This is what most would call “A Big Winter” and with the huge amounts of snow about much will stay for most of the winter it comes as a shock to many. Much has been written about the huge Cornices that are on most high hills, huge overhanging lips of snow, no problem in good weather but in poor visibility dangers lurks. I was out the other day and there were some groups of snow holing, many think this is a great part of the winter and to stay in a snow hole is a great experience in good weather. They they are built-in areas that naturally hold snow and especially in upland area the are very subject to winds and spindrift that can cover the hole entrance and when you are inside, cosy and maybe asleep then it can be blowing like hell outside! Multi snow holes must be linked together by a rope between each hole and the hole marked with avalanche probes and all gear taken inside! The great experience of going out at night from a snow hole to do some navigation is a magic experience but remember even a slight wind and any new snow moves about and the holes can be hard to find after a wander on the plateau!
“Cairngorm Mountain instructor Heather Morning took the Out of Doors radio team for an introduction to snow-holing. This is an extremely risky activity, only to be undertaken in the safe hands of qualified experts.”
basic snow scrape!
In those early days, snow-holeing was fashionable. On the annual winter course that the RAF Mountain Rescue winter Course were on the first night we would all snow hole in the Cairngorms. there could be over 40 of us in the various sites. One night on the Cairngorm Plateau Coire Domhain after the usual few drams, we all drifted back to our own holes. Just as we were falling asleep, I heard a noise outside and thinking that it was a raid on our whisky store, sent Teallach my dog out to chase them off. Even though Teallach was a big softy, in the dark and around the snow hole entrance, he must have looked fearsome. Imagine my consternation the following morning, when I went out and found two climbers curled up and shivering. They had left their sacks below Hells Lum and could not find them. Having seen our light they thought they were safe, only to be met by a huge dog, who would not let them in the snow hole. I brought them in, gave them a brew and walked them off in the morning, meeting Cairngorm MRT, who were coming to look for our “lost” friends. (Another confession) The weather forecasts were not that great in these days and the occasion storm would hit us and we would have to leave at first light. All the kit has to be put on inside a snow –hole, including crampons as you go out in the storm to get home. Never easy with inexperienced people especially if in one of the remoter sites! You still have to get off the plateau.
Ready to leave the warmth of the snow hole into a wild environment, be ready!
When I took over running the Course after 20 years of snow holing I decided that we would snow -hole later in the course and manage it better to lessen the impact on the snow hole sites. This would also ensure that for a few inexperienced team member’s who came from the then six RAF Mountain Rescue Teams that the first look at a Scottish winter was not at night on the Cairngorm plateau?
YOU MUST REMEMBER THAT WHEN YOU LEAVE THE SITE YOU MUST LEAVE NOTHING BUT FOOTPRINTS! Even your POO must be taken out.
There are lots of important things about snow holing cooking inside takes great care and you must always have plenty of ventilation that can come at a price but so important. I leave you with this thought when we were looking for a friend Paul Rodgers who went missing on 1984 on the plateau companion. The depth of snow on some of the sites was over 40 feet! We dug down over 20 feet to find the holes below!
Have fun but be careful, take a dog with you, they no when things are getting difficult.
Teallach in a snow hole!
Old mans thoughts and tales. 