Backblip

Day two, and with two more joining us just for the day, and parking in the higher of the two car parks this time, we walked up Coire Cas for about a mile and a half before doing some testing on the snow pack for instabilities.  Good fun and very interesting.  After inspecting a couple of snow holes dug by another group - they weren't part of our course - we carried on walking up Fiacaill a Choire Chais to the spot height, and then over to the summit of Cairn Gorm.  The photo was taken there, in front of the magnificent weather station, which looks for all the world like a couple of geese, and then we descended to the car park. 

The weather was amazing, the views stunning and I enjoyed learning the new skills, but I didn't enjoy the walking at all... which isn't like me.  I know I was tired after a rubbish night's sleep but that wasn't reason enough to feel so utterly exhausted.  I'd thought I was getting a slight cold a couple of days ago and that's proved to be the case, which isn't good if you want your body to walk uphill through snow and heather at a reasonable pace. I really struggled, and by the time we'd got back to the hostel I'd decided not to join the group for the big walk on the last day of the course.  I was going to listen to my body and go home, which was a shame but the mountains will still be there for next time.