The second of the two Mountain Equipment winter skills courses for Cotswold retail staff ran over the latter half of last week.
After a particularly rainy Monday on which I and my colleague Richard Bailey walked up to the CIC hut on Ben Nevis in the rain and warm temperatures just to turn round again, so much for going winter climbing. Once the Cotswold staff arrived they were armed with a large pile of new Mountain Equipment kit then off to bed ready for a big day in the mountains.
In the morning all the groups headed up to Buchallie Etive Beag to practice or learn skills with ice axes and crampons. Then it was straight back to base for product training sessions and after dinner an excellent lecture from Heather Morning from the MCofS on mountain safety. She also brought along a special guest Millie, who is a mountain rescue dog!
On day 2 the hill walking groups went up on to a very windy Anoch Mor, while I tagged along with the Mountaineers who were ascending the ridge and peak of Stob Corrie an Lochain. A few skills like front pointing and snow anchors were learnt along the way. With everyone back at camp we got some product workshops underway covering our softshell and insulation ranges. this was followed by a very informative lecture on avalanches from Mark Diggins from the SAIS.
Day 3. Looking out of the window at the dark sky before breakfast I could see it was perfectly cloud free. The weather held all day with blue Skys and perfect views. The mountaineers went to Ben Nevis with Dave McLeod, gaining the plateau with an accent of Number 4 gully and the hill walkers going to the grey corries. The course was rounded off with a lecture from our pro partner Dave McLeod.
