14th Feb, Winter Skills Course, Greenside

Today I was working for Highpoint on a basic winter skills course with a large group from Kendal Hillwalking Club. Snow conditions in the Lakes are still good.


I forgot the camera today so unfortunately we have no pictures. The area around Greenside and Raise holds the snow well during the winter and has some excellent slopes with safe run outs for teaching winter skills.


During the day we found the remants of a recent avalanche activity with a large crown wall and some sizeable pieces of debris still very obvious. This was on the lee slope of the hill and it was evidence to the amount of recent wind blown snow that we have. It was quite rare to find in the Lakes as avalanche activity is normally very low.


We dug some test pits in this area and the snowpack down to ground level was well consolidated and a low risk of further activity. A slight thaw is forecast for tomorrow but with the depth and condition of the snowpack it will be around for a while yet.