Introduction to Winter Climbing in the Lakes

Keith, David, John and Simon came up to the Lakes for an introduction to winter climbing on Friday and Saturday and conditions couldn't have been better for it.  Ewen and I went to Helvellyn with them on Friday where we climbed Gully 1 with plenty of good ice on the main pitch and lots of opportunity to look at rope work and anchors on the way.  A short abseil down from the plateau gave Simon and John a chance to be impressed by the strength of snow bollards as well!  A careful descent of Swirral Edge provided a great end to the day.

On Saturday we wanted to avoid the crowds so went to Brown Cove crags where the team did a great job leading Central Gully, even getting some solid ice screws in at the bottom!  A steep descent was followed by a little bit of steep ice on the bulges at the base of the crag to finish the day.  All in all a great couple of days so lets hope the current thaw is short lived.