What to Expect on a Club Trip

IBSC trips are legendary – its probably why you joined the club! (If you doubt us, check out some of the past trip reports!) Whether it’s a day trip or one of our weekend or overnight trips staying in some of the most iconic mountain huts in the Highlands, a mega spring day doing the Cairngorm 4000-ers, or a night spent in an igloo you helped to build, you can expect to have lots of fun regardless of the weather and snow conditions.

Here are some useful tips to help you get the best ouf of being in the club and what to expect on club trip:

  • The club offers a wide range of day and overnight trips all over the Highlands, using a variety of accommodation to suit all budgets. Likewise we aim to offer day trips to suit different interests within the club such as Nordic skiing, splitboarding and telemarking.
  • If you are not sure if a trip is for you, check out the trip grading system. This, along with the trip description, will help you decide. Most of our overnight trips will suit all abilities, as there are enough folk there for a range of different objectives. A few of our trips are focused on steeper and more advanced skiing, but these are clearly described as such. There are lots of other resources on the website on kit and knowledge including a lot of hard-won advice and lessons from some of the best in the business. If you are still not sure, you can also contact one of the club committee who will always be happy to give advice.
  • If you are a new member, then you’ll get access to a ‘new member’ only tickets for your first season. Pay close attention to when tickets are released as they sell out very fast. But spaces do come up all the time as people have to pull out – they will usually post to the WhatsApp spaces and cancellations channel, but also pay attention to the website to see if a trip has spaces.
  • The snow gods sometimes dictate that we go hillwalking, wild swimming, running, mountain-biking etc. instead of touring. But lots of members are very prepared to take the skis for a long walk to the snowline to catch some turns. So be flexible and open minded and pay attention to the kit requirements – you don’t want to be stood in your swimming cozzie when the plan was for a mountain bike ride!
  • Once you book a club trip , you’ll get a confirmation email with useful info in it and you’ll be added to a WhatsApp group for the trip. Use this to get to know the other members on the trip and hatch your plans for the day or weekend. Our WhatsApp community is a great way to find out more about conditions or try to borrow some bit of missing kit in your set-up.
  • Make sure to pay close attention to the weather forecasts (MWIS and Met Office are best) and the snow conditions and forecast