MLTA Workshop – Winter Mountaineering

Twelve months on and it was back to Fort William for another Mountain Leader Training Association (MLTA) (www.mlta.co.uk) workshop with British Mountain Guide Tim Blakemore. Tim runs a series of workshops at this time of year on behalf of the MLTA aimed at instructing/refreshing mountain leaders on useful topics. Apart from the obvious benefit of such training, participants also receive points towards their continuing professional development (CPD) a newly-introduced requisite for maintaining one’s mountain qualifications.

This was just a one-day workshop but Tim still managed to get a lot across to our group of 6. The main aim was to explore the grey area between non-technical mountain leading and winter mountaineering. This entailed practice in leading clients on steep ground using ‘short roping’ techniques. The leader and followers are tied on to the same rope with the former taking any spare rope around his body in coils. He then controls the distance between himself and the No 2 by holding or releasing hand coils. This technique enables a group to move steadily over difficult terrain without set climbing pitches and fixed protection.

Needless to say, it was a typically cold, blustery January day that we climbed into the Nevis Range gondola for the ride up to the top station. The biting wind and occasional snow shower ensured we all remained tightly wrapped in gore-tex all day! The crampons came on soon after leaving the top station, together with helmets, harnesses and ice axes. Splitting into groups of 2 or 3 we spent the day examining the snowpack, leading each other up and down steep ‘gnarly’ ground and looking at various ice axe belays. There was some invaluable ropework for us non-climbers and some discussion on the effectiveness of ice axe arresting. The empty promise of a nice hot coffee (I forget from whom....) ensured we descended to the gondola station in plenty of time to beat the last ride down and a short de-brief saw us on our way before darkness.

A big thank you to Tim (http://www.northernmountainsport.co.uk) for giving up his nice French alpine apartment for the joys of Fort William so that we could fill in our knowledge gaps and improve our experience. He’ll be back next year, and so will I!


Check out my future plans for this winter on: http://www.hillways.co.uk/winter/winter.htm