This time last year, Paul and I had undertaken a one week winter skills course with Rob Johnson of Expeditionguide.com. This year we intended to put those skills into practice in Glencoe. The Trusty Sherpa Mrs W was also going for a weekend winter skills course this year.The first week was all that you would expect from a Scottish winter, Rain, Snow and winds in excess of 100mph. The highest we got was the Pap of Glencoe at a tiny 752M. A few low level walks and a days ice climbing at the ice factor helped break the monotony of drinking real ale. It was only on the Saturday I got my Munro count off and running for the year with Aonach Mor. The second week saw an improvement in the weather, but the avalanche risk was high, so care had to be taken in regards to route choice, with most Northern approaches out of bounds, making walking in Glencoe, where nearly all the approaches are from the North, difficult. We managed to summit Buachaille Etive Beag and a knee deep wade through unconsolidated powder to Beinn an Dothaidh a couple of days later. The best day was the last Thursday where we thought we be able to summit Bidean Nam Bian, but loose snow and a slightly more adventurous ascent route than we had planned (I was very pleased I had my Ice Axe) saw us reluctantly forgo the narrow ridge and had to be content with the excellent views we had. Overall an excellent couple of weeks and the bad days allowed me to practice some of my photographic skills, with varying degrees of success.
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The pictures are representative of the couple of weeks we had.