For some
people, winter is all about the peat burning in the fireplace, the warm mince
pies, the woolly jumpers to snuggle in... For others, it is about ice, snow and
checking the weather forecast every week to hope for the previous two things.
(Un?)surprisingly enough, I belong to the latter group, and this is how I ended
up on a cold Sunday evening of January, sitting in Dublin port, surrounded by
big rucksacks, ropes, crampons and ice axes thrown around... And this is
because this year, I joined UCD Mountaineering Club for their annual trip to
Scotland where we would undertake a Winter Skills course!! Aaaah, Scotland: its
sheep, its whiskeys, its exotic accents... And its majestic snow-covered peaks!
Ok, ok, those mountains may not rival my native Alps, but hey, they are pretty
cool too.
Photo: Rory Sullivan |
So there we
go, Sunday 5th of January, I boarded a Stena Line ship along with 12
other mountaineers and a rough sea ahead of us. The following 3 hours were
divided between snoozing, feeling seasick, and chilling. We arrived in Holyhead
at the glorious hour of 1 in the morning...with our train scheduled for 4:50am.
A little group of us immediately proceeded to go on a recce of this charming
little Welsh town (it has remains of a Roman fort!). And then, thanks to the
Free Wifi Access in the ferry terminal, we found out there was a 24/7 Tesco
Extra further down the road. So what do you do at 3am in Holyhead? You go on a
shopping trip of course! A bit of an unreal experience in itself, let’s be
honest. And then, finally, our first train of the day! Yep, we had quite a few
of them to take to reach our final destination. At that point, we said good bye
to Chloe who had accompanied us on the ferry, and I found myself the only girl
on this mountaineering expedition...Listening to the guys discussing plans for
the following days, I had a bit of sinking feeling, wondering if I would be
able to keep up, but that was something I could worry about later: for now, we
were heading to Edinbuuuuurgh and my inner backpacker was getting all excited.
Having been in the Scottish capital before, I offered to lead our little group
to a nice pub near the train station where we just crashed and had some
well-deserved breakfast, before taking another – and last! - train to Aviemore.
We got to Aviemore at about 4pm and headed to
our hostel, the Aviemore Bunkhouse (link: http://www.aviemore-bunkhouse.com/).
Because of the poor weather forecast for the following day, the instructors for
the Winter Skills course had got in touch to let us know that instead of doing
it Tuesday & Wednesday, it would be Wednesday & Thursday. So after a
good, hot, meal, we all agreed that we would go on a hike on the Tuesday. I
think I can speak on behalf of everybody when I write that we all passed out
into our beds at a fairly early stage of the evening that day, having barely
slept since Sunday morning.
And so on
Tuesday 7th of January at about 9 am, we were all heading for the
bus stop with a clear sky above us, and rather mild temperatures. “Where are we
going?” I asked. “The ski resort!” Was
the answer, and we all got into the bus. Wait... The ski resort? I have a quick
look at my hiking trousers and make a mental note that I only brought one pair
of gloves. Didn’t we say a hike? Oh.... A hike... In winter... In Scotland... I
curse myself for being so stupid and I hope that the day will be ok. Rule
number 1 when you go outdoors in winter: bring waterproofs, spare gloves, spare
hat, a flask of tea if you can, and wear thermals. Of all the above, I only had
the first one. Rule number 2: when in doubt, ASK people who will know better
than you: I grew up in Provence and for me a “hike” meant walking around the Alps
in shorts and a t-shirt. I was lucky, we had a great day and I did not freeze
to death, but for the next time, I will remember these two rules!
We spent the
day just “hiking” around the Cairngorms – in crampons and with ice axes –,
enjoying in breath-taking views and getting to know the famous “Scottish
winds”. The ones that almost push you flat onto the ground. So remember what I
said about being the only girl on the trip? Well, I won’t lie, it was a bit of
a challenge, I did not want to be the young damsel in distress, panting at the
back of the column, asking to go slower. So I just soldiered on, and it was
tough, but thoroughly enjoyable! We got the bus back in the afternoon and I was
exhausted but so looking forward to the following day, doing the first part of
the Winter Skills course !
On the
Wednesday morning, we met our instructors at 8:30am. We were divided into
groups of four and talked through the basics of winter and alpine skills: how
to fit your crampons properly, how to pack your bag properly, safety in the
mountains, etc, etc. And then we all went into the cars and set off. The
weather that day was much better and the risk of avalanches much reduced. We
were taught how to make ice-axe arrests, how to use crampons properly to walk
on ice, how to climb over cornices...We climbed up “The Goat’s Path” on the
side of one of the mountains, and although it was only a Winter Grade 0.5, it
felt like the hardest thing I had ever done, and the slope (“only” 30 degrees),
felt like 60 or something. It was a
tough, long, cold day, but it was so good and we learnt so much! As we were
walking back, along the ridge of the mountain, our instructor remarked how
lucky we were to have such a good weather and visibility. I looked around at
the thick, white air all about us, at the icy and rocky snow beneath our feet,
and strained my ears to listen to him through the howling winds and could not
help but laugh: if someone in Scotland tells you the weather is good, just, you
know, be a bit sceptical.
Unfortunately,
I had to get a train on Wednesday evening to be back in Dublin for Thursday
afternoon and as such, I missed the second day of the course. The guys told me
they climbed a gully on the second day, learnt how to make snow belays and
anchors, and that they also dug a snow hole. This trip was just fantastic and
now, I am hoping we get some good snow in Wicklow to go do the same sort of
things again !
Alexandra Guglielmi
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