by Ian | Feb 26, 2014 | Antarctica 2018, Expeditions, Training, Trip Report
HSX went to Scotland from Saturday 15th February to Saturday 22nd February for annual training. The main blog entry covers what happened on every day, whilst this blog covers what HSX Antarctica did apart from the main group, that being on days Tuesday to Friday. The 4 out of 7 members of HSX Antarctica in Scotland were Adrian, Joe, Liam and Matt.
We tentatively try Nordic skis on for the first time just outside our lodge, and make a slalom course to test ourselves
Tuesday 18th February 2014
HSX Antarctica rented some Nordic skis to use on Tuesday and Wednesday. As none of us had ever been cross country skiing before and half the team present had never skied before at all, we started gently on the flat snow outside our lodge with BMG Harold Edwards instructing us.
After we had mostly got the hang of going forwards and turning on flat ground we headed out in the van to a track near Loch Morlich. This was mostly a success, but the track wasn’t completely covered in snow and the team had to resort to de-skiing and walking on several occasions so as to not scratch the skis.
After lunch the team headed up into the mountains where we intended to ski to a loch we’d seen a few days before. Having steeper gradients, this proved more challenging and turning on the spot required new techniques. The length of the skis and the lack of binding at the back of the skis meant heading downhill on even a gentle slope led to several falls. Fortunately the Antarctic plateau doesn’t have steep hills.
Wednesday 19th February
We were a little more ambitious with our skis on Wednesday when we attempted some ski mountaineering, climbing from 550m to 750m at the top of Castle Hill in just over a kilometre, a gradient of 20% which proved particularly taxing as our skis had no skins to stop them sliding backwards. The snow conditions made things even more difficult as it was very icy, slippery and hard to dig the skis into.
Skiing up Castle Hill
The descent from Castle Hill was found tough by all there. It was very hard to stop on the slopes and numerous tumbles were taken by everyone. Even the views disappeared when a dense fog closed in. We eventually got down to a stream at the bottom and skied along the steep banks, which was physically tiring, then crossed and headed back towards the van carrying our skis.
Thursday 20th February
Thursday morning marked a change in the weather. Wind speed had picked up to around 65/75mph with rain across the lower valleys. The plan for us was to summit Ben Macdui via Lurchers Crag and back down into Coire an t-Sneachda for a night’s sleep in snow holes. Our day started well however as we headed up onto Coire an Lochain ridge we felt the full force of the wind. After much battling up the ridge through the deep powder snow we collectively made the call to change our plan and headed into the Chalamain gap and down to the Sugar Bowl car park. Once at the Sugar Bowl car park we made our way up to the Ski Centre and into Coire Sneachda where we found the other HSX party at our snow holes. Our arrival at the snow holes was at around 14:30 and being early and wanting to make the most of our day we headed up the Goat Track and onto the ridge. From there we contoured around to 1141 and headed back down the slopes into Sneachda for the night.
Friday 21st February
We awoke in the morning unaware of the weather outside our snow hole. As we started to prepare our kit and get breakfast it became apparent from all the snow drift that the winds were indeed as high or higher than the day before. With this in mind we layered up, put gloves on and made our way out of the night’s accommodation. As our heads popped out of the snow we were hit with the high winds carrying snow from the ridge down into the valleys below. Our plan for the day was simple, get down and back to the campsite. As we made our way down out of the corrie we were wearing our crampons to grip onto the hard ice and battling the winds that were set on knocking us down. At 10:30 we arrived at the Ski Centre and took a moment to reflect on the weather and our last views of the upper mountains before heading down onto the footpaths and back to our camp site.
by Ian | Feb 23, 2014 | News, Training, Trip Report
Click here for HSX Antarctica’s training in Scotland.
Sunday
Waking up to lovely weather (which doesn’t often happen in Scotland) we hurriedly packed our bags ready to hit the slopes. With two vans packed full with excited people, we departed from Badaguish and arrived at the lower car park of the ski centre. The aim for the day was to head into the Coires and practice winter skills, so we broke off into our two separate groups and everyone headed east towards Coire Laogh Mor. At the outset it became clear the the Cairngorms had LOADs of snow, with people often sinking ankle deep with each step. WE eventually decided to “post-hole” to make the trudge through the snow easier.
