Scotland Winter Roundup | Winter Courses in the Cairngorms

Our winter courses kicked off in January with our Winter Skills Weekender - despite the stormy conditions - we had plenty of snow and a challenging avalanche forecast to navigate. It was a great weekend with loads of learning for our clients. 

By the end of the week - Storm Isha and Jocelyn were hitting the mountains full force, with trains and flights all cancelled, Edna stayed along and joined us for another day out as we started our next Winter Skills week. 

Windy conditions kept us in the valley on the first day and with the guys keen for a summit, we headed to Cairngorm to see if we could push through the winds. Arriving at the top the winds reached their peak and while it was only for a short period, the windchill was incredibly cold on the skin.

Every morning of the course we spend around 1 hour looking at forecasts and planning our route for the day. What are the wind speeds? Where is safe to walk away from avalanche-prone slopes and do we have any dangers on our journey? Planning is pretty important in winter and all of our clients did a great job absorbing all the information and putting it into practice during the course.

The course ended with a wild day of heavy snow, strong winds and sub-zero windchill. I chose a journey that would test all of the skills and the guys did an amazing job. From planning a route and navigating - to cutting steps on hard neve, cramponing and coping with high winds. we finished the session walking back down into the Ciste where I bumped into teammates from Ogwen Mountain Rescue who were up in the corries doing some winter training. 

February 

February was a challenging month with warm temperatures and little if any snow towards the end. Whilst this may be tricky for a Winter Skills course, the snow put down in January was still firm and holding out allowing us to run plenty of days on snow.

The last course of the month was a busy one with five clients all pushing their skills and really getting into the spirit of walking in winter. A heavy dump of snow at the end of our second day was incredible especially as we walked in wearing sunglasses under a blue sky, showing you just how quickly the weather can change in a few hours. 

Next year's course dates are already online. We have extra dates and more weekend dates as requested by clients. We are also delivering our Winter Skills Development course which is perfect for those looking to build on previous skills and push into more challenging terrain. 

Big thanks to everybody who joined us this year, its been great to spend time with you all in the mountains. 

https://www.themountaineeringcompany.co.uk/wintercourses/

Blog by Matt Cooper - TMC Owner - MCI,WML