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Scotland Winter Trek (December 2011)

Introduction

The Scottish winter walking and climbing exercise has become a longstanding tradition in Welbeck. This five day exercise which takes place at the end of the Autumn Term has been running for about 20 years, and Mr Dufton has been the instigator and organiser of every single one of them. The extent to which the twelve students who are lucky enough take part are subjected to full-on winter conditions is always a little uncertain at the time they are selected, but this year they were not to be disappointed as winter arrived in Scotland three weeks before our departure.

The trip usually involves a day of travel each way and three days of instruction in winter mountaineering skills, beginning with navigation, avalanche assessment, safe movement using ice axes and crampons and then progressing to movement on steeper ground using ropes and simple belay methods. Local guides and instructors are employed to provide the students with the best tuition available. We based ourselves in Pine Cottages in Newtonmore which is fifteen miles south of Aviemore, and well placed to make good use of the Cairngorms and the Nevis Range.

Travel Day - Friday 16th December – Welbeck to Newtonmore

We all woke up early on Friday morning at six o’clock, eager and excited, but feeling the effects of a lack of sleep compared to those who had gone home on the last day of term. We had a great breakfast with all the trimmings courtesy of the catering staff before we were loaded onto the minibus for the long journey that lay ahead.

Having left at 0700 hrs we had a nine hour journey ahead of us. We all had our own ways of passing the time, the most common being sleeping. We arrived at Pine Cottages in Newtonmore at 1600 hrs and having found our rooms we enjoyed an excellent curry dinner made by Mr Dufton and Mr Worrall, followed by Vienetta ice-cream.

All the girls; Lizzie, Beth and Rebecca were duty group for that night. The washing of the dishes did not take long as the boys’ appetites, and the excellent cuisine, had made sure that not a scrap of food remained. The task of the evening duty was also to organise the sandwiches for the following day.

Day 1 - Saturday 17th December – Cairngorms – Fiacaill a Choire an Sneachda

We commenced our first day with reveille at 0630 hrs and a hearty breakfast at 0700 hrs to prepare ourselves for the day to come. Our guides (Mike, Donald and Max from Abacus Mountaineering) came to meet us at the bunkhouse. They outlined the equipment we would need and the training that would follow throughout the day.

We piled onto the mini-bus for a short drive to our first location, arriving at Cairngorm Ski Area just after 0900 hrs. We were quick to zip-up and keep warm as we stood outside in the snow for a short brief and look at the weather forecast, with the 'considerable chance' of avalanches leaving us all slightly nervous.

The beginning was the hardest part of the day for many. The ascent from the car park to Choire an Sneachda was an hours trudge through deep snow. Once in the corrie, we put on some extra layers before learning to arrest a slide down the mountain side using our ice axes. This was a steep learning curve (downhill!) for us all which began with sliding on our backsides and progressing to sliding downhill head first which was a bit more nerve wracking. However, this is a vital skill required for trekking in the snow as you can slip at any time. Learning how to self arrest filled us all with a lot more confidence for the rest of the day.

After all our fun, we took on some food and fitted our crampons for the next part of the ascent. The three groups and their individual guides went at their own pace to ascend to the ridge called the Fiacaill a Choire an Sneachda. It was an exciting climb as we used our crampons for the first time and mastered the art of using the ice axe. Our celebration on the summit was short lived as we were forced off the plateau via the Goat Track back into the corrie by the fifty mile per hour winds. There was a lot of wind burnt cheeks when we eventually escaped.

On our descent, the guides found a perfect area to teach us how to negotiate icy ledges safely. So we put into practice our newly found crampon skills and took to the ice. There were a few tumbles as not everyone trusted putting their weight onto only four small spikes. However, some of the team did manage to climb a vertical ledge, although it was only a metre high at most.

