Ropework For Mountain Leaders

Cairngorm Mountain Ski Resort

Day 2 of the Summer Mountain Leader Training Course at Glenmore Lodge was the Ropework day. Again I was observing Bill, Sandy and Jon Jones from Glenmore Lodge and they chose the Chalamain Gap for the main venue.

Coire an t-Sneachda

All this week, the venues will have to be chosen carefully to keep away from the snow. It is still winter in the Northern Corries and on the plateau.

A little waist belaying

Practicing being a novice!

The groups looked at simple ML ropework on broken ground, waist belaying on ascent and descent, and then a couple of abseil techniques. We were pretty lucky with the weather, and I walked back to the van completely dry.

South African abseil

Classic abseil

Ropes course Staff training

Over the last week and the coming weeks I have and will have been involve with training the Transition Extreme climbing team on the safe use, inspection, maintenance and management of groups on the new ropes course.

Today was led by Steve Woods of Vertex training. Steve is the director of training for the European Ropes Course Association (ERCA).

Problem solving and Self Rescue in the rain

Last night I spent the evening with Dave, Dave, Debbie and William having a first look at problem solving and rescue skills for when they are out on the crag whether it a small sea cliff or mega multi pitch.

Debbie mid process.

We concentrated on the fundamental skills of tying off belay plates, using autoblocs and reaching a casualty on the crag to offer assistance.

Dave taking steps to free his belay plate from the system.

Perfect practice makes perfect action!

As an introductory session to the mass of information; everyone did very well, especially since the rain was making things somewhat less favourable.  Session 2 to follow soon with some more complicated problems!

Clashrodney

Ben was back for more action this week as we headed down to Clashrodney on the sea cliffs south of Aberdeen on Thursday. Having had a number of sessions at local crags over the last month or so Ben was working on his leading, placement and anchor setup.

The weather was fine until later in the afternoon when the wind picked up and it got quite chilly. The only rain we had to worry about was that of the waterfall further south being blown right over the cliffs onto us.

After a climbing Gorgon Ben led Stiletto very well and made use of the big ledge where most of the Pink Slab climbs finish unless you want to climb the upper headwall.

We then headed down past the waterfall to Cairnrobin Point further south. Johnny's dangler got the best of him today as it was very blustery by the time we got onto it and after numerous falls onto a fortunately well placed runner Ben led a VS just round the corner to finish the day.

Snow in Glencoe

As the weather was looking good for most of the weekend Sam and I headed to Glencoe for a couple days of whatever was looking best. Ideally we would have got some climbing done on the Buachaille or Etive Slabs and a walk along the Aonach Eagach ridge.

Unfortunately when we arrived on Saturday the weather was already beginning to change...

So after a short wander in the evening and a brilliant meal at the Clachaig we camped in one of the local sites. Monday was looking a lot worse weather wise so we decided to walk the ridge on the Sunday and forget about getting some climbing in.

Amidst the passing snow showers and cloudy patches there were some fantastic views looking over to snow capped mountains. The Anoach Dubh spent most of the day in the clouds as we seemed to miss the worst of the showers and cloud.

We took our time along the steeper sections as some snow was lying and other areas were wet. Having left the car at one of the car parks on the main road we descended down the scree slopes to the road and after 6 hours got back to our starting point.

It was Sam's first ridge walk as well as her second and third munros. All in all a good day when the weather cleared. I'd recommend the walk to anyone keen enough to get some exposure on the tops as it is quite pleasant yet challenging whether you're a pure hillwalker or you dabble in some climbing.

Ben

Ben Nevis on Tuesday 7th May 2013

Lots of groups are preparing to walk up the Mountain Track on Ben Nevis over the next few days and weeks - so here is a photo of the conditions on Ben Nevis at the moment. The is a great deal less snow than even a week ago, but still a lot on the plateau.

You can see some of the zig zags on the upper half of the Mountain (Tourist) track

Summer Mountain Leader Training Course

Navigating away from the snow in the Cairngorms

This week I've put my bike away and I'm in the East observing a Summer Mountain Leader Training Course at Glenmore Lodge, being run by Bill Strachan and Sandy Paterson. It is a summer course, but I've brought all my winter clothing because it's still winter high in the hills in the Cairngorms. Over the weekend people have been downhill skiing and ski touring, and developing their tans in the sun! So the challenge this week is to avoid the snow, compared to some of the winter courses this year when people were searching for the snow.

 There's a great deal of snow on the hills. Skiing was a hit this weekend, in the sun, and you could spot who forgot their suncream over the weekend, by their glow! I should have had a camera when I met Freda and Matt!

In the morning the weather was good and visibility was reasonable - the northern corries were clear for a time, but then the weather turned just as I got my camera out! Finally the snow reached us, and I put on my winter jacket and gloves!

 Before the snow hit us

Teaching summer navigation, when it's snowing!

So it was a good first day of training with most types of weather, ranging from sun to rain and snow. The students started to learn about navigation, the environment, leading a group, with later workshops on ropework and mountain weather.

Butterwort