Winter is Coming. Are you Prepared?

I have been selling avalanche safety gear for a few years now. Discounts to professionals and rescue teams/ski patrol, and local free skiers/tourers and mountaineers.  I also provide Recco training as UK trainer for Recco and I sell Recco reflectors. If you buy a beacon off me I am quite happy to give you some free tuition up at Glencoe Mountains Beacon training park, a bonus you will not get online. Give me a call or email/PM me for a quote if you need any avalanche safety equipment.

A few thoughts on slope assessment, avalanches and safety gear. First thing to mention is try not to get avalanched by pre depart planning and weather and avy forecast research and ongoing dynamic risk assessment during your day. We live in an uncertain world never more so than now, with the political shenanigans and genocide. The only certainty is that we live with uncertainty and those of us who have spent our lives in the mountains accept this is just how it is on winter mountains. Sadly this uncertainty means we have all been caught out, despite making what we thought were good decisions. Me included. I count myself very fortunate having seen so many folk who didn't survive. The gear I sell is all very high quality Austrian manufactured "Ortovox" which have a long history of developing reliable technology that will not let you down. As a bonus all their transceivers also have a Recco reflector built in. We live with uncertainty, but our objective is to reduce that as much as possible. Look ahead, consult the avalanche forecast and plan ahead making decisions to avoid avalanche terrain. The mountains will be there another day so allow them to tell you to go home as well.

Winter 24/25 is predicted to be growth year in Free Touring. New folk will be entering terrain with avalanche risk. They need the knowledge and gear to do this safely

During travel look around you and observe what's happening under your feet and listen to the snow. Look for red flags such as avalanche activity, wind drifted snow, recent snowfall, whumping and cracking and also be wary during rapid rises in temperature as wet snow slides and cornice collapse can trigger huge slides such as occur in Observatory Gully and Lagangarbh Corrie to name but two. Based on the avy forecast (it's an area forecast and not cast in stone that its right!) and importantly what you observe, stop and do snow stability tests. ECT or shovel shear and compression.  This is only to confirm what you should spatially be aware of.  Stopping and doing these tests is also an opportunity to talk and air views (and concerns) and make the critical decisions of whether your about to bet with your life or that of others. Its a fact that groups that are not hierarchical and communicate well perform better and have less catastrophic events than ones who allow experts to lead without question, or suffer peer pressure and are not equal in allowing a voice to raise concerns.    

Looking up Coire na Tulaich and the main ascent descent route from the Buachaille. Three walkers are  under 10m+ of snow, possibly triggered by a group from above.

Before making a drop in or committing to a slope up or down or across also consider these factors:

Angle. Most avalanches are triggered on slopes roughly between 32 and 45 degrees. Below 32 degrees victim triggered slab avalanches are less common and above this angle slopes purge more frequently. The "Sweet Spot" where most avalanches are triggered is about 40ish degrees with over 90% of victim triggered slides occurring in a 7 degree range bracketing that sweet spot. You can conclude from this that angle is a really important part of slope assessment and subtle changes of angle on a given slope can have major consequences, therefore route choice and awareness of slope angle is really important. Modern phone apps make judging the angle much easier.  Rule of thumb for me personally is that as the avalanche forecast risk for a given altitude and aspect goes up - then the angle and altitude of what you ski comes down. More recent research has shown convexity/concavity to be less important than angle.

Anchors. What is the snowpack connected to. Have you been following the weather and SAIS forecast. Are there weak layers within the snowpack. Tree's and rocks can hold a slope as your friend or can be weak spots as your enemy where sun heat or hoar frost has gathered. Subtle angle changes create trigger points at these places. Tree's are also natures cheese grater if you get taken into them. Also ask yourself what the slope you are on is linked into from the underlying snowpack. Unstable snowpack can often propagate a collapse into nearby slopes and draw an avalanche into lower angled terrain.

