Beth, Jo, Cheryl and I had a fantastic day out on Helvellyn yesterday. Following on from their first day out with Dave looking at winter skills on Raise we headed up through the mist to Red Tarn. An enthusiastic session practicing self arrest was unfortunately interrupted while I went and assisted a guy who had fallen off Striding Edge..... once he was safe and the rescue team had arrived we carried on our way. Swirral Edge had an alpine feel to it with all the snow and after a few final metres of frontpointing we all arrived on the plateau where some careful navigation was required, confidently done by Beth. The clouds cleared as we walked down giving fantastic views and a fitting end to an eventful day. Best wishes to Dave if he reads this, I hope you enjoyed the helicopter ride!

Cheryl writes: Hi John,
Just a quick note to let you know what a fantastic time I had on the Winter Skills course in the Lakes this weekend. Dave and Richard were both fantastic, I feel I learnt a lot from both and while always knowledgeable and professional they were also both great fun and made it a really memorable couple of days! Please pass on thanks to them - I shall definitely recommend this course to my friends!

and from Jo,
Hi John,

I wanted to drop you a line just to say what a fantastic weekend we all had
this weekend. I know I speak for Beth and Cheryl too in saying that the
course exceeded our expectations. I would never have thought I'd be making
my way up swirral edge with axe in crampons within 2 days!!! Amazing. Both
of the instructors were professional, friendly and encouraging with just the
right balance of teaching, sharing their stories and having fun. I think the
image of Dave flushing porridge out of his kit will stay with us all :).
Despite the terrible weather, hard work and patience required on the way up
Helvellyn we were duly rewarded with glorious views on the way down.