When we arrived at our base for the morning ice axes and shovels were pulled from bags and we dug an avalanche pit, in order to assess the risk of a possible avalanche. After ascertaining that the slope was suitably firm we took to practising self arrests, using an ice axe to break a fall. In order to become proficient in this vital skill we took in turns to fling ourselves down hill in different types of ways, including head first on our backs!
After a quick bit to eat the two groups rejoined and set off for a bit of a walk. Zig-zagging up the side of the Coire, we made good progress up hill with those at the front breaking trail.
From the top of the top of the Coire we headed south west on a gentle incline to the summit of Cairn Gorm. The weather station on the summit appeared as a huge mound of ice and snow, with staff desperately trying to de-ice it as the recording instruments had become frozen open! With fantastic views of the surrounding area, we headed down the ridge between Coire Laogh Mor and Coire Na Ciste back to the car park.
Monday
Today we once again split into our two separate groups, starting off at the top ski centre car park, with the aim to head into Coire an t-Sneachda. Unlike yesterday the winds had picked up overnight and during our walk in we were accompanied by large amounts of spin drift, which was literally getting everywhere!
Once at the base of Faicaill Ridge we continued to practice our winter skills, today learning about security on steep ground, practising snow bollards, t- axe belays, placing deadman anchors and using body belaying to support a climbing partner.
Following on from this, we headed further into the Coire, and proceeded to practice with crampons on the hillside. After a light snack the group headed out of the depths of the Coire toward the moraines below Fiacaill a Choire Chais, to inspect the snow for snow holing later on in the week. After locating some potential campsites we zig zagged up the sides of the Coire up the ridge to reach 1141. After the precarious climb up the ridge we headed back down to the ski centre in glorious sunshine.
Tuesday
Tuesday we headed up towards Glen Avon from the bottom carpark.
From the bottom car park we trekked up in some form of sunshine towards The Saddle skirting around the mighty Cairn Gorm. From The Saddle we were supposed to be able to see Loch Avon, but as heading up in the morning the cloud had rolled in and a white-out engulfed us – weather that could continue for the rest of the day, so we couldn’t actually see anything! This gave us a great chance to practice our micro-navigation skills with the group walking in a straight line, with the person at the back directing the group to ensure we stayed on our baring.
After a spot of lunch we walked, in the clouds, towards Bynack Beg before going down into the valley of Strath Nethy and out of the clouds. A nice scenic walked into Glenmore Lodge to be picked up awaited us after coming down Bynack Beg’s ridgeline.
Wednesday
We had planned a shorted walk for Wednesday after the 20km walked the day before… however this didn’t really materialise!
We headed from the top carpark in the beautiful Scottish sunshine, up the ridgeline one the west side of Coire an Lochian. After a brief break we decided we were walking far too fast for our planned route and would have been completed the route in a couple of hours. In order to turn into more a day we decided to extend our route to take in the second highest peak in the UK, Ben Macdui.
After deciding on the new plan the clouds rolled in again, giving us less visibility than the day before… typical! A longish walk in yet another Scottish whiteout were becoming all too familiar to us – were was the Alpine conditions from 2013! Not waiting to look on the negative side, we used the conditions to reinforce the navigation skills we’d learnt on Tuesday.
After eventually reaching the summit we headed back towards the familiarity of Sneachda, passing only a handful people brave enough to tough-out the conditions. After reaching the top of the Goat Track, we proceeded to handrail the cliff at the top of the Coire, keeping a good distance between use and the monstrous Cornice along the cliff tops.
After making it to 1141 we began the familiar decent back down to the car park to meet Russ.
Thursday
We left late Thursday morning and walked up to Coire Sneachda, through driving rain with 60mph gusts that almost took you off your feet, carrying everything we would need for the night of snowholing.
