Winter ML assessment - a victim's eye view

Most of this winter has been focused around one thing – successfully getting through my Winter ML assessment, so I think its worth sharing my suffering by forcing you to read a blow by blow account !  There are no pictures, I couldn't stop concentrating long enough to take them and in any case the visibility was so poor there was nothing to see !

By mid February, I had the remaining holes in my logbook plugged and had also attended a very useful week of CPD with Phil Dowthwaite, re-visiting the skills required and ways of teaching them.  Following a brief interlude for my IML winter training  - which had some cross-over but not as much as expected – and a family ski holiday, I headed back to Scotland for the final push.  This was to be 2.5 weeks including the assessment in the last week and I had partners and groups lined up for a mini exped and skills / ropework as well as some enjoyable winter and climbing days.  However, fate stuck a huge spanner in the wheel when,  after a hard 4 days with my Alps buddies,  I came down with flu – just 1 week prior to assessment. After trying to ignore it for a day, I limped back home feeling very sorry for myself and ended up in bed for 3 days, the assessment now an impossibility – gutted !

However .... once able to get out of my sick bed, I set about investigating options for booking an assessment elsewhere, determined to try and keep the momentum rolling and hoping the insurance would help with the cost.  I looked no further than Pete Hill, who is not only the biggest provider of assessments, but also the cheapest :-)  At this stage, I was still feeling ropey but reasoned that another 3 weeks would see me right.  In the end though, it was mighty close and I finally set off for Scotland on the Wednesday prior, still feeling below par, no guinea pigs available this time and with my previous confidence ebbing away, a less than encouraging forecast only added to my angst.

I managed a couple of light days around Choire Cas and Choire na Ciste, brushing up on steep ground and movement skills before a more encouraging day navigating in Glen Feshie and headed off the guest house in pensive mood.  The guest house, Kinross House in Grantown, certainly helped to lift my spirits.  This is a well appointed, comfortable place with a great guest lounge, superb breakfast and owners who understand walkers / climbers – at the end of the day our wet kit was whisked away to re-appear nicely dried when we came down for breakfast.  My room-mate was also a good guy, an ex marine called Steve who would be my partner for the next 4.5 days.

Day 1: Ben Rinnes, poor vis, strong winds, snow.

 This started with introductions to Pete (a giant of a man) a review of the home paper and the weather / avalanche forecast – so far so good. 

After two days of falling snow and strong winds, the amount of drifting snow caused the road to Cairngorm to be closed and we went to a location close to Pete’s home in Aberlour, called Ben Rinnes. The emphasis of the day was on personal skills and teaching including self arrest, step kicking and cutting, crampon technique and related snowcraft skills, as well as leadership, navigation and emergency shelter construction. Unfortunately, we had to use maps provided as Ben Rinnes was off the maps we were asked to bring and these were 1:50k. Now, as I am no longer a spring chicken, my close up vision is not what it was, so when I use 1:50k maps I blow them up to 1:25k via my Anquet map software so I don’t have the issue of trying to use reading glasses.  So, with the slightly faded map provided, seeing where I was supposed to be going at the original scale was a bit of a challenge, and at this stage I also found out that Altimeters were not going to be allowed :-( I’m still not sure how I did on the nav ! The skills work seemed to go ok, though we were all pulled up on our ice axe arrest, told we had all made the same mistake on our head first / stomach down runs and asked to work out what it was for homework. Beyond this, we were given no feedback at all (Pete had warned us that we wouldn't) which made it hard to know how we were doing.

Additionally for home work, we had to prepare a 3 day / two night expedition for a group of fit novices with the possibility of using snowholes using the forecasts expected that week – this to be ready for Wednesday. 

Day 2: Ben Rinnes, snowing, even more windy, even less vis ! (no access to Cairngorm plateau)

