Aonach An Nid, Skills

Ian waist belaying in a bucket seat - who knows what'll happen next...

Watch out Ian, he's fallen

Picking up Speed

A happy ending. Ian stopped him.

Everybody is proud of their Igloo - good effort

Working with Zac and Chris on day 3 of the mountaineering course. We woke up to thick and heavy snow on a light wind in Fort William. There was about 10cm of fresh snow on the car in the morning, all the roads were white and the snow flakes were as big as tea bags (round tetley ones !). Unbelievable - although maybe it is given the winter we've had so far. We had to think of somewhere to go, that would be possible to drive to, safe - considering the high avalanche hazard, and a venue where we can cover the new mountaineering hard skills. We made our way to Aonach Mor.

We found at least 1ft of fresh snow at 650m.

We covered bucket seats, waist belaying, buried axes, snow bollards, abseiling, snow holes, shovel ups and igloo construction. We made the best igloo I've seen all season.

Tomorrow we'll find a safe venue for a simple climb..

My camera broke yeaterday, so yesterday's and today's photos have been on my emergency camera - my phone.. Got to get camera fixed. Got to use my new shovel today. My last one is stuck as a belay at the top of White Shark - Will I ever get it back? lol