The club ran a successful trip to Glencoe with a focus on winter hillwalking. To build skills and confidence in winter conditions, two 2-day winter skills courses were ran during the course of the trip (one with Iain Gallagher of Kendal Mountaineering Services and the other with Dave Farrow, ex-CUHWC president).

The trip started off with some sketchy weather but the forecast gradually improved, culminating with a cold, sunny final day to the trip (and a new CUHWC letters photo, see website home page).

Some course feedback:
'Instruction seemed detailed and thorough, with plenty of practical tips'
'Overall, a great course and I feel a lot more confident to head out in winter.'
'As far as feedback for the trip goes, I thought the length of time was good and that the Winter Skills course with Ian was outstanding, and that Glencoe is a beautiful area.'
'The course was really good and I felt like I really profited from it, particularly the next day when we could test out the things we learnt.'

The course taught participants the skills to be able to deal with medical incidents many miles away from medical help, with the focus being on practical first aid skills using only the limited medical equipment one would take while hillwalking. The course is also recognised by the MLTUK and other outdoor governing bodies.

Two groups of three took part in a scrambling course with instructors from Kendal Mountaineering Services, learning the basics of scrambling and associated skills. Participants learnt basic ropework techniques such as tying on and short roping through to more technical skills such as those required for assessing and selecting suitable belays, placing running belays where needed and developing those judgement skills to decide when to move together quickly or pitch parts of the route.

Feedback from participants:

'I thought the course was very well run and interesting. The leader was also flexible and was happy to change to course slightly to cover the kind of stuff we wanted to learn. It really helped with becoming more confident with moving over steeper ground during a walk. Would definitely recommend.'

'The course was very enjoyable. Our instructor was very competent and crafted the course to fit our needs. Over the two days we were given a thorough grounding in scrambling and having done the course I feel confident to tackle what would have otherwise been daunting scrambles. The course was very hands on, before it began I worried it would be a series of safety lectures as we wandered up a hill, this couldn’t have been more off base.'

'We took the first half of the first day slowly to cover the basics of scrambling, beginning with an overview of the foibles of the scrambling guidebook and some tips on how to use it. We then headed East from the car park, South of Dale Head bunkhouse, to White How, which was our first scramble. At the bottom we broke out our helmets and harnesses before ascending, learning relevant rope work along the way.

Having contoured to Seathwaite tarn and lunched there, we rounded the tarn to our afternoon scramble: Shudderstone How. Here we were given the chance to put some of what we had learnt that morning into practice with more autonomy in assessing and choosing our routes. We were also taught some more rope work, perhaps going slightly beyond what we might need in a Hillwalkers expedition, but useful and interesting nonetheless.

The second day saw us driving North from the bunkhouse and ascending Ulpha Fell in a series of scrambles. Again, we were given a lot of autonomy, with guidance where needed from our instructor interspersed with some teaching, tips and tricks.

A solid portion of both days was spend scrambling, as evidenced by the short horizontal distance of each route. Also worth noting is the ratio of three hillwalkers to one instructor, I thought this ratio was great.'