With the Cairngorm road still closed it was off to a different location in the Ben Rinnes area again, this time with Malcolm ‘Ginge’ Lee MBE, former OC of the RAF outdoor AT Centre at Grantown.  The emphasis of this day was on navigation (again), group management, steep ground issues, emergency use of rope, snow anchors, confidence roping. We did a bit of confidence work on the way up – sans rope. Conditions were testing at the steep ground location, soft snow over heather with little hard base. We had to use anchors of our choice for group descent scenarios – I chose a stomper, boot axe belay and also a west coast stomper which proved controversial ! This technique really seems to divide instructors – I demonstrated it to be safe to Ginge and he accepted it but also made it clear he personally did not like it much !  We also had to demonstrate and use an abseil anchor – snow bollard was the choice for all of us.  Following the abseil we had to build an emergency shelter in the bank below which was then useful to sit in and eat lunch out of the wind and snow :-) After lunch we went into nav mode in what was now a white-out and full blown blizzard.  One of the guys had a ‘mare on his nav leg, not finding his destination and then spending quite a time trying unsuccessfully to find it.  We then took it in turns getting us off the hill in worsening conditions. Once a degree of vis was restored, we finished off with more confidence rope work before a final briefing and welcome feedback – we had all done at least ‘well enough’ on the rope work - phew !

Day 3-5 Expedition Day 3: Cairngorm Plateau, more wind, snow flurries and windblown snow, poor vis

Following another weather and avalanche check, we set off for expedition. Pete negotiated passage past the snowgate to the Ciste car park and we set off from there. This day included navigation, route choice in the avalanche conditions (basically avoid avalanche angle aspects that didn’t have an 'East' in them somewhere !) some general questions on environment and snowhole building. We used Ciste Mhearad, not what Pete would have liked in an ideal world as it was too popular and too close, but the sensible choice in the challenging conditions. Digging the hole was also a challenge due to a hard icey layer below the softer newer stuff but we got a break after about 1.5 hours when we broke into part of an old hole which we could enlarge somewhat, thus creating an inner chamber and providing a luxury 2 room hole complete with guest lounge !  After a brief rest and dinner it was out on night nav, wandering round in blizzard conditions for nearly 3 hours hoping we had hit our spots before returning to the hole, a welcome brew, cake and a surprisingly comfortable sleep.

Day 4 was very much more of the same though more of an emphasis on group management and care with some avalanche awareness thrown in and more blind navigation / relocation than previously – all of this in very poor visibility and strengthening winds – stronger than expected; it looked like the forecast storm for Friday was coming in early.  This was a hard and stressful day with very little visibility to inform us of our accuracy and the added pressure of concentrating on the welfare of our group.  The last exercise of the day was a group plan back to the snowhole from near the goat track.  I really didn’t fancy the path over Cairngorm as it was in prime avalanche aspect but after stating my case twice didn’t seem to get much buy in from the group who wanted to take a line over Sneachda to point 1141, then over Cairngorm to make navigation easier. At this stage I should have stuck to my guns but didn’t and we took the proposed line, me leading the leg off.  When we got to the ascent of Cairngorm it was clear the snow situation wasn’t great and Pete basically told Steve who was now leading that he needed to traverse round and avoid the steeper section – lesson learned but major mistake, could it cost us a pass ?  Once back near the Ptarmigan, one of the other guys just had to lead us back to the hole, but inexplicably, after getting to the ski tow didn’t go to the end and take a new bearing.  He just kept walking and after 500m it was clear we had missed it. I had an idea which direction, but another guy felt it was in the opposite direction – this was soon shown to be wrong by the slope angle and aspect and we headed off in my direction, though Pete decided he wanted to show us where we were by use of a GPS Grid reference as conditions were now truly appalling.  After getting back to the snowholes and relaxing a little, Pete called a conflab; the weather was worsening and we should probably walk out now as morning would only be harder and we’d probably be clearing the snowholes all night. Decision made, we had a tortuous walk down through the ski area, 80 mph winds constantly trying to knock us off our feet.  A brief respite behind the cafe for a group debrief, was followed by an even worse stagger along the access road – at one point I felt like doing a ‘Scott of the Antarctic’.  Finally we made it back to the cars ... where I found I had a flat battery and an engine bay full of snow - some idiot had left my lights on :-/ With much appreciated help from Pete and the other guys and Pete’s jump leads I got the van started and we skated down to the snow gate, parked up and waited one by one for the individual debrief and result.  I’d agreed to go last and one by one the others came back with ‘deferred’.  My turn and I was sure this was my fate also, particularly as the discussion started with 'areas for improvement' and we discussed the judgement error on the last leg back to the snowhole. However,  a number of positive comments later, I was still shocked to be told I had PASSED - I could have kissed him, ginger beard and all  :-)

All that remained then was to high tail it back south before the roads were shut. I floated all the way on cloud 9, despite a slippery Drumochter Pass and the jack-knifed lorries over Shap !