When we arrived we found some previously dug snow holes that we sheltered in, giving us a chance to regroup our thoughts after being utterly drenched from the walk up. We ate some lunch and mercifully the rain and wind let up, and we were even treated to a glimpse of the sun!
Given the relatively warm temperatures and rain of the morning the snow holes we had just sheltered in were not good enough to spend the night in, so we got to work digging out our own ones. In pairs we started to dig corridors into the snow, big enough to stand in (unless your a giant like Chris). Once we were suitably fair enough into the slope we began to dig the main chambers we would sleep in, eventually linking up with the next group over.
As the snow holes took a while to dig the night was drawing in when we eventually finished. Tired out from all the digging and shifting from the day we got in our snow holes and got down to the important business… cooking a much needed warm meal! Revived by dinner we set in for an early night.
Friday
Waking up early at 7:30 we went about getting cooking breakfast, getting a hot drink and packing away our damp kit, ready for the walk out. At 9am we were joined in our snow holes by Besty, Dan, Smudge and Chris, who closely resembled the abominable snowman, more then their normal selves, having battled through the 60mph head wind and blinding spindrift to make it in.
After they had a quick breathier and regain feeling in their wind burnt faces it was decided we would try and make the most out of the day, rather than just head straight back to cavitation. We decided that we would use our last day in the hills to demonstrate what we had learnt over the course of the week. We were each tasked with setting up one of the form of anchor, like practiced on Monday, before taking it in turns to do some more Ice Axe arrests. The weather was truly dreadful (or typical Scottish weather as we kept being reminded by the leaders) and we kept popping in and out of the snow holes to warm up.
By 11am it was decided that we’d had enough of the being whipped by spindrift, so we put on our crampons and made our way back to the bus. We zig zagged up the side of Fiacaill a Choire Chais, and with the wind behind us, came very close to being blown over on a number of occasions.
by Ian | Feb 1, 2014 | Training, Trip Report
This January saw HSX hit the road again, kick starting the year in style, with a weekend of hillwalking in the Brecon Beacons. After the rain that has been lashing down hard on the hills over the last few weeks, there surely couldn’t have been any more left in the clouds… right?
Buoyed by our eternal optimism eight members of HSX convened at Ferny Crofts and headed for the hills! Our first challenge of the weekend was to locate the hut we would be staying in, situated on the outskirts of Caehopkin. Not normally a problem the navigational skills of Mr TomTom, however the dense Welsh hill fog resulted in us overshooting the hut first time round! Take two was much successful, however we were presented with our second issue of the evening… a padlocked gate!
As event director Chris had organised the hut for the Friday night and had been liaising with the local group about gaining access. Many e-mails had gone back a forth between Chris and the key holder and it had eventually been agreed to have the key left out for us in a safe location. However there was never any mention of a secure gate or a 4-digit combination lock! After trying to ring the scout leader several times (she didn’t pick up), as well as trying many different combinations (we didn’t have time or patience to try all 10,000), we eventually settled on hopping over the gate, carrying most the kit into the hut.
Key located, we were in! This left us just about time for a quick brew and weekend briefing, before dividing kit, packing bags and getting some shut eye.
Waking up early on Saturday morning we had a hearty breakfast of Bacon sandwiches, before putting the final preparations together for our wildcamp. Leaving the van round the corner from the scout hut we departed for the hills.
The day started off well with a gentle wind keeping everyone nice and cool, and we slowly made our way uphill through the woods, which slow going with heavy packs and muddy tracks underfoot. Getting traction was difficult in places, with several members deciding to ‘check gravity was still working’, getting themselves coated in mud in the process, much to the hilarity of everyone else.
The higher uphill we got and the worse the visibility got, and the group was soon enveloped in ‘pea soup’, not being able to see more then 100m in front of us in places. This turned out to be an excellent opportunity for some of the more experienced members to really teach the others about the importance of micro-navigation. We used several different strategies over the next couple of hours, picking our way across the open hillside, hand-railing boundaries and watercourses, as well as navigating to distinctive features, counting our paces and timings.
