7th March 2020
Nope, it wasn’t me this time. And neither of these two achievements had my involvement other than encouragement but they were the successes of the winter for Lou Reynolds (my girlfriend).
She worked tirelessly this winter to get herself in shape for the British Mountain Guides (BMG) Winter Test. I’m really pleased for her. An 6 day undertaking where the assessors push your capabilities as far as they can go to prepare you for a lifetime of guiding and the next steps of the Mountain Guide training process. This is a pass, defer or fail test. Lou and Phil Stevens were the only two (out of 5) who received passes on the results day, the remaining 3 had to defer and resit a day which they have all done now.
The 6 day assessment can vary from one year to the next, some years have brilliant conditions, some have terrible. This is the nature of Scottish winter. We prepare for any conditions and perform in whatever we are thrown on the assessment week. Lou and her team had very good conditions, not necessarily easy, but there were good mountaineering options, the mixed climbing options were plentiful and the ice climbing in the North-West highlands accommodated several teams. (Just don’t ask about what time they started!).
The assessment starts with a 2 day expedition. A snow hole to sleep in (or at east rest for a few of hours). During these two days, the candidates carry expedition rucksacks and tackle gullies and ridges in the day and navigation by night. They take turns safeguarding each other, making safe decisions and leading the group into the heart of the mountains. It feels like a hard two days especially if the weather is working against you as Lou and her team experienced. It is winter after all and fortunately they were all well versed at coping in the winter mountains.
After the expedition, the following two days are seen as ‘personal climbing days’. Demonstrate that you can climb at the specific level of V,6. One day on ice, one day on mixed. Lou climbed in the Cairngorm’s on Aladdin’s buttress for her mixed day and then climbed Poachers Fall on Liathach for her ice day. A long way to go from Glenmore Lodge so really adds to the tiredness!
After 2 days of climbing with your assessor and other candidates, you are then presented with mock students the following morning. These two days are the closest you will get to real life guiding work so they need to be done really well. It is a big ask after 4 big days already. The best way to prepare for all of this? Do lots and lots of winter climbing, mountaineering with a whole range of abilities. Be super mountain fit. The client days can be tough as you need to have good progression of skills and keep moving through the mountains. The days must be tailored and adapted to suit the client (who you know nothing about until the morning) and must flow and fill the allocated time. Its no good if you get back 2 hours before finish time when you could have done 4 more pitches of climbing on a nice sunny day! Lou had two brilliant days with her mock student finishing on Lurchers crag climbing brilliant ice in the sunshine.
So a brilliant effort by Lou, she worked really hard and passed with flying colours in my opinion. It was a joyful moment when she was told that she had passed. She deserved the following week of rest to make up for such a busy winter. Well done!
But it didn’t end there.
Just before the lock down while I was working (next blog post), Lou and our friend Pete Herd snuck onto Skye and completed a full winter traverse in 10 hours from summit to summit. A brilliant effort by two capable mountaineers and probably the best finale one could have to their Scottish winter season. The grandest mountaineering objective in Scotland. So what a season for Lou, a very memorable one.
