Walking like Gimli. A day of reflection and taking a step back to move forward in my short roping.

After a great festive family holiday and far to much port and stilton it was back to hill today. I was booked onto a CPD day with British Mountain Guide, Chris Ensol . The days subject was short roping. Some [ myself included I guess ] have questioned CPD and it's relevance to us as instructors but days such as today highlight the importance of CPD. I was intrigued about today as I had heard that some of the techniques taught by Chris are perhaps a little radical. But there is nothing more positive than allowing students to think freely and question what we do on a daily basis. After nearly 30 years of short roping I now have some new techniques and concepts to employ [ when the situation is correct for me.] Being able to adapt through having a variety of new methods of using the rope in the challenging mountaineering ground we work in, is I think very positive. It was marvellous to be observed and coached to improve my technique and ultimately to be safer whilst guiding and instructing. Chris individualised his feedback. His observation skills were never assumed. I say this as a Level 5 Coach, and it was fantastic to hear so much transfer of knwolegde of body position and core use coming into mountaineering. The only differenc in this context, was the three B's according to Chris are Body, Body, Body! Discussion and coaching was given on how to walk, yes how to walk. How basic is that, well very complicated actually. And posture [ using the core ]. I always thought I walked like Legolas but I walk like Gimli apparently! A completly new way of holding the rope was introduced to me and this challenged my habits, a wee step back before feeling comfortable was required. I can now employ this and my stance is so much better. Got to keep my bum in! Another potentially contentious concept was that of not having your ice axe in your hand all the time. In reality it made perfect sense, again it's knowing when to employ the technique and when it's right for you! And I had to consider the distance between myself and my clients, the concertina approach works well. Holding falls on steep ground was developed into some pretty realistic scenarios, we stopped when required! The final light bulb suggestion is that of not locking off the coils in the hand. Simple, but counter to what I have done for all these years. It just makes change overs and feeding rope out more flowing. Chris explained it alot better than I have written it here, but I do recommend if you are a MIC or Trainee to attend one of his training days. If nothing else thinking out of the box and challenging yourslf is essential. Mountaineering requires a huge range of ability to adpat to situations and as the greatest enduarnce animal on the planet we can go a little slower to, which made me pause for thought. Thanks Chris.

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Winter Courses 2015. How about a present for Christmas!

Happy Christmas and an adventurous New Year to you all.

Hebridean Pursuits wish you a happy Christmas and a fun New Year. We start our courses again on Jan 5th 2015. Regular reports of Scottish mountain conditions will be posted throughout the winter. These will primarily be for the Glencoe and Lochaber region. Take care and best wishes.

Day 3 Winter Walking Skills Course.

I thought I would require a wet suit today for working on the hill, but it remained dry until about 2.30 which was just brilliant! We headed up to the ski slopes in Glencoe to search out deep snow and we found it in bucket loads. Even after considerable thawing overnight the snow remains well established. With a freeze forecast it will be an excellent base. Not bad considering it has only been winter for two weeks! We covered some technical skills and theory which we hadn't covered over the first two days whilst out journeying in the hills. The digging of survival shelters, was, as always popular! Thanks to Jane, David, Chris and Paula for a great three days and we look forward to seeing you all again in the future. Happy Christmas.

Very fine conditions in Glencoe today.

Today was settled, cold and dry in Glencoe. Conditions under foot were much better than yesterday with the ground being colder and the snow pack where wind exposed was frozen and perfect for cramponing on. The turf at 900m was starting to freeze well and the rime ice on the summit rocks and buttresses was growing rapidly. Unfortunately as we returned to the car the weather had already broken and the southerly as forecast was dominating. We were instructing on day 2 of a winter walking skills course and ascended Stob Coire nan Lochan's fine NE ridge in near Alpine like conditions. A team were out on the Scabbard Chimney area and a couple of very late parties on Dorsal Arete will have had a damp head torch descent. We are instructing again tomorrow. It is looking a little damp, but sup

prises happen!

Fine conditions in Glencoe today. Day one of Winter Walking Skills Course.

A much better day than forecast in Glencoe. We headed up Buachaille Etive Beag to instruct a variety of walking skills such as essential foot work and using an ice axe. Conditions under foot were varied from deep soft wind slabbed snow in ne facing bowls to hard packed wind blown neve at around 850m. No turf that I saw that was exposed at 900m was frozen and the temperature was rising as we descended. However a cold night is expected and this will consolidate the snow pack well.

Roses Project Outdoor Learning Academy.

Hebridean Pursuits launched the Outdoor Learning Academy. Eleven keen young people met up in Strathyre to start their mountain training module. They have 10 days of hill walking, scrambling, navigation, intro rock climbing skills training coming up between now and May. The weather has been wild up in Scotland but we still managed to get out in the hills both days to put the theory into practice. Tuesday in the morning was class room based concentrating on equipment choice, packing and carrying, navigation skills such as setting the compass, taking bearings and planning routes. We also discussed risk assessment and managing risks. Today, we headed out onto the hillside, although the winds were gusting 80mph we found some shelter in the east facing glens. Here they used ground to map and map to ground features, also they used timing to judge position and started to consider pacing to establish position on the ground

. During the day we set up a variety of scenarios for the students to consider how and what they would do in a given situation, such as a member of the group with a broken ankle. A challenging two days with the conditions but lots of outdoor learning established. We look forward to four days on Mull at Tavool House in February where we will look at more mountain skills.