Report from CCF Cadets Lucia (Year 12) and Atoosa, Nicole and Akira (Year 11)
We spent a week in Kinlochleven, Scotland over the February half term, alongside 8 other cadets from Malvern College and Bredon School. It was the most incredible, scenic week away in the Scottish highlands, while we did all sorts of activities, varying from day to day. We travelled on the 9th of February up to Malvern College to meet the others we were travelling with and spent a night in Malvern College to collect all of our kit and get a nice good night's sleep in the boarding house, before we embarked on an 11 hour coach journey the next day. The coach journey to Scotland was not as bad as it sounds, we all had such a laugh on the way up there and got to know each other. Once we arrived in Kinlochleven we were assigned billets and went straight to sleep!
Day 1 was heavily focused on us getting confident with all of our gear and kit, such as ice axes and crampons which we used to aid us climb up more snowy mountain regions. We left our accommodation at about 11am after many briefings on different ways to stay safe up the mountains and avalanche awareness ect. We arrived at The Lost Valley and began our ascent to find some snow to begin some snow and ice training. We hiked up some beautiful mountain scenes for several hours, passing waterfalls and frozen sculptures on our way up. It was challenging at times but no match for TWGGS cadets!!! Once we reached the thick snow at 800m+ altitude, we put on our crampons and got out our ice axes and proceeded to climb up thick snow and ice. The views were absolutely astonishing and the fresh cold stream water was to die for.
On the morning of 3 we evaluated the weather and collectively decided it was too dangerous to venture out into the mountains; instead we packed our big birgens for an overnight trip to a bothy to the North of Fort William. We spent all morning packing all of our kit and rations into our bags and strapping firewood and kindling to the outside of our bergens to the point Atoosa would fall backwards every time she put her bag on. We set out in the minibus to get to walking distance of the bothy and had a quick stop in Fort William to collect supplies (marshmallows and biscuits) for our night away. Once we arrived on a 5 mile walk off the bothy we hopped out and ventured out in the pouring rain with high morale and excitement.
After a long wet walk we arrived at the bothy, lucky for us no one else was sharing the accommodation with us. We got in and changed into our dry kit and huddled around the fireplace. After warming up and drying, we began to cook dinner, three bean chilli from the military ration packs, the best option out there. After dinner we all sat around the fireplace and sang songs and sea shanties all evening until the haggis was brought out for a taste test, which was surprisingly tasty, a pure Scottish delicacy. We stayed up until silly o’clock singing and laughing round the fireplace until it was time to crawl into our sleeping bags and get a good night's rest.
In the morning, we ate breakfast as usual and made lunches for the day. Then we got on the coach and got to Buachaille Etive Beag, which is a mountain between Glen Coe and Glen Etive. It has an elevation of 958m. Compared to earlier days, this one was easier for us to climb because there weren't any difficult conditions to deal with other than a little snow. The only reason it was truly challenging was because we were exhausted from the past week. We eventually reached a point when we were divided into different groups. We climbed a Munro called Stob Coire Raineach while the other group climbed Stob Dubh. There were some tricky parts such as a few streams, specifically the first one we encountered. This was covered by a lot of deep snow, so we were unsure where we could place our feet without falling in. There was quite a lot of névé left from previous days, which made it easier to look for a safe path to use, but in some areas, it was dry or icy which could be difficult. Once we got to the top, there was quite low visibility due to being in a white-out and, after stopping to take a quick picture, we, nearly immediately, began our climb back down. It was harder to go down something steep rather than going up, as it could be harder to find holds and keep stability. However, it became easier over time and, somewhere near the middle, we met back up with the other group. From here on, it was a nice trek down, other than some parts of snow that were deep enough to submerge the majority of your leg! We got back around 3:00 which was convenient as we had to return our kit quickly as we had a long journey the next day. For the rest of the evening, we returned our kit (TWGGS returned theirs first because we’re organised) and did some tidying up. We cleaned the dry room and then had the rest of the evening free to relax and play games, apart from dinner.
When we reached the Nevis Range Gondola, we took the gondola to the middle of Aonach Mor mountain. Once we had reached the thick newly fallen snow, we split off into two smaller groups with different summits to reach. My group, Kai, Thomas, Flint, Chris and I began to climb the Munroe Aonach Beag. At the summit we were at an altitude of 900m+ in very harsh windy snowy conditions. Most of the way up was thick snow, roughly 2 metres thick nearer the summit. Once we had reached the first summit of Aonach Beag, we ventured onto another summit of Carn Mor Dearg, the 9th highest summit in the UK, with an altitude of 1,222m. The views all around were absolutely breathtaking, with a perfect view straight onto the peak of Ben Nevis from the other side of the valley in between them. It was probably the most amazing thing I’ve ever achieved, the views and scenery were unbelievable and adrenaline was at an all time high. On our descent back to the gondola, we got the chance to try sliding down the snow on the ends of our snow shovels which was a faster and much more fun way to get down the mountain. The snow even on the descent was still leg deep and one wrong foot placement would have you hip deep in snow, the perfect snow for snowballs! Once we arrived back at the Mountain Range waiting for a Gondola ride back down we were all treated to a nice warm hot chocolate, very rewarding! Undoubtedly the most amazing day I’ve ever had, completely unforgettable and I’d do anything to go back and relive it!
Lucia - Year 12
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