If you find yourself lost in a blizzard like this, one of the best survival techniques is to dig a hole to shelter from the elements. I've scaled Mount Cairngorm with a tour group led by expert guide Andy Bateman. He's going to teach us how to safely construct a snow hole.
One of the best places to dig is this small valley 1,100 meters (3,600ft) up the mountain. It's nicknamed the Snow House because of the drifts that collect here.
“I'm so cold. It's so snowy. I can't actual imagine how we gonna stay here tonight.”
“ Well, the big killer in terms of your own temperature is the wind, and when we get in the snow hole we are totally out of the wind.”
“What is the wind chill now? What is the wind speed? “
Well, we are in quite a sheltered hollow now. So it's probably only 5, 10, 15mph something like that. When we came over the top it was considerably more than that, but once we are in the snow hole we will be very sheltered.”
“So we'll get you warmed up, okay? So there's your shovel.”
While we've been preparing the equipment three of the team, Lorna, Gregor and Dave have made a start on the hole, by digging tunnels into the snow drift. When they are deep enough we will connect them to form a cavern.
“We've got to go in a good metre from the top here. Do you want to come in and have a dig?”
“Yes.”
“I'm just chopping away this face here.”
“And how long does it take to do this normally, Andy?”
“It very much depends on the snow conditions. We've got relatively soft snow, but certainly three hours plus, sometimes as much as five hours.”
“Five hours, ok.”
“This is a snow saw designed to be able to cut through ice and snow, and by using this we can often remove the snow far more efficiently, in as much we can cut blocks out rather chipping away.”