When I was a teenager I went hill walking in Wales in the winter. There were responsible (presumably qualified) adults and we had training in the use of ice axes. Memory is all a bit hazy.
Anyway, I fell and started sliding so I did an arrest or whatever it's called with the axe and got back to the other people who were moving in steps cut in the snow/ice. I've no idea how far I would have gone. Maybe it was utterly innocuous, maybe I'd have gone over a cliff. It shook me up a lot and once we got back I sat out the rest of the activities.
Since then I've never done any activity where such precautions are considered necessary. Not for me. I'll stay at home thanks.
Many years ago I was in the Navy Cadets at school and I went on a 10 day "thing" up on Lock Ewe in Scotland
part of it was an overnight expedition up in the mountains - for NAVY cadets we did do a lot of walking!
anyway - the leaders were the 2 Officers from school - the Senior Office (Lt Cmdr) and the Leiutenant - who was also the by Scout leader so I knew him pretty well
Due to some good navigation from me and a friend of mine we got to the big mountains quicker than usual - so the leader decided to go up over the op rather than through the pass between 2 peaks
He had always wanted to do that as he had been doing that route for many years when he was a leader over the summer and this was the first time he had had the time
anyway - the ridges leading there were covered in thick snow
all was fine until we got to the ridge and started moving along.
The leader was at the front and the Lt. (my Scout leader) was bringing up teh rear
Now - I had also been on winter mountaineering courses and was starting to get a bit worried. I dropped back and told the otehr cadets how to make a good ridge with their foot before putting weight on it.
When I got to the Lt. I said I was concerned and he said he had seen me telling the other how to do it - and thanked be for it
but he didn;t think he could do anything - the leader was not good at taking critisism
anyway - I started making my way back and
suddenly the leader lot it
he shot down the slope at a rate of knots
luckily he landed on his backpack and was flailing around like a stranded turtle - which was good, if he had managed to get his feet down he would have tumbled and we would have been looking for Mountain Rescue and a helicopter!!
anyway - he was lucky and slid to a stop in teh valley - very shaken but not injured
The Lt took charge and asked me what I thought was the best route to get lower - which we did
we also roper together - which we should have done at the start and I took the one and only ice axe as I was trained to use it
We were damn lucky and should never have been up in that snow without better equipment
The leader was a bit of a prat at times
but i have to have a lot of respect for him in that he got us all together and basically said he had been an idiot and irresponsible and apologised in a very humble manner
which was a massive thing for someone like him to do
I also knew a bloke a few years later who was fully trained and everything and was "playing in the snow" on top of a mountain with his friend and his girlfriend
when she slid further and faster than expected and went off a cliff - a proper vertical type cliff
He said to me after that he was basically going down to retrieve a body after it happened - he was amazed that she survived
In dangerous condition you basically need to avoid them if possible and never take anything for granted
