Wind, Spindrift and Snow Holeing.

Had a great three days and two nights out last week in the Cairngorms with Andrew. He has plans of adventure racing in cold and windy places, so the Cairngorms was the perfect training ground! We were kept cool by 70 mph gusts throughout our three days, making the bivvy experience all the more entertaining and valuable as a learning experience for Andrew. The photos show Andrew as we were making our way up to Corie Cas from the closed snow gates. The scene is that there is no evidence of the road at this point as it was snowed out, we stumble over a drift and find a car, not expected. A great three days out in Scotland with brilliant winter scenery and conditions. Skis or snow shoes may be a good idea if anyone is heading into the Northern Corries.

Winter Skills Course, Great Conditions!

We just had a great winter skills weekend out on Raise and Helvellyn. Conditions were perfect for this sort of course with hard neve snow and a good covering. Some folks out on skis still on Raise though is getting patchy and fairly icy. Perfect climbing conditions in most high snow gullies, good ice in reliable spots also. Due to a dusting of snow on Saturday night and wind + freeze, the easy angled mixed routes were also looking good ie. Viking Buttress. All high winter crags should have something to offer currently, perhaps not steep mixed routes though. A temporary thaw is due tomorrow, followed by another freeze, so snow and ice should only get better. Photos taken by John Ealing show us out on the Sunday looking at some rope work on Striding Edge and enjoying the last light of the day before heading for Glenridding.

SNOW FOR MANX VISITORS!!

Isle of Man visitors Jane, Kirsty and Katie had led a snow-starved existence on the beautiful Isle of Man, so this visit to the Lake District offed a chance to make up for lost time. Severe gales and generally harsh conditions meant that Loughrigg was the best option, but this lowly fell still provided some severe winter conditions, lots of snow and a windswept and icy summit where we all had to hang on to the cairn to stay upright. A lot of fun, and we saw some beautiful ice formations on Grasmere too.

LANGDALE NEW YEARS DAY DAY WALK

A group from the Langdale Hotel enjoyed a fantastic New Year's Day walk with Highpoint guide John White, taking an 'off piste' route up to Copt Howe, then to Silver Howe and all points to High Close. Early sunshine gave some brilliant views, and snowfall towards the end of the walk added a truly wintry touch if one was ever needed! Snow conditions varied from icy crust to windslab, but walking was generally easy given the conditions.