REMEC Winter Meet 2013

Alpine weather on CMD Arete (c) Maud Maudington

Ex REMEC Winter Meet 2013 was a two week expedition to the Scottish Highlands in February of this year. The idea of the trip was to qualify all personnel with at least the foundation qualification in Winter Mountaineering. The only downside to spending two weeks out of work in Fort William, Scotland, was having to share our accommodation with civvis, mainly of the Spanish variety. Good fortune was on our side in the form of amazing weather – never before has Scotland seen so many cloud free Munroe’s.

Team on Buachaille Etivemoor (c) Maud Maudington

We bagged a lot of the peaks in the area, including Ben Nevis and the Mamores Range. The routes were demanding and challenging, and were mostly covered in snow and ice. We encountered a variety of terrain enabling us to utilise our new skillset. Some picked up moving on snow and ice easier than others – SSgt Webb ended the expedition early with an inconspicuous trip on Aanoch Mhor resulting in a broken ankle. 

Snow hole on Creag Meagaidh (c) Maud Maudington

The best part of the two weeks was staying out in a snow hole. Surprisingly, it’s warmer in there than you’d think being as it’s a big hole in essentially a large outdoor fridge. Even more surprisingly, they’re pretty substantial and thankfully didn’t cave in during the night. Overall, our general knowledge in the winter environment has been massively increased. The company we were in positively added to the experience. The end result all round was a sense of achievement, a feeling of satisfaction and enjoyment and also a new qualification in Winter Mountaineering.

Maud Maudington the First