Having now had time to recover and contemplate, I regard it as one of the toughest things I have done and passing it is one of my prouder achievements, particularly as I definitely wasn’t fully fit, the aftermath of the flu bug was still lingering as a cold and hacking cough. I also thought Pete got the assessment week about right, tough but not overly so and fair, though I do think a bit of feedback does no harm.  Assessment IS tough, but then again the conditions in which a WML operates can be tough.  I have thoughts and comments about the WML syllabus, which I have fed into the current review and will post here shortly, but overall I think it is about right – but then again I guess I would say that now I’ve passed :-)

Cwm Idwal Climbing day

After returning form Scotland and WML assessment last Friday, I swore that was it for winter.  But, exceptional weather conditions in Snowdonia, a lack of proper winter climbing this season, a reasonable forecast and a mate with a free day persuaded me otherwise !

So, yesterday (Wednesday 27/03) we hot footed it to Cwm Idwal hoping to get one of the honeypot routes done before the hordes descend at the week-end.

We arrived at the car park easily enough via well cleared roads, but the car park itself was shut.  We managed to park at the roadside - but beware if coming at the week-end !

The walk in was easy enough until the point where we headed steeply up to the routes proper (compact snow on the path) but was a bit harder thereafter, a mix of soft stuff, breakable crust and some hard neve.  I think staying on the path longer and then cutting back left looked easier.

From a distance most routes looked there, if a little thin. We had set our sights on the screen/ramp area and as we rounded the corner could see both looked doable .... and both had parties on or just gearing up :-(  As we looked on from behind the comparative safety of a rock outcrop, the second on the Screen party looked to be having a mighty struggle and just then knocked a load of ice including a 1 x 0.5 m boulder size chunk which just grazed the leg of the leader gearing up in front of us.  This was to be a theme for the Screen, with a number of parties all knocking off massive chunks of ice ! We decided the Ramp looked a better bet and settled down to get ready at leisure whilst the party in front got a safe distance ahead; although a 3 with two novices, the leader was a PYB instructor and they moved fairly quickly, but I could hear comments about brittle ice drifting back every now and then.

Gearing up sheltered from 'Screen' debris - 'Ramp' in background

Once they had gained the top of the ramp I moved fairly swiftly to a position tucked in at the bottom of the ramp proper, on an in-situ peg and screw belay.  By the time my second arrived they had disappeared, so we could sort out and get on with the crux pitch, though the guy leading up behind almost on my seconds arse was an unwelcome sight - especially as there was no room at the belay for them - IMO not only is this dangerous, it is disrespectful and thoughtless; I don't want to be worrying about whether ice I knock off is going to hit another party belayed directly in the fall line or listen to a running commentary about my climb whilst I'm doing it ! Ok, rant over !

I have to say I found the crux section quite hard for its grade.  The ice was thin and brittle where it was needed most, the screws not great and the section quite steep for a few moves - unlike some of the pics I've seen when the ice is fatter. However, after a few steady moves and thinking about my footwork, the angle eased, the ice got better and I was at the top, belayed on 2 screws and a nut and bringing my second up.

The last pitch was dispatched quickly and easily, the hardest bit being the initial moves round the corner into the groove.  The over zealous crew behind us got delayed at this stage, the second losing his crampon on the crux moves - poetic justice I say :-)

The weather was not as good as expected overall, and we had quite frequent snow showers and spindrift at times, but it did clear up as we topped out to give a bit of sun and amazing views across the valley. No picture unfortunately :-(

Mission accomplished and no time for a second climb, we had to hot foot it back to the car so my mate could get back to pick his kids up form Nursery at 6 pm - apparently, there is only so much freedom a married man with kids can negotiate :-)

All in all a great day, good to do some ice, but not easy conditions in my opinion.   I'm bereft of partners for a few days now and no great desire to fight for a pitch over Easter week-end.   So, maybe this really was my last winter outing and I am desperate to start focusing on rock climbing again, but if it stays cold into next week who knows ? ;-)

Winter Mountaineering Skills

As part of my February winter extravaganza, I attended 5 days of winter skills refresher courses targeted at people looking to do Winter ML or MIC assessments, run by Phil Dowthwaite, an IFMGA Guide.  The week was based in Fort William using venues on Aanoch Mor and Glencoe.

The week broke down into 3 elements. These could all be attended independently, but I went for all 3 and got myself a discount :-)


Teaching Winter Skills:

A two-day workshop.  Day one was spent looking at the delivery of winter skills with critique from peers, opportunities to promote current best practice and receive feedback, all aimed at the winter ML syllabus.

