Mellow Expeditions - @od.con

This week we spoke to @od.con about his snowy venture up to Scotland in January. As you can see from the photos, this wasn't just a stroll in the Peak District. Here's what he had to say about it..

In January we went on a trip up to Scotland to get some mountaineering in. We aimed to get at least one peak in, with Storm Eunice, Dudley and Franklyn looming over it proved to be challenge! Scotland has consistently been voted the most beautiful country in the world and it really does deliver.

We had booked a guide and aimed to go up Ben Nevis but the iconic Scottish winds made us rethink our plans! With our ice axes and crampons packed our guide gave us a run down on the conditions and we decided to head up Stob Bàn instead. With the weather warming we had to be extremely cautious regarding the terrain we went on, we saw plenty of avalanche debris and some fairly daunting cornices.

The day started on solid ground with a lot of snowmelt coming down from the top of the mountains and as we made our way up the terrain and passed through the tree line and into more alpine conditions the rain eventually turned to snow and then finally to icy hail. The best part of the day was as we finally hit the snow covered terrain, the clouds opened up for a brief half hour and the views across The Mamores were immaculate.

As we reached the top of Stob Bàn the winds reached 50MPH plus so we had to take cover behind a rock just below the summit and only managed to take a look over the peak at the wind scoured rocks being hammered by icy snow but I can safely say it was worth it!

By the time we got down to the van we were already planning February’s trip to get some snowboarding and splitboarding in!