Aspect. Which compass direction does the slope you want to ski or travel face. Like angle, subtle changes in aspect can take you from a safe slope onto a loaded one. Carry a compass and learn about "slope aspect" as both a navigation and safe travel tool.  The SAIS forecast gives you the necessary hazard warning for compass direction but you need to apply it on the ground accurately. Again some phone apps can help with this, and even give you the area forecast. The new SAIS app is a must for Scotland.

Altitude. You can see by looking at the SAIS forecast that the hazard risk is most often greater with altitude, even in Scotland. The rate of snow deposition is higher with height, and the wind is also stronger increasing side loading of slopes. On dodgy days stay lower as well as skiing lower angled slopes.

Folk need to know how to apply the forecast to trip planning by learning to understand it

Apply safe travel methods when skinning up and keep spaced and avoid terrain traps when choosing your skin line.  A slide coming from above will have the full width, breadth and depth bearing down on you. Unless its a clear runout your pretty well fecked as any stream bed or features will trap you and allow the snow to build up deeply over you. Choose your line well and with some thought.

Complexity. As mentioned above. Be aware of subtle changes in angle and aspect and that localised instabilities are hidden and like a landmine can link one triggered mine to a chain reaction and a small slide gathering surrounding instabilities into a major avalanche event. Learn to read mapping for subtleties of terrain features and how snow may be affected, and think safety by pre imagining what could go wrong. If it's a complex route then its often unsafe as there are too many unknowns. 

Commitment. Always have a plan "B" so that if conditions change or are not what you expected you have another safer option.  Commitment to a slope can mean no bale out options, i.e having no where to go.  If you look at the pro's on youtube they choose their line so they can bale out onto a spine and have good runouts and that's where the next "C" comes into play - consequences.

Consequences. If an amber light's on in your head so your in a go/no go process, then add consequence into the thought mix.  Are there crags, hollows, stream beds, tree's or any other terrain features that could shred you or trap you if there is an avalanche. Transceiver, shovel, probe and/or airbag will not stop you getting your limbs ripped apart from tree's, your head humped like mince, or with an inflated airbag under a few hundred tons of snow. Airbags are good with a save rate of between 10 and 13  more people per hundred victims - but only if the runout is good.

More up to date North American stats also show that many more people die from two of the triple "H" than was thought. Hypoxia and Hypercapnia kill quickly, even folk dug out very fast getting advanced life support don't often survive.

Triple "H" syndrome is Hypoxia, Hypercapnia (i.e re breathing your own carbon dioxide) and Hypothermia. 

Hypothermia can have a protective effect in rapid cold water immersion, but in an avalanche cooling is slow, especially as modern clothing retains heat so well. In fact its not so much the lack of oxygen as the hypercapnia that makes survival so poor in a an avalanche, and this with hypoxia is also related to snow density). 15 minutes as often shown in survival graphs is quite optimistic. You need to search fast and dig faster (which means practise  these skills more) as time is not on the victims side.

When dropping in stay next to each others tracks, go one at a time well spaced and from a safe area to safe area. What's a safe area?  Good question as sometimes there are none, but basically its somewhere out of any slide path that you can identify. Consider that if its a big slide it could encroach on your safety island so pick your spot with care.

Be prepared to carry out a rescue. You are on your own as organised rescue will be too late. Talk this over before dropping in. You should all have done an avy course and so will have the gear, done the pre checks and discussed a plan - won't you?  If you have not done an an avy course then consider why the feck are you even doing this!

click for   Ortovox Direct Voice Video

Ortovox "Diract". Voice guides to help you through the search, 3 antenna & smart antenna tech (analyzes the device’s location in the avalanche and automatically switches to the best transmitting antenna. This means you get up to double the range and will be found more quickly!) flag feature, Recco inside. Lithium Ion rechargeable, blue tooth to phone (Apple and IOS) for any software upgrades and checks. 

The average depth of a buried skier is 1.5 meters. You need a good shovel and a structured method to remove the snow fast and get the victim's airway cleared. Time to dig is "Triple H" the killer triad of Hypoxia, Hypercapnia (re breathing your own Co2) and Hypothermia.

