19th February - The Pap of Glencoe with the Marshall clan

The Marshall clan, a motley crew!

A lovely picture looking up Fionn Ghleann towards Beinn Maol Chailuim and Stob an Fhuarain

Anna leading up the final stretch to the summit

Superb views down Loch Leven towards Ardgour

Patchy skies dulled down what woud have been cracking visibility

Good views out over towards the Ballachulish Horseshoe, which we climbed recently

Today I was out with Anna and her family on the Pap of Glencoe to give her family a wee taste of winter conditions in Scotland. Unfortunately conditions weren't really that great, but there was enough snow to play in above the 600m mark, and it was certainly cold. Anna was keen to do most of the leading and instructional stuff about using the axes, moving in difficult terrain and group management so I was happy to sit back and observe, looking for any teaching points I could bring up with her later. She did really well, and was clear and concise with her instructions, and I'm hoping that she will one day go for her ML as I think she would be great as a leader in the hills.

We just trekked up the normal route, overtook a few folk and took time to enjoy the surrounding views. I think her family enjoyed the walk up the Pap even though it is a bit of a trudge, but the craic was good and it let them see Anna in her element.

We were the first group to summit (possibly the only ones!) as everyone else turned back at the boulder field before the top, but Anna guided the troops through and kept them safe (even though her brother was keen to use his axe'properly' by driving it into every rock, snow patch and turf he could come across...time to look the file out...). On the summit we were rewarded with some tremendous views, and the Marshalls were all pleased with their achievement. We had a bite to eat and headed back down (with the obligatory snow ball fight of course) to the car. Hopefully her folks got a bit of a taste for snow covered mountains, and will come back up once we actually have a real winter so that we can do something a bit spicier with them! All in all a pleasant day and another for the winter ML log book as the assessment looms...