Category: Winter Walking

Mountain navigation course in Snowdonia.

Tej and I drove Jodie and Veronika to North Wales for a 2-day navigation course in the mountains. The weather gave us a mixture of snow, rain, sunshine and cloud – a good balance for learning to navigate in poor visibility whilst enjoying the beautiful mountain scenery. It was a great weekend! Here’s what Jodie had to say afterwards:

“We really can’t thank you enough for the whole experience – both Veronika and I learned so much, it was exactly what we were looking for and more. It was pretty special wasn’t it! A massive thanks to both you and Tej. I
can’t wait to get back out there and practice everything I’ve learnt now.”

Ffynnon Lloer - our home for a night and a day.
Ffynnon Lloer - our home for a night and a day.
Jodie and Tej walking out of Cwm Lloer on the way to Carnedd Dafydd.
Jodie and Tej walking out of Cwm Lloer on the way to Carnedd Dafydd.
Tej, Paul, Jodie and Veronika on the summit of Carnedd Dafydd.
Tej, Paul, Veronika and Jodie on the summit of Carnedd Dafydd.

It was soon after this point that the cloud came in, more snow began to fall and we found ourselves in the perfect conditions for practicing navigation using a compass and pacing…

Winter walking in Glen Coe.

A glimpse of one of Joby's great 3D panoramas.
A glimpse of one of Joby's great 3D panoramas.

Craig, Joby, Matt, John and I spent a wonderful weekend in the most amazing weather and snow conditions I have encountered in Scotland. The snow covering was topped with a deep dusting of fluffy crystals that made it look as though the whole place had been sprinkled with diamonds that glittered in the sunlight. At the end of the day, the angle of the light was just right to bring out the whole light spectrum through the snow crystals as they reflected red, pink, orange, yellow, green and blue. Beautiful!

Here are some links to Joby’s blog. Take a look at his incredible 3D panoramic shots…

http://blog.anti-limited.com/?p=1700

http://blog.anti-limited.com/?p=1717

http://blog.anti-limited.com/?p=1743

A night-time blizzard on Helvellyn.

Robin and I went on a night-time winter walk over Striding Edge, Helvellyn and Swirral Edge. A good deal of fresh snow had fallen in the Lakes which made it hard going on the way up to the long and narrow ridge of Striding Edge. The ridge itself was quite straightforward and the adventure really began once we were in the full force of the wind near Helvellyn’s summit. The visibility was very low, around five metres, and the blizzard was blowing snow everywhere. We found the summit shelter after a little searching and crouched below its wall to gain a brief rest from the cold wind and eat some food.

Some compass work and pacing brought us to the start of Swirral Edge. It is important to get this right in such poor visibility when the eastern edge of the mountain is covered in snow and bordered by a cornice. The initial descent to Swirral Edge drops off quite steeply and we didn’t want to drop into one of the steep corries either side of the ridge. Once on the ridge the navigation eased and a straightforward bearing from the col below Catstye Cam brought us to Red Tarn and lots of thigh-deep snow on the way back to Glenridding and the Traveller’s Rest.

It was a great opportunity to practice our navigation in difficult conditions before getting up to Scotland this winter…

Robin through the snow by Red Tarn.
Robin through the snow by Red Tarn.