The course: Scottish Winter Mountaineering (SWM) is run for five days and is based in Glencoe in Scotland, at the HF Holiday Hotel "Altshellach".

Try it at Plas Y Brenin

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Plas y Brenin
National Mountain Centre
Capel Curig, Gwynedd
LL24 0ET, Wales, UK

Tel: 01690 720 214
Fax: 01690 720 394
Web: www.pyb.co.uk
email: info@pyb.co.uk

<< First Day - Arrived at Aonoch Mor to use the Skiiing Gondolas to take us up to the snow line. This maximises the time available to practice basic snowcraft such as walking about (footwork), ice axe braking and snowpack analysis.
Here - we have dug into the >>> snowpack to find out how the snow layers are holding together. Weak bonded layers adjacent to hard strong layers provide shear planes that are the main causes of avalanches

So - overall verdict

It is really hard to find anything wrong with Plas y Brenin courses so far. This was the second one and they are incredible value for money. The tuition is excellent; the instructors are professional and very knowledgeable - without being patronising or uninterested.

The content of the Scottish Winter Mountaineering (SWM) course is designed to take experienced summer walkers into the harder winter conditions experienced on the hills. Although the pre-requisites are for fitness and summer experience, the course members ranged from a guy who hadn't done any real summer walking to experienced summer Mountain Leaders. Age ranges on our course were from 19 to 55 years old.

It is carrried out in Scotland because you can just about guarantee winter conditions there. On our drive up to Glencoe there was little snow to be seen - and we were worried that we would be learning winter skills in the rain. However, we experienced some very harsh winter conditions with high winds, deep snow and low visibility. The higher peaks were heavily corniced and prone to avalanche - having had several days when the avalanche risk was 4 - on a one to five scale.

We stayed at "Alltshellach" - a HF holidays hotel in Glencoe that Plas y Brenin take over for the duration of their winter courses. Food and accomodation were very good. Beers limited, but plenty of different malt whiskey choices :) Evenings are filled with either a talk or slide show until dinner - then to the bar (or bed!)

Overall, nothing to gripe about at all. It really is an excellent week as long as you are really into getting out into the thick of the winter hills. It is really like being in the army though - in the sense that we were getting up at about 6:45am - getting our kit ready, then breakfast ready for the minibus at 8.15am- out all day - back in time for tea and medals at about 5.00pm - then a talk, then dinner - finishing about 8.00pm - so they are long days. This is largely due to the short daylight hours, and the need to pack in a lot of tuition whilst ascending some of the best mountains in the area.

Tips: Make sure you have some good kit. Although you can borrow key winter gear from PYB, we bought good salopettes and you benefit from comfortable (if that's possible) 4 season plastic or leather mountaineering boots. Popular boots are Koflack Plastics, La Sportiva Nepal Extreme's or Scarpa Vega's even. Make sure you have PLENTY of gloves and several hats at least! Ice Axe and Crampons become second nature. Goggles are vital for wind driven snow and a Silva type 4 compass with map case (ie Ortlieb). A 55 litre rucksack with liner, survival bag, 1:50000 and 1:25000 map of the area. Flask, spare coat, fleese, lots of socks etc and a helmet.

Book it - and enjoy a superb experience.

Totally Recommended!!

 

<< Helen Caudrey - one of the tutors chatting to Steve Marshall on the Second day. The dark ridge in the background is the Aonoch Eagach ridge - in winter it is a grade two scramble. We were heading up to our first munro - Stob Dubh - with much emphasis on skills as we ascend and descend.
(Right) Andy and Clare eating snap in the high winds and hard, almost horizontal snow before starting on some snowpack analysis and joining in the building of a "shovel up" shelter - a bit like a crap igloo.
<< Day Three - Mountain Day - ascent of Stob Coire Nan Lochan. The snowline was about 2000 feet so the walk in was warm and snowfree. A shot looking back down to the road with Carlo Forte - the course director in the foreground. The instructors and instruction really were second to none.
.. Further up - the summit of Stob Coire nan Lochan >> looms. The snowpack was lying deep in the gullies and we spent a lot of time everyday thinking about potential avalanche risk. We decided to ascend by the left hand ridge.
BELOW: The approach to the coire on Stob Coire nan Lochan. The weather was starting to close in by this time and the final summit push became windy with poor visibility.

Course Costs:

£450 (2002 prices) for 5 days including food, accomodation and first class instruction from the very qualified staff of PYB.

Previous Experience: summer hillwalking and good level of fitness.

Clare ensuring her pack >> was sealed against the spindrift, which tends to get in to every little gap.
(Below): Day four - Ben Nevis - approaching between the CMD arete and the north face of the mountain into Coire Leis. Here, the party moves up on the long walk in. The Weather was looking relatively good at this point.
...then later the weather closed in with very high winds and even higher gusts. The spindrift reduced visibility almost to zero at intervals, punctuated with lulls when we were able to move on... all in all and excellent mountain day. (Below)
<< 2 hours later - the weather changed again as we descended. Here, looking back into Coire Leis with the CMD arete on the left, and Ben Nevis on the right.
<< Final Day - Navigation on the hill and the summit of a minor peak. Rain, Mist and boggy ground made it a realistic exercise. Louise Thomas the instructor guides Andy and Mark.
(Below) The end of the day - wet and ready for tea.
Tim BELOW - with his plastic boot that "exploded" on day one - bound up with duct tape. Tim had a bad week with kit - to the point where we all thought he was simply jinxed :)
<< Nick and Jane waiting for the minibus on the fourth day

Mark having a sandwich on >> the final day - wet but happy (I think)

(Right): Ray was the only casualty of the course. After a horrendously good "mountain day" on Ben Nevis, he injured his ankle coming of the CMD arete. After a major scramble for those involved, he was stretchered off assisted by some marines who were on an exercise in the area. Since then I have learned that - contrary to the initial diagnosis of a bad sprain - he spent four weeks walking about on a broken ankle. This has unfortunately impacted on his planned trips this year. Get well soon Ray from all of us.