Day two was a winter journey encompassing graded ground in ascent and descent, avalanche awareness and all that it entails.

Me about to do a classic abseil over a cornice off
a snow bollard

Avalanche Awareness:

A one day workshop with Lectures in Fort William and practical exercises in The Glencoe White Corries Ski Area and avalanche rescue park. Details of snow analysis, avalanche avoidance and rescue techniques using transceivers and probes were all covered during the day.

Winter Mountaineering and short roping skills:

A two day workshop suitable for Winter ML trainees/award holders and MIC trainees, looking at the skills used in short roping and confidence roping in winter, approaching the base of climbs, steep steps and the  rope skills  used when ascending and descending ridges in winter.  Venues visited were  the Zig-Zags in Glencoe and  the upper section of Golden Oldie on the West Face of Aanoch Mor.  Some of this was arguably out of WML remit, and one of the guys on this module was a trainee MIC, but as Phil said it is a grey area and it was interesting to contrast the different techniques at the disposal of the MIC and WML holder.

Overall this was a thoroughly worthwhile and enjoyable course delivered in a relaxed, friendly but very knowledgeable way by Phil.  I certainly learnt a lot and it made me feel much more confident about my impending Winter ML assessment.  I think Phil has just taken these over this year form Tim Blakemore and hopefully he will run them again next year -I'd certainly recommend them for anyone working towards WML.  As an added bonus, these days all come with CPD (Continuing Professional Development) points so that's me sorted for a while :-)

IML Winter Training Report

It's been a while since my last blog. After a Christmas lull, I've been busy in Scotland and struggled to find time to record all the excitement !

However, I've just returned from my International Mountain Leader winter training course in the French Alps, so here are the highlights.

The course was based closed to Grand Bornand in the Aravis region of the Alps about 1.25 hrs from Geneva airport at a location called ' Auberge Nordique' - clue in the name there.

I arrived at Geneva airport to a surprise greeting from two of the my summer comrades and we all made our way to Grand Bornand courtesy of a lift from my summer roomy Giles who was already in France, to find a total of 7 people from my summer training out of a group of 12, so it was a bit of a summer reunion.

The  accommodation was comfortable - if a little like a French holiday camp and the food serviceable rather than quality,though it certainly improved from the Sunday evening when we had endive (similar to a leek) wrapped in ham for main course - yuk !

The focus of the week is very much on snowshoeing and 'rolling nordic terrain' with a lot of avalanche awareness and environmental knowledge thrown in.

Our first day was based in the valley around the centre learning basic snowshoe technique (it's not hard !) assessing conditions and looking at suitability of the terrain. We were also introduced to avalanche transceivers with a basic overview.

Days 2-4 involved trips to various places, learning more about the whole snowshoe thing combining on-piste and off-piste sections, assessing what would be suitable terrain for clients and all the time looking at conditions, assessing snow pack and avalanche conditions.  Due to the warming weather, we were fortunate (?) to observe quite a bit of evidence of avalanche activity including some full depth slides.

Quick 'on the hoof' avalanche tests were combined with pit analysis, ruschblock and shear tests and best of all, I got to use my new snow analysis kit and snow saw :-)  We also saw a neat trick to highlight snow layers including the use of Ribena or hot chocolate !

Tuesday saw us learning more about avalanche transceivers and the techniques involved in finding single burials - the young dudes in the group seemingly indulging in contests as to how deep and small they could bury the transceivers.

On Wednesday we used a narrow ridge line to practice some emergency rope skills including bucket seat belay, for which I was the guinea pig lowered down a 50 degree slope.  We also set up buried axe and ski-pole belays to back up a bucket seat, plus a buried rucksack which the whole group of 6 tried and failed to test to destruction.

Thursday carried on the themes of the previous days with a very pleasant walk through the forest which allowed us to see more animal signs.  We also covered multiple avalanche burials and the techniques required along with probe and shovel techniques.

Throughout the week knowledge of the environment was a constant theme - primarily identification of trees and their uses, at which some of my fellow aspirants were very good and made me realise that my own is fairly weak.  Animal tracks and signs were another strand, and though not as common we did find signs of fox, rabbit.  We were also fortunate to spot a few birds including crested tit, nuthatch and treecreeper.

