Winter Skills January 2007

Our objective to practice using our warm down gear and to camp up the mountain. This involved us walking up the mountain, with heavy packs, camping, cooking equipment and we had tools to dig snow holes. Fortunately when we are away we will be supported with Porters and Sherpas and we can share the gear out, but it was a challenge walking in high winds, in the snow with heavy packs.


Meet my tent partner, Jayne who is from the Isle of Man. Jayne has recently become a Granny following the birth of Thomase and Oliver. She will deserve a medal sharing a tent with me for a month.



Camping was a challenge, our tent was held down with two ice axes, one at the back of the tent and one at the front. The pegs just disappeared into the snow.






I helped to build a snow hole after I had pitched the tent and made the dinner. Hard work digging the snow out, here helping Lorraine, from Sauchie who is at the entrance kicking the snow down the slope.


In the morning we had to be up and ready to walk off the hill at 7am. Up early, in the dark packing things away in a confined space! I managed to take the tent down in the high wind with Jayne still sitting in it, which was just as well as another team lost their tent when it just blew away up the mountain, not to be seen again. Our task was to walk off the hill in the dark, roped together. I was at the front leading the group who were spaced out along the rope. I would walk, take a step and realise I could not move because someone had either stopped or fallen over, but we managed and got use to walking in a different way.