Ellon Hill Walking Club Talk
Myself and another Team member, Stuart Warrender, gave a presentation to the Ellon Hillwalking Club on the history of Scottish Mountain Rescue and Winter Safety in the Hills. Having recently attended an Avalanche Awareness Course, Stuart and I were well placed to pass on some helpful advice on assessing snow conditions when out and about. Special thanks should be given to Paul Noble who compiles the avalanche forecast for the Scottish Avalanche Information Service SAIS in the Southern Cairngorm area.
We are often asked to give talks on Mountain Rescue, and we are more than happy to oblige. This time we also gave an overview of the kind of kit we carry, both personal and Team kit. Some of the audience were surprised at just how much we need to carry with us to effect a rescue. The members of the Ellon Hillwalking Club travel all over Scotland and have a meet set up for later in the year. Their questions on kit choice when traveling as a group were well thought out and we were pleased to see they had addressed most of the points raised during the talk. It is important to carry a good sized group shelter (8 person) to help shield people from the wind and rain and items such as head torches should be carried in the personal kit along with some extra warm layers, even in summer. The talk was well received and some of the statistics in the Avalanche presentation were quite sobering and encouraged those present to properly plan their journey before venturing into the hills. A large amount of information can be sourced before even leaving the house by looking at maps, weather forecasts, avalanche forecasts and looking at recent avalanche activity through the SAIS website helps build a picture of what the snow pack is like where you are planning on going.
Thank you to Ellon Hillwalking Club for their generous donation to the Team, it is very much appreciated.
Words by B. Lindsay
Photo by S. Warrender