We soon found the footpath we were aiming for, a motorway in comparison to what we’d just been walking along, and made good progress. At this point to weather took a slight turn for the worse and we were soon forced to stop and Gore-Tex up. The winds picked up, and what started off as a light drizzle, soon developed into a full on hail storm, with ice being whipped horizontally across our path.
As quickly as the weather closed in, it was gone again, leaving the group with a blustery, but bright, walk down to our wildcamp spot at Llyn Y Fan Fach. Upon our arrival we sorted the tents out, pitching them into the wind for extra stability, before diving into the survival shelter to prepare our gourmet diner of soup, couscous and chorizo.
After dark we headed out for an hour of night navigation practice, before popping back into the hut for a quick hot chocolate and Kit Kat, followed by bed.
During the course of the night the winds decided to strengthen significantly, which combined with a change direction, caused havoc with the tents. For much of the night the winds battered the tents, with the fabric of the tent enveloping the unlucky individual who was sleeping on the windward side, and was only a couple of inches above the person in the middle of the tent! As a result every time you’d drift off to sleep you’d get rudely woken by the tent, or a pole, to the face! Around 3am the porch poles decided that they’d had enough of holding the porch in place, and two of the three tents poles broke, resulting in the front of the tents flapping around for the rest of the night, even after being pegged out and weighted down.
Eventually 7am rolled round and we quickly developed a method of taking the tents down in +50mph gusts. This involved two people venturing outside, while a third person, plus kit, stayed in the tent to act as a weight. The brave souls outside would take the outer of the tent off, running it into the hut, before coming back to take the poles and pegs off the inners, at which point the person being used as ballast would dive out. They would then run the inners into the hut to start sorting kit out.
Tents down, kit sorted, the group warmed up with a hot chocolate, porridge and brioche and soon got ready to set off for home. Given the strengths of the winds, it was decided that the best course of action would be to use the pre-planned escape route, dropping height by heading down the main track from the reservoir to the Red Lion Youth Hostel, Llandeusant.
Upon arriving at the hostel we met with a group of walkers who were heading off for a walk to see the waterfalls along the Nant Llech at Coelbren, approximately 3km from the hut where we left the van. Fortune was in our favour and the guys had one seat left in their car, a luxury Jaguar XF, so Chris was chauffeur driven in style on the 30 minute journey back to the bus. Collecting the bus, Chris headed back to get the others, who had been killing time playing board games in the hostel.
We had a quick stop off at the hut we stayed in on Friday, to get into dry clothes and sort group kit out, before hitting the trail back to Hampshire.
We all had a great, if not slight wet, weekend, which certainly blew the cobwebs away!
by Ian | Dec 3, 2013 | Expeditions, News, Training
Hi Guys,
I hope everyone is tip top and looking forward to Christmas… not long to go now!!!
As you know every January HSX heads off to the hills on our roaming weekend, in order to grab some fresh air and attempt to burn off all those mince pies we’ve been enjoying over the festive peroid!
This year is no exception and HSX will be returning to the Brecon Beacons over the weekend 25th-26th January. The aim of the weekend is to brush up on our Mountain Leader skills, including micro-nav, night navigation and wild camping.
If you would like to attend the weekend please contact the Event Director Chris Slater (chris.slater@hsx.org.uk) by Sunday 5th January 2014.
If you have any questions please do not heistate to contact me, my details are below for those who don’t already have them.
See you soon,
Chris
by Ian | Oct 20, 2013 | Training, Trip Report
A great weekend had by all in North Wales. Teams out walking, scrambling and climbing in Snowdonia and Tremadog.
by Ian | Aug 10, 2013 | Training
The weekend will take place at Ferny Crofts from Friday evening, 30th August til Sunday afternoon, 1st September.
We will be staying in the lodge.
There is an exciting program set out including providing individual action plans and a BBQ on Sunday afternoon.
The cost for the weekend will be £20.
If you know anyone interested in joining HSX and finding out what we do this is the weekend to come along to.
Please fill out the google form if you are attending
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Cv7LNASwaPHEMHlFuHBXB9zpYR-k2ezqsjb9FXQ4O0c/viewform
or email
davidh-e@hotmail.co.uk
