Think Winter

The current snowy conditions are a good reminder to Think Winter for activities on the hills.  Mountaineering Scotland, with its partners has started its campaign to get people to make sure they have the right equipment and skills to enjoy the hills safely in winter.

Their website gives really good advice and provides resources about planing your trip, clothing and equipment, weather and snow conditions, navigation, winter skills, avalanche and rescue.  It is all here

 https://www.mountaineering.scot/safety-and-skills/thinkwinter.

A good takeaway for me is that goggles are often forgotten essentials for winter - if the snow, hail and ice re blowing directly into your face you are going to wish you remembered them.

A short, straightforward day in summer conditions can turn out to be an energy sapping flog through knee deep snow with limited daylight hours left.  Then it is time to go to plan B, which may just be changing your route or even abandoning the trip.

A bee in my bonnet is that we all regularly carry our ice axes and crampons, but if they are strapped onto your rucksack or tucked away inside your rucksack when you need them, they won’t do you much good.  Once you are on snow, try to keep your axe accessible without having to take your rucksack off.   And try to anticipate when crampons will be needed rather than having to dig into your rucksack once you are teetering about on an icy slope.

All this is not meant to put you off winter.  It is really the best time to be on the hill but do make sure that you have the  skills and equipment to be able to enjoy winter on the hills. 

Arthur McCourt