Pro Alu III shovel. This also converts to a hoe which is really important when using the conveyor method to dig a victim out quickly as it speeds things up clearing behind the diggers on point conveyor shoveling. 

https://www.ortovox.com/uk-en/emergency-equipment/advisor/avalanche-shovel-guide

320 PFA Probe. As a pro user perhaps also working with Winter ML groups you need a longer probe for picking snow hole sites and also a longer one for the deep burials common to buried mountaineers in terrain traps

https://www.ortovox.com/uk-en/emergency-equipment/advisor/avalanche-probes-guide

Ortovox 3+ Safety Set includes  Beacon, Badger Shovel and 240 alu Probe. This set saves a few £ over buying each item individually and a good option for free skiers. For those on a tight budget the "Zoom" beacon and safety set is adequate.

Mountaineers might also want to consider carrying Recco reflectors either as sewn in by the manufacturer or aftermarket. £50 gets your searchable with two reflectors. While this is not companion rescue it at least helps organised rescue such as MR find you as several MR teams and Scottish ski patrol have the Recco detector.

New Book "Between a Loch and a Hard Place

Book £12.95

Postage £3.30 1st Class Royal Mail

email davygunn@gmail.com with your address if you would like a copy. I will reply with payment details

The author was born in Oban and brought up in the village of Carnoch, better known nowadays as Glencoe village. A Highland upbringing rich in community. Glencoe is an area steeped in bloody history, surrounded by mountains and cut through by the River Coe. Known for its infamous 1692 massacre, Glencoe is also famed for its mountaineering, with people coming from all over the world to climb its majestic peaks and test themselves on its rock and ice climbs. Glencoe Mountain Rescue Team has a long history of saving lives and of rescue from the West Highlands and has had a few of Scotland’s best mountaineers as members. Not least was one of the rescue team founders, Hamish MacInnes.

This book gives some local history and insight into how a Highland boy lived beside a river that gave quietude and wonder as its silver leapers, the Atlantic salmon, forged up through its foamy waters into the mountains. And where the boy, me, was to meet mountain folk who opened his eyes to a broader world and possibilities. This book is about my upbringing, and the community of Glencoe that formed me. The reader may find the climbing and rescue tales a bit technical as I have used the terms and technicalities of the sport. The same is true for skiing. Forgive me as it’s hard to convey some of these ascents and descents without these technical details. Skip past bits if necessary and just enjoy the book as a collection of impressions and short tales.

The River is the thread

Running stitches through time

Gathering mountains, forests and sea

And binding me to this land

Lucy Morrice

Dwindle Wall basking in the late evening sun

In the late 1950’s early 1960’s a young Indian born star, living in Edinburgh studying philosophy, was shining bright on the Scottish climbing scene.  A veritable Sirius in the galaxy of rock climbing. The list of his legacy is long, even though his life was short. Killed in the Pamirs with Wilfred Noyce in 1962. Robin Smith, a name synonymous with hard quality rock climbs on Scottish mountain crags.

Glencoe is host to some of his outstanding climbs. A lesser-known Smith route aptly named Dwindle Wall, overlooks the upper Glen. Creag na Tulaich, a smaller buttress than Creag a' Bhancair below isn’t a big crag and Dwindle Wall starts at its left side in a chimney groove, then crosses its face before heading straight up to finish. When I climbed it with local Alan Thomson it was graded VS 150ft and had about four brief lines as the guidebook description. I was working my way through the graded guidebook list, and although it’s a short route it just had to be ticked off.

A sunny June afternoon and I was a bit fed up, as there wasn’t much to do after a training session on the road bike, so I gave Alan a phone and asked if he fancied an afternoon climb. He collected me in his car. We took my rack and twin 150ft 9mm ropes for the climbing.

We started off on a lovely route on the crag below called Cayman Grooves. Beautiful well protected climbing with lovely positions up to a belay on a terrace. You have to pick your time for this part of the crag as a raptor sometimes nests behind the tree belay and is best left alone if you hear or see it flying about. The next pitch goes up the left side of a big open groove without much gear, bold but easy enough climbing. The route to the right, Piranha is a lovey VS and to the left of Cayman Grooves is Walk with Destiny, which is in my opinion a superb route going at E2 5c.

