Today Gwilym and I took the Plymouth College students up into Coire nan Lochan to continue teaching winter skills. The venue was chosen to try and escape the forecast high winds which didn't materialise to the extent of the forecast.
Once in the coire we had a look at avalanche test pits and got the students to dig their own and review their findings. After probing the slope we found some deep snow and gave the students the opportunity to dig a shallow snow hole which turned out to be a tunnel in the snow. It still gave them an understanding of the strength of snow and a perspective of how long it takes to dig. While the students were digging, Mark decided to challenge himself and dig an emergency shelter in under 30 minutes with just his ice axe.
To finish the skills session off I delivered an extension to the ice axe arrest work we covered on sunday, getting the students to arrest after sliding down the slope in different ways. Gwilym spent the last ten minutes making the students use all of the different arrest techniques in a more realistic situation. A brisk walk out in 1hr 45 mins finished off another productive day.
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