I remember the first time I did a winter skills course. It was on a mountain called Helvellyn in the English Lake District on a bitterly cold February morning. I’d hiked on Helvellyn several times before, though this was the first time I’d approached the mountain carrying a helmet, crampons and an ice axe. After the long walk in and a little bit of practise of kicking steps into the snow with our winter hiking boots, we donned our crampons.
“What d'you reckon then?” asked our instructor, as we strode purposefully towards the meat of the mountain and into the jaws of a blizzard. “Have we gone from hiking to mountaineering?”
