from the lower ski carpark. We had a good view on the way up of one particular "terrain trap" where snow had built up and the risk of avalanche was high. As with day one plenty of time was taken explaining how to recognise a dangerous area from the avalanche report, weather reports and personal observations.
Some of the boggy areas on the route had frozen into ice sheets often with a steep gradient, so we had some fun climbing up and down these trying to have faith in the ability of the crampons to grip!
And once more we tried some self arrest techniques, this time on a much steeper slope. We had to let ourselves slide for a bit to pick up some speed before trying the techniques to make it a bit more realistic. Still great fun but a little terrifying!
Overall two awesome days, great instruction (thanks Rafael
), great weather, great food (particularly the chocolate cake) and great company. I am now more aware of the risks of winter walking and the planning required to reduce them. However I am also now more aware of how beautiful the Scottish mountains can be in winter and how much of a thrill it can be to walk in them