Alan and I finished up and went up and over to the bottom of Dwindle Wall. I found the start and led off up the groove. It was a bit rattly if I remember right, and not much gear, although I found an old piton. Then you leave the sanctuary of the groove and traverse right along a ramp of good rock that is devoid of any protection. Very quickly you are in ground fall territory and running out rope with no gear as you move right and up.

At a point when well up the ramp disappears, then it’s up the steep wall above. No move is particularly hard. Maybe sustained 4c, but by this time you are 80 feet above your last gear and have another 40 to go to the top. I was about 15ft from the heather at the top above me when the rope wouldn’t move. I had run out of rope and there was still a couple of sketchy moves to make. It was hot and I was having to dig really deep to keep it together. I shouted as loud as I could for Alan to start climbing and gave a hefty two tugs on one of the ropes.

 Alan had some starting moves of about 5a on less than perfect rock, so this was a pretty serious situation. I felt some give on the ropes and waited a bit. Alan thought I was on belay, and he was safe. Was he fuck! I started slowly moving up and was a wee bit scared. Really scared actually, as I would fly if I fell, and go away past the bottom of the crag and would die.

 Alan wouldn’t be unscathed either. Eventually I got to near the top and its extreme heather pulling to get over the top. As a climber and rescuer going into shitty places you become accustomed to heather pulling and testing the quality of Calluna vulgaris for pulling on. This wasn’t good but grab enough then pull and hope. I got over with just enough rope and as Alan ascended I just kept walking, ready at any point to just fall down and grab anything if Alan should fall off.

Eventually I reached a spot where I could sit and brace myself against a big rock and waist belay Alan up. Fairly safe at last. 150ft (45m) ropes were just not long enough and 50m or even better modern 60m ropes would be better. Dwindle Wall is a bold route typical of Robin Smith, and even with modern gear I suspect it will test nerve and not be for those who are not accustomed to a bit of soloing or soul searching. Smith was truly a great climber. His route Marshalls Wall, down in the lower glen is also very bold. Named, I believe, after Jimmy Marshall, who to wind Robin up had called a winter route first ascent "Smiths gully" as he knew robin had it in mind. Retaliation from Robin Smith was naming Marshall’s wall after Jimmy, possibly as it was a line Jimmy was after. Tit for tat between young and old maestros of rock and ice.

Robin Smith aka "Wheech"

A Mountain Day, from Sunrise to Sunset

Sunrise, sunset, sunrise, sunset,

Swiftly, fly the years,

One season following another,

Laden with happiness and tears

Jerry Brock

The small dark hours of an early January morning. Leaning over carefully so as not to awaken Fiona, I pull back a curtain, just a chink, and I see bright twinkling stars and hoar frost over cars parked outside. My night has been restless. Fear and anxiety about what I might do with this day. Then at times a light slumber and calm, as I think, no, I will just have an easy day at home.

Mind games. Somewhere deep I had already decided what I was going to do. But my gremlins were scaring me out of it. My human put the chimp back in its place when I pulled back the curtain and saw the stars and frost as I could already feel the mountains calling. Anxiety for survival, and taking risks to live life fully. The solo climber’s paradox.

Sliding out of warmth and safety, creeping quietly down to hastily eat something with a coffee. A prepacked rucksack. Planning or precognition? Had I subconsciously decided what my plan was? But to sleep perhaps I needed to know I wasn’t going to follow through.

A note is left. “Gone up Stob Corrie. Just some easy climbs. Back midafternoon. Parking at Pipers Layby.”

The Pipers

Our car is frosted, but the newspaper covering the screen comes off clean. In some fateful irony the inside page was covered in details of a mountain tragedy a week before, where a roped party had fallen. Tom Patey the ardent soloist had a definition of a roped party as being two people falling together. A quick key turn to start the car, reverse out, and a short blind drive away from the house to do a proper scrape and defrost, then I am on my way up the glen. It’s bitterly cold, and sunrise is still a couple of hours away. Perfect.

