UKC

doing a winter mountaineering course in scotland early/mid feb worried its going to be shite... wondering if maybe i should try cancel and get some money back... what you guys think?

In reply to lachy773:
What makes you think it will be bad?

Can I have your 3 week long range forecast please.

In reply to lachy773:

Mid 1980s we booked the CIC for the working week near the end of January - we were scratching around or floundering in deep unconsolidated snow. A week later the best winter conditions for years arrived.

Mid Feb is four weeks away, lots of times for things to get good. Also the guys running the course will know of the best conditions and are on the ground day in day out. Unless things go really mild then I wouldn't worry. Check out the blogs of the various guides to see what's getting done, also the SAIS blogs.

ALC

In reply to lachy773:

1) You have about a month until your course, conditions will change and change again in that time. Its way too early to know whats going to happen.

2) It a course, I would be highly suprised if there isn't enough snow/ice in sheltered corries (even if the temps are high and the mountains are green) to practice the skills you need to learn

3) Contact the course provider and speak to them, they will advise on your options. They may transfer you to another date etc. If you cancel they would probably have no requirement to return any of your money this close to the start date. Do you have adequate insurance to cover such events?

In reply to lachy773:
Stick with it. If conditions were great now (and there ok actually) they could be rubbish then and vice versa. Your instructor will always find somewhere to go.

In reply to lachy773: cheers guys.. was just starting to think i maybe should have just done one in the alps or something. thanks for info, ill sit it out with fingers crossed

You will find some big patches of snow as a bare minimum, there will be frozen turf about and ridges a plenty.

Ideally you get a few days whiteout to learn navigation properly eg not a blue sky day !

In reply to lachy773:


You'll be fine. Just stick to nails tech 8 sickfests

In reply to lachy773:

If it's sun and warm weather you want then I'd stick to doing summer courses.

Feb is an ideal month for winter conditions.

In reply to lachy773:

You can learn more about dealing with poor condition - poor visibility, high wind, spindrift, avalanche risk... it's good to have some practices.

In reply to Dave Perry: nah dave worried theres going to be too much warm ya see.. i want snow!

In reply to lachy773:
Then I think you'll find February is the middle of winter and therefore good conditions for winter courses. Thats why they run them then./!!

In reply to lachy773: don't ask for too much snow as the roads up there might get closed then you WILL have wasted your money!

In reply to lachy773:
Remember that when people moan about conditions being universally awful, it's often couple-of-weekends-a-year types (like me) who've turned up, picked the most obvious hill / crag / route / whatever, rocked up, not found any snow and got the huff.

Your guide is (presumably) going to be a local who's literally out in the hills looking at the conditions every day of the week all year round, so if there's snow anywhere they'll know where to find it. We went out on a course with Martin and Alex Moran earlier in the year and had a really good day out with plenty of excellent snow on a day when other people from our club had gone to similar crags in the same area and found nothing...

In reply to Ramblin dave:

Absolutely second all of the above- one of the skills of really getting the most out of an average winter is knowing where to go. If you are not a local, getting this beta from your guide is going to speed up your learning curve no end and will stand you in good stead with your future climbing. Choosing the right venue in crap conditions is a handy skill to have and one I'm still learning...

In reply to lachy773:

The guides will know where to find enough snow for a course even in the worst conditions.

In reply to lachy773: thanks lots guys.. was just starting to worry cos of people posting about the bad conditions and its been pretty warm.. thanks for the reassurance.