The final day was a bit of a wash up of outstanding items at the base, and included building of emergency shelters - digging into a bank and a shovel-up - and a simulated  multiple avalanche search and rescue which led to the funniest incident of the week when one of the instructors buried his sac in the snow and asked us to find it using a probe line ... 2 hours later it still hadn't been found and the instructor was now getting a bit desperate because his passport was inside it and he had an evening flight to catch !  We probed (and dug) the same area again and again because he was sure of the line he had placed it.  Finally, after a break for lunch, we finally widened the search and found it within about 15 mins just outside the area originally defined, much to his relief :-)

The week completed with a classroom chat about summer and winter assessment and an individual de-brief, which, thankfully, was a pretty positive one for me.

All in all a very pleasant week if not quite what I expected - Winter IML is definitely more mellow than UK Winter ML ! Being re-united with a very sociable group from the summer, as well as some sound new guys certainly helped, as did amenable weather and civilised day lengths.

As for the rucksack incident ? I'm naming no names .... unless of course I don't pass my IML assessment :-)

Paramo Repairs - top marks (almost)

Paramo clothing is one of those subjects that seems to split the (UK only ?) outdoor scene and I'll happily own up to be being on the positive side - at least for UK Winter use.  I have a Paramo Aspira smock which I think is the best thing ever for being out in the UK mountains in Winter ...but this is not a review of the Aspira or Paramo clothing in general (maybe a later blog) but of their repair service.

One of the things often quoted by hopeful salesmen is that garments damaged in the field can be sent back to Paramo who will repair at a reasonable cost.  After 3 years of winter use my Aspira, whilst still functioning well, was beginning to show signs of the abuse I give it, with small rips on the shoulders (from shouldering skis), the back and the pocket, which had been repaired with a combination of gaffer tape and gore-tex patches.  So, I decided to give it a treat and try out the service in advance of this winter.

I went onto the Paramo website and found the instructions, printed off and completed a form to describe the damage and sent it off as instructed.  I also added a note asking if they could put reinforcing on the shoulders to protect them from the skis.  Whilst guideline prices are quoted on the website, the first thing Paramo do is send back a formal quote which has to be accepted by phone before they proceeed.  With my quite came a little note saying they could do reinforced shoulders and even provided a material sample for me to check.

Once the quote was confirmed came the least satisfactory part of a somewhat clunky process - the wait.  I was quoted over 2 weeks which was ok, but it took over 4 weeks in the end.  I did receive a phone call just after the due date, apologising and saying the smock would be back within a week, but it was a further 2 weeks before it finally landed back on my doorstep.

However, once I opened the package and checked it out,any feelings of dissatisfaction evaporated as a I surveyed my repaired Aspira:

• The rips are repaired by replacing the whole panel, so in my case I have a new back panel, two new shoulder panels and a new pocket. 
• Best of all, the shoulder panels are in the reinforced (black) material which is tougher than cordura and give my garment a customised look:-)  
• The garment had also been properly washed and re-proofed.
• Apart from a few general wear marks and the slightly brighter new material panels, it could almost have been a new garment !

So how much did this cost I hear you ask, surely not cheap ? Well, it cost £60 all in from Paramo (inc return postage) plus about £5 for me to send it to them which I think is a bargain for the quality of work and the new lease of life it has given my Aspira.  I now also have confidence that as I keep abusing it, I can get quality repairs at a great price and it will last for years.

So in summary: 

Pros:

• My Aspira feels almost like a new garment, due to the quality of the repairs.
• Customisation is possible.
• Great price.
• Adds value to the whole Paramo concept.

Cons: 

• The process of printing off and snail mailing things back and forth is a bit clunky in this day and age, and the time-frame of over 6 weeks feels a long time, so make sure you aren't going to need your garment for quite a while when you send it off.

The pros far outweigh the cons in my opinion and I wholeheartedly recommend the service, but if they could tighten up the process and timing it would be perfect !

Gear Review: Low Alpine Alpine Attack 35/45

I am aiming to publish some occasional reviews of some of my favourite items of kit, hopefully around one per month depending on commitments.  By their very nature they will probably be positive (clue in the word ‘favourite’) although I may also comment on items that I bought that just haven’t worked out as they should.   

All reviews are personal opinions and don’t mean that other items out there don’t work just as well.  I am not paid to endorse anything and don’t get any equipment provided to review, so I don’t have the luxury of trying lots of different options.  However, what you do get is personal experience, built up over time, of a particular item so you can use it or not, as you wish J

I have already done an initial review of the Garmin fenix GPS watch and am building up my experiences of it and a ‘snagging list’ which I will use to provide an update in the near future.