The short drop down from the car park to the bridge begins to warm my legs, ready for the toil ahead. That long grind up, with the East face of Aonach Dubh and memories of lazy warm days on easy classic climbs made by an earlier pioneering generation. And some harder climbs where more boldness was required. At my back, the Aonach Eagach and its siren call in winter, plastered in snow and inviting me to a mini alpine adventure. Tempting, but not the day plan on the note I left of where I am going. I will climb some routes. I will decide which ones, if any when in the Corrie.

Across the burn and a last slog up into the Corrie by following the burn outline in the glow of a headtorch, watching for the buried lochans. You could be forgiven for thinking you were on an alpine adventure where a crevasse might eat you up, but in this case soak you and kill you from hypothermia. Into the Corrie proper as the light changes subtly from night to not quite day. I see Boomerang gully just catching some light at its top. Crampons on, axe in hand I plodded up in soft snow for a bit then hit perfect snow ice in the gully. I love moving fast using my fitness which is hard earned from days cutting trees, running, and racing my road bike. The former to earn a living, the latter purely for getting fit for moving fast on days like these. Also, for stamina, as when my climbing day ends, my rescue night might sadly begin when a call comes to get the team out. It’s a fine line between warmed up and fucked.

I go up Boomerang fast, reaching a very short snow ice steepening, then onto a shoulder, reaching it as the sunrise hits me. Everything turns dark orange. I stop and look around at the now lit up summits and take in this atom of delight. I could be summiting Everest, Denali or any famous giant, but I don’t need to think that way, because it’s not about imagining greater ranges. It’s pure delight that I live here, this is home, and this is sublime. It’s more than enough for me. Some of the time.

I plod up to the summit and take in the views, then drop down to the top of Broad gully then down into the still cold and brightening Corrie. I can see other headtorches on the way up the path now, and it’s getting lighter. Before more folk arrive and get on the popular climbs I decide Forked gully right hand should be next, and on good snow ice quickly ascend through the ice pitch onto the ridge then back climb down the left fork until I come across the trough carved out by climbers traversing below the climbs on the previous days. I then go up into Twisting gully and find it has good ice not hacked to bits by other ascents, so I quickly go up and across its steeper bit, then crampon up to the cornice which has a slot cut in it. I’m back on the ridge again and the air is clear and the light bright. I can see my house still frozen in the village fridge as we get no winter sun, and the house will now be stirring with breakfast being made. It’s a reflective moment. Am I selfish up here on my own?  Yet this is who I am. That brings responsibility too. Don’t fuck up being the main thought.

Coire nan Lochan

Pondering this, I go down the ridge to the top of NC gully and back climb down, then traverse across to Central Buttress, then across into SC gully. I climb a long steep strip of snow ice on bomber axe placements, move across the ice pitch onto a ramp, then climb up into the narrow steep confines of the upper gully. Steep calf aching cramponing to just below the gully rim where there is a cornice. Standing below this pondering the best way, with a big death drop below focuses all the chimps in my paradox. I decided to traverse left up to an easing angle where South Central Buttress joins and where there is a smaller cornice. Both axes planted shaft first, over the top with a heave I am up and safe.

I sit on a rock and ponder for a bit. I have the physical energy for one more climb, but I don’t have my head in the game anymore. All the chimps have been silenced. I have quietude.  I think - finish early and get home to the family.  I make my way down the NW ridge into the Corrie and meet many people whose climbing day is just about to start as my one ends. They will have a good day and good sport as the routes are at the top of their guidebook grade not banked out by very much snow yet.

Central Gully IV4 ScRBeith

Winter climbing is a funny old game. It’s tough but rewarding, and unforgiving if you don’t learn to heed what the mountains in your mind and in front of you are telling you. “Discretion is the better part of valour” is a truth. Sometimes like this day, the mountains let you in, other days they spit you out. Wising up to this can give a lifetime of adventure or a lifetime of hurts. There is nothing quite like it.

