A Winter Mountain Leader in the making: Glen Feshie, Cairngorms

Views out to Glen Feshie and the Monaliadth Mountains

Over the course of this winter, my better half, Han, and I have had quite different agendas, which has lead to us spending very little time on the hill together. She's moments away from embarking on her Winter Mountain Leader Assessment, whereas I've been out gaining experience in order to work towards my Mountain Instructor Certificate assessment, which has been predominantly winter mountaineering and climbing. We were due to go snow holing a couple of weeks ago, but a cold on Han's part saw an end to that idea, so finally we headed out to the hills east of Glen Feshie in the Cairngorms. An area popular for Winter Mountain Leader Assessments, due to it's potential for snow holing sites and for it's indistinct land features, ideal for testing navigation.

Sastrugi on Carn Ban Mor

 Snow was down to the valley base, enabling ski tourers to head off straight from the car park, whereas we were spending the day on foot. Glen Feshie is an amazing glen, and despite good access from Aviemore and Kingussie, on leaving the road suddenly a real sense of wilderness and remoteness is felt. The rolling nature of the hills also make the area a ski tourers' playground.

Drooping cornices on Carn Ban Mor

We headed up onto Carn Ban Mor, and quickly gained some incredible vistas up Glen Feshie and over towards the Monaliadth Mountains. From the summit, the western corries of Braeriach could be seen, with a sea of undulating snow lying inbetween. A navigator's dream or nightmare! After practising various navigational techniques such as pacing and staying on a bearing in white out conditions, we found one of the snow hole sites, one of the snow holes here was palatial. After lunching in one, we set off to find some more obscure navigational points, and in doing so, the clouds closed in, enabling Han to practise in true poor visibility. We finished back on Carn Ban Mor, and as we descended back into Glen Feshie, were greeted by moody sunshine and ominous looking clouds out to the west.


Han's well on track for her Winter Mountain Leader Assessment, having put a lot of time and effort into getting ready, and I wish her all the best! Go for it!