More Snowholing!

Home for the night!

I have been working for West Highland College for the last few days along with Bill and Francis. On Wednesday I was at the Ice Factor preparing students for the CWA and then on Thursday and Friday I was out with 3rd Year Students on a snow holing trip.

With a poor forecast for the west on Friday we headed to the Cairngorms with a not great forecast but not as wet as the west! We headed into Ciste Mhearad via windy ridge that as indeed windy, were we found a fair bit of new snow that had covered up the remnants of the old holes! However with a good bit go digging most teams managed to get into the old neve layers under the new snow. We were planning to head out for some night nav but with 100mph winds we decided to just enjoy the holes!! It warmed quickly during the night and much of the new snow melted/sagged/caved in and with more strong winds in the morning gusting 111mph at 8am on Cairngorm it was time to bail!

A good experience for the students who did well in some challenging conditions. Everything was melting fast as we walked out through the ski area, it does now feel like winter is on its last legs.