Sunday 2 February 2014

Bolton Boys School Hit the East

I have been working with Bolton Boys School over in the Cairngorm this weekend, with challenging weather and a ski road that is closed.  Despite all this, we have nade the most of the time and managed to achieve a lot of what they wanted.  On Saturday we walked up Meall a Bhuachaille and managed to find some excellent snow to work on.  It was firm enough to kick steps, crampon and slide on.  This meant we could have a great session, then journey to the summit.  The wind was strong, but we where sheltered from the worst of it until walking to the top.  A breezy walk down to the bothy and then a leisurely walk out ended it good day.
Breezy to the summit

Today was meant to be a climbing day.  The weather and conditions on the hill made this a pretty impossible task.  Add in the fact they needed to be away at a sensible time to drive home, and we came up with a session at Newtyle Quarry.  Not quite winter climbing, but as close as we could get under the circumstances.  All the guys managed to climb the M4 and 5 and few did really well on the 5+.  It was a real education for them to see what axes and crampons could do, and discuss how this would transfer to on the hill.

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