Beinn a Chaorainn

Difficult approach through the forest

Today I was working with Mike Pescod and Donald King again. Today we decided to take the college students on a ridge journey - the chosen venue was the East ridge of Beinn a Chaorainn. The days journey started with a route through the forest, and we immediately discovered all the damage form the storm last Thursday - trees everyehere! There was a LOT of snow on the ground which was deep, and difficult to walk through. We took turns to complete breaking the trail. Luckily the students are all very fit. The walk in was definitely my cross training gym session for today.

The surface was firmer after the forest

The sun was out, and I wondered if it was a mistake leaving my sun glasses at home. The fun started as we left the forest behind and we moved toward the ridge - which was looking splendid in it's winter outfit

Still sunny on the ridge

As always the ridge was awesome. The sun was soon hidden by the snow flurries which moved in. We climbed up into the descending cloud base.

The snow had closed in

Very poor visibility navigation

At the top we discussed navigation strategies to move to the southern top. The cornices on the eastern coire rim were massive, as seen from earlier in the day.

Looks like a compass - what's this photo for?!

A happy team

A very happy team on the way down

On the way down we managed to find some snow that we could have some fun in - it's always good to be 5 years old in the snow. Another successful day of winter in Scotland.