Next in the series is my trusty sack, a Lowe Alpine ‘Alpine Attack 35:45’.

Note, mine is the 2010 version, I believe the 212 is basically the same.

I can sum up this pack and why I like it in a few short sentences:

It a great size – I can make this work as daypack for a walk in the hills, a full winter day of technical climbing or an overnight mountaineering expedition. 

It just feels right on my back.  It is very comfortable even when heavily packed and its own weight at around 1KG is not onerous.

It seems to take whatever I throw at it without complaining and without , as yet, failing in any way.

I have other packs, but this is my ‘go to’ pack even when it is probably a bit overkill. The only time that I don’t use it is when I need to carry more than its literage can cope with, which is generally only on multi-day self sufficient expeditions - in which case, I use my other trusted friend, a BOD Thin Ice.

The next paragraphs are a slightly more in-depth look at the pack and its features:

• Great size:  The 35/45 combo just seems to work really well.  I know this is not a feature unique to this pack but to does seem to be generous on size compared to other packs of the same nominal literage.
• Decent balance between lightweight and robust: just over 1KG standard, can come in at around 850g with bits removed -  but is very robust thanks to the use of dyneema ripstop and a reinforced base and pockets.  Mine is still going strong with only a minor stitching issue on the upper draw-cord in 2 years of very regular use.

• Good shape: nice and neat on my back without restricting arm movement and not to high over my head.  
• Compression straps are well placed and work well for both stabilising the sack and holding items such as poles, axes and skis in place.
• Two outer pockets are made of particularly rugged material so hold my axes or poles without ripping or puncturing and can be used for sliding the lapstrap into and out of the way when climbing, a feature I use regularly.
• The lid straps and shape mean its works well in a variety of ways – its extends well when the rucksack is stuffed full and will accommodate my rope sitting on top of a very full pack but it will also fold into my sack and be held properly by the drawcord when the pack is half full (e.g. when climbing) to reduce profile. It can also be removed completely quite easily though I almost never bother because of the previous mentioned capability and because I like to use the lid pockets which are also a decent size and incorporate a clip within the outer pocket.
• The strap on the top of the pack (under the lid) works well for keeping my rope or crampons safe on the top whilst letting me get into the pack without loosening it.
• The single lid closure buckle and the mechanism are great for speed and efficiency with gloves on.
• The lapstrap seems a good balance between comfort and weight and the clips are still doing fine which has not been the case with my two previous packs at this stage of their life.
• The back is lightly padded and vented and I tend to use it with the light stiffening frame and sheet/bivi mat left in place, though it can be removed to save weight.  Both ways seem pretty comfortable but the extra stiffness just makes it easier to pack, unpack and generally grovel around within it.  However, without it, as well as being lighter, the pack will roll up and stuff inside someone else’s if you plan on climbing with only one sack.  One minor point, I think the term bivi mat is a bit of joke here for a bit of 5mm foam measuring 52 x 22 cm, but maybe I’m not hard enough ?  It is also not that easy to get at or replace once out on the hill so I could never imagine using it as a ‘bivi mat’.
• The slightly funky axe retention system seems to be a bit of a marmite thing – like it or hate it.  I actually really like it within certain parameters:

it’s great for a long walk in when you know you won’t need your axes for quite a long time.  It holds the axes firmly, snugly and safely against the pack and is IMO much better than the traditional loops.

It works well with my BD viper axes , which is what the system is advertised with, but not so well on older / more traditional shaped axes.

You can store skis very securely as sell using the webbing system.  I’ve only done a bit of ski touring with it so far but what I did was fine and much better than the standard compression strap option of my old sack.

It takes a bit of getting used to when you are opening and closing your pack as the tensioning system is part of the pack closure strap – open the pack and the axes go floppy on the pack.  In reality I didn’t find this an issue once I was aware of it.

‘You Tube’ clip of the system in operation, including skis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4zoaJDrI-I

That said, I would always chose to stow my axes with the compression straps and/or behind my shoulder once onto ground where I might want to use them, so this system is not a clincher for me either way.

There are a number of more professional reviews of this sack, and informal forum chat, some of which you can find below:

• Big brother, The 45:55 version on UKC: http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/review.php?id=4211
• Outdoors Magic (2012 version) http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/gear-news/just-in---lowe-alpine-alpine-attack-3445/9616.html
• http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=457195

(My) Winter has started ...