Down home to a busy household of young children, warmth and safety. Most of the afternoon still ahead and time for walk with the family before the early dusk and winter darkness sets in. On a frozen loch snow angels are made in the hoar frost, and another atom of delight as I observe family happiness while also still feeling the satisfaction of feeding the climbing rat that some of us are afflicted with. Until the Rat moves to a different home. Thats rare. 

Rebekah Gunn

Just as the sun sets and darkness arrives, and I feel relaxed, the radio goes, it’s the team leader calling us out to a fallen climber on Stob Coire nam Beith somewhere in the region of NW or Summit gullies. Pre mobile phone coverage in the glen, the fallen climbers friend had to run all the way down the steep path to the Elliots cottage to get help. I quickly get ready, grab my kit and go across to the A82 where another team member stops and gives me a lift. Others pass and collect our rescue van from Hamish MacInnes’s house at Achnacon. We get to the Elliots where I meet the fellow who has come down to get help. His friend has a badly broken ankle from having fallen with crampons on, and as they dug in broke his ankle and dislocated it. The van arrives and the police with it. It seems a helicopter is due in 55m. As its not life-threatening folk decide to wait for a lift up. I’m amped up, so grab a medical gas bottle and splint and take off up the path into the Corrie. Saving a bit of energy earlier in the day, and after lots of food when home I felt quite good. Tired, but it is amazing how long you can sustain an aerobic threshold and reasonable pace when trained. Its quite a mindful and satisfying feeling as your body burns fat for energy. Probably a remnant of our hunter gatherer past from chasing game across savanah for days.

I made it to the casualty at the foot of the first ice pitch in NW gully in about 55m just as the helicopter arrived below at the base. I gave the casualty some pain relief gas, then re located the ankle with a satisfying clunk, straightened out the leg, and put on a good splint. I had direct radio contact with the team and helicopter. The helicopter flew straight up, dropped down the winchman who double stopped the casualty up and away to the Belford Hospital Fort William. Then it was a slow tired walk back down to the base and home again. Two hours start to finish, home in time for tea with the family.

I later fell asleep in a chair until two in the morning. Tired

Sunset over the Cullin

Darkness and Light

"The wound is the place where the light enters you" - Rumi

Its just after midsummer. On my own in reflective mood. Wandering old haunts and old thoughts. Old hurts, injuries, and a consciousness of those who have gone. Some by misadventure, others by their own hand. Many more when their time has run out, life lived. 

Thinking, as the sands of time run through we live more in the past than in the future. I talk of bygone days more. "Back in the day", "remember when?", "I remember the day ............." 

On a hill in the dusk of Wednesday night while walking, aching hips and old pains nagging, up I go on a path to the Aonach Eagach. I thought of this thinking of the past, and why it doesn't have to be that way. We allow ourselves to diminish with age perhaps?  As I wandered stiff and sore up the hill, my mood lifted. Into the dusk and impending darkness I felt light as I slowly got into my old hill walking rhythm, which no matter what weight I had on my back I could sustain for hours. That rhythmic breathing and steady heart rate, which as you warm up allows your pace to get faster as you go, not slower. As I went up into the gloom the years passed off and a great optimism and feeling of gratitude and love entered. I looked around and across at places where I had been fortunate to quest among great cliffs to find my sense of self and who I was as a young man. And just occasionally where I would find others less fortunate who were more physically lost than spiritually, needing a helping hand from me when a rescuer. I came off the hill after that evening wander a younger man again. Despite injuries and age the boy is still in the man and wants the sunset to last longer. That means climbing higher. And that's not always up a mountain. 

The weather plays a huge part in our moods and life in the West Highlands. It can lift you to ecstacy in a sunset, and bury you in profound seasonal depression in endless rain and darkness. Bipolar weather that triggers cyclothymic feelings. Unless you embrace the unpredictable weather it will drown you in despair. The good days are the rapid chargers. Even just a little bright sun sends wattage into your soul and lifts your spirit. I like to take pictures of these days to remind me of them.

Sunrise from the East over the A82 January

Looking West from Ben Lora March

Morven from Cuil Bay July