After a long day we took our crampons off and retuned to the ski area car park. The 7 hour day was a shock to the calves for all and, as expected, the minibus was a sleeping nest on the way back to the bunkhouse. After a long awaited dinner with some very large portions of custard with delicious apple crumble (thanks to master chefs Dufton and Worrall), we all relaxed and watched a film together before an early night and much needed sleep.

Day 2 - Sunday 18th December – Beinn a Chorainn 1052m – East Ridge

After a goodnights sleep and a full breakfast we set out for another great day of Scottish winter climbing and trekking.

We parked near Loch Laggan and after a short briefing we set off on a long, arduous trudge through knee deep snow via forestry tracks which led to the real ascent. This long, testing trek challenged even the strongest of characters, but we were commended for our fitness by our guides. We were all pleasantly relieved when we emerged from the forest trail onto a track, but the going was still extremely tough with a snow depth of at least a couple feet. Fortunately the trail had been partially broken by climbers ahead of us. We continued to climb on to the face of Beinn a Chorainn with all three teams seeing the vertical challenge that was ahead of us.

After a small respite we started to ascend the slope which led to the rest point where we kitted up with crampons, harnesses and helmets. After a quick snack, we roped ourselves to the rest of our teams and began the climb up the east ridge of Beinn a Chorainn to the 1052m summit. The climb was steady but the views back down to Loch Laggan were spectacular when not obscured by cloud and occasional snow flurries.

Once we had reached the summit the weather turned to almost total white-out conditions. At this point we began our descent, carefully navigating our way around the corries edges which were dangerously corniced. The descent was made difficult by the unpredictability of the snow hardness and depth – most of us took a tumble at some point on the way down! Once off the slopes we made our way back to the bus via an ‘interesting’ woodland route which involved lots of stumbling and dodging of fallen trees which had been flattened by some severe storms two weeks prior.

Once back at the bunkhouse we were treated once again to an excellent evening meal, and after which the duty team for the day set to work on the washing up and the sandwich making while the rest of us struggled to stay awake in front of the TV!

Day 3 – Monday 19th December - Aonach Mor – Snow craft

We set off at 0745 hrs for the hour long drive to Aonach Mor ski area where we met our instructors once again. Today the weather had turned as a warm front was encroaching from the west which was depositing fresh wet snow on east facing slopes to create a high avalanche risk. We took the Aonach Mor Gondola to 600m and then headed west to practice constructing emergency shelters in a wind scoop in deep snow. Our shelters demonstrated what a life saver they could be if one got caught in extreme weather or out over-night in the hills. Some of the shelters were big enough for two and they provided a great refuge for us to eat our sandwiches.

We then moved on to learn how to construct bucket seats in the snow which were reinforced with buried axe belays. This provided us with the skills to negotiate simple winter climbs in pairs with one person securing the other should they fall.

Unfortunately the weather continued to deteriorate and the increasing wind and snow was creating poor road conditions for our return journey to Newtonmore. We arrived back in Newtonmore with saturated kit which was soon draped all over the bunkhouse. The activities of the last three days had built up our appetites for a superb Christmas dinner which was prepared once again by Mr Dufton and Mr Worrall – we certainly did not go hungry on this trip!

Our final evening ended with a frantic clean up and reorganisation of the bunkhouse in preparation for our early start for our journey back to Welbeck the following day.

Travel Day - Tuesday 19th December – Newtonmore to Welbeck

Our final day began at 0600 hrs with a hasty breakfast and quick pack up of the minibus for our nine hour journey back to Welbeck. We were lucky not to encounter a single traffic jam on the way home – a rarity for British roads! Most slept their way through the journey, but we did make a couple of quick stops for lunch and a leg stretch.

Conclusion

Exercise Dragon Venturer Winter-Trek 2011 was an outstanding success. It has equipped eleven Welbexians with a range of winter mountaineering skills which we hope will be put to good use again sometime in the future, and it has left us with some fantastic memories and experiences of what a good Scottish winter really can throw at you! We would like to express our gratitude to 5 Div for sponsoring this AT Expedition.

Capt J P Crookes

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