And what a great way to start !  On Monday evening one of my partners in crime, Ian got in touch to say he could take a couple of days off to take advantage of the cold spell and likely weather window in Scotland we have both been watching, so there and then we made a plan to go up on Tuesday night, do the Aonach Eagach ridge on Wednesday and then decide on where to go Wednesday after that, with the am of trying to get on skis for a day.

So after the usual faffing by me and baby sitting duties by Ian we eventually set off at about 8.30pm Tuesday night and drove straight up to Glencoe, getting there a little after 2 am and kipping down in the camper van for a few hours before getting up at 7.30am and setting off up Am Bodach at about 8.30 am - phew !

Day 1:

Despite the lack of sleep it was impossible to feel tired on a beautiful crisp, but sunny morning and what looked like a a good covering of snow higher up.  We set off in the morning shadow but hit the sun just as we hot the snowline at about 600 m. The ascent is a fairly steep haul of around 800M, which we achieved quite quickly, catching a couple of pairs ahead of us just at the summit, one pair being an instructor/client combo. Apart from a lone walker at the far end, these were the only people we saw all day !

At this point we geared up with an acceptable amount of faff given it was the first outing of the season, I realised that I had forgotten to put a charged battery in my camera (hence no pics !) and the fun began immediately with the tricky descent of the chancellor. The weather conditions were superb, blue sky, sunshine and great air clarity, though a light northerly wind quickly drained warmth when stationary.
  
The conditions underfoot however, were quite tricky - a good covering of unconsolidated snow to hide holds, placements and protection options, any turf was semi frozen so unreliable.  All in all, this made the route quite tricky and delicate without ever being very technical.  After managing to overtake the instructor (who kindly let us though) we made good progress to Meall Dearg and on to the Pinnacles. This is definitely the trickiest part of the traverse, quite exposed and delicate in the conditions and our progress slowed, though we kept moving together for all put a couple of short sections - in fact we never placed any gear apart from slings on the whole route.  After what seemed like an age with one tricky down-climb after another, we cleared them and headed onto Stob Coire Leith. It was now past lunchtime and we were both starving, but we decided to get to Sgorr nam Fiannaidh before eating.  

On reaching the summit we found some shelter just below on the south side from the now fresher north wind and tucked into a well earned lunch at around 2.15 PM, relaxed now the main event was finished and pretty satisfied with our progress.  We chose the long descent via the col with the Pap of Glencoe and into Glencoe so that we could ensure we got a taxi back to the waiting van - this proved to be a bit tedious in the fading light and bracken particularly as we succumbed to our usual trick of trying to avoid using headtorches, before bowing to the inevitable in the end.  However, we made it down in one piece tired, but well pleased with the day. 

The taxi duly arrived and after being dropped back at the van, we retreated to the Clachaig for dinner with celebratory drinks and tried to stay awake until a respectable time to go to sleep !
Day 2:
During the previous evening we had managed to say awake long enough to determine our objective for the following day - a trip up Ben Lawers. Neither of us had been up it at all and were (rather hopefully) taking skis in the expectation of enough snow to practice some skinning and a bit of downhill action.  The day was again superb and this underestimated group of hills looked majestic with a good snow covering.  The car park at around 500m gave some relief from the uphill metres and in fact the ascent was quite gentle to the point where we could gear up with skis & skin up to the col at the head of coire Odhar.

We then undertake quite a tricky traverse round the north slopes of Beinn Ghlas, with quite a lot of unconsolidated windslab breaking off at points (evidence of the previous south westerly winds) to the col below Ben Lawers where I ditched my skis for the shortish but steep haul to the summit. Ian carried his skis to the summit hoping for a ski down at least part of it, which he got though it didn't look that great ( I was able to run/glissade down faster) and was clearly above my ability.  

We then had a really good, rapid skin up to the summit of Beinn Ghlas followed by some limited and sketchy skiing before I gave up and walked.  Ian being a superb off piste skier had quite a bit more success but is was never smooth or flowing for any length of time.  we complete the day with the remaining walk out, getting back to the van and a brew just after sunset. Despite the lack of real skiing on my part still a great day out and lots of skinning practice :-)  All that remained was the 6 hour drive home,trying not to get depressed that we weren't staying longer, but Ian had to be in work on Friday and I had a house to empty by the end of the week-end !