Snow on the mountains!

It was snowing heavily as I drove up the Ogwen Valley this morning, the sun soon came out though and we had a stunning day on Pen Yr Ole Wen and Carnedd Dafydd today for the second day of our navigation course. The snow was only cosmetic but it was freezing hard so all could be different tomorrow and it made for beautiful views as we put into practice the skills covered yesterday and looked at relocation skills along the way - stunning!

Navigation & Hill Skills

I am running a navigation and hill skills course today and tomorrow here in Snowdonia. Its the last course of the year before winter arrives and we are promised snow tomorrow, no sign yet though. I was joined by friend and fellow instructor Huw as there were 9 clients with us for the two days and today we headed into Cwm Clan on the back of Snowdon to look at micro navigation skills and have some fun along the way!

Winter!

There is a beautiful dusting of snow on the mountains here in Snowdonia and a reasonable quantity on the Scottish mountains where the winter climbing season has already started. If you are keen to get out this winter and enjoy the mountains at their very best then come and join one of our winter skills courses. We have a winter skills feature hitting the shops in the next issue of Trail magazine at the end of this month so if you would like to book a space before then visit this link for details of our winter courses: http://www.expeditionguide.com/snowandice.php

Our winter skills weekends will teach you the skills you need to avoid avalanches,  how to use ice axe and crampons, what kit to carry and emergency snow shelters. We will also take in a classic snow capped summit or two! 

Our winter skills weeks aim to cover all of the essential skills that you require in winter to be a self sufficient hill walker and enjoy this wonderful time of year safely and confidently. The big benefit of a 5 day course is that we will experience different snow types throughout the week which is really valuable from an avalanche avoidance and axe and crampon skills point of view. 

Skills covered include:

- Five full days of practical instruction in the mountains

- Choice and use of equipment for the winter environment

- Movement skills on snow

- Use of the ice axe

- How to fit and use crampons - when to put them on and take them off

- Use of the rope in winter (winter belays, snow bollards and as a navigational tool)

- Emergency snow shelters

- Mountain journeys putting all of the skills into perspective

- Mountain navigation

- Planned snow shelters

- Avalanche avoidance & snow analysis

- Diet & nutrition for winter walking

- Cold weather injury avoidance

- Emergency procedures

I am also available for private guiding for 2 weeks of each month here in Snowdonia. I offer this time on an "as and when" basis dependant upon the snow conditions so if you see snow and want to come and play in it, get in touch!

Advanced Navigation Day

I was joined for the day by Racheal, Andi, Andy, Steve & John for an advanced navigation course here in Snowdonia. It has stayed dry all day and we have had a great day using contour only maps to get our heads round contours and progress people onto Jedi style navigation. When map-makers create a map the contours are the first piece of information to get drawn onto the blank piece of paper and hence they are always accurate, the ability to navigate using them alone is a valuable skill and enhances all mountain navigation and gives an enjoyable day out too!

ML Training Overnight Camp - Beautiful light

For our overnight camp the ML Trainees and I headed up onto Lliwedd yesterday and camped in Cwm Tregallan last night which is where we did a night navigation exercise. This morning we climbed Yr Aran and throughout our little mini break we had some beautiful light and autumnal colours, I will let the photos do the talking:

Tryfans North Ridge

I have been up on the North Ridge of Tryfan today with the ML Training team looking at security on steep ground. We moved the skills on from yesterday in risk assessment and management, leadership and emergency use of the rope and incorporated them into a mountain journey so that we could look at the skills in the context that they are likely to be used. It was consistently damp all day but we did get some lovely evening light.

Security on steep ground

I have been in Cwm Idwal today with the ML Trainees looking at security on steep ground, with and without the use of a rope. We journeyed around the back of the cwm looking at movement skills, dynamic risk assessment & management, leadership and client care. Most of the snow has now gone from the tops but it got colder as the day went on again and stayed surprisingly dry.

ML Training - Snow on the tops

It has been lightly snowing on the mountains today in Snowdonia, just a superficial dusting but a promise of winter to come! I have been joined by Jon, Dan, Maciej, Rob & Roddy for a Mountain Leader Training course and we based our first day on the lower slopes of Snowdon and the Horns looking at navigation, leadership, the environment and mountain weather. We have had some stunning light this afternoon and it felt distinctly chilly too!

Cwm Idwal Scrambling

For the final day of our advanced scrambling learn to lead course Julia, Jim and I headed into Cwm Idwal. Jim & Julia lead North West Face Route into the Idwal Staircase, putting all of their new skills into practise from the last two days, including an abseil off. Thanks both for a lovely few days company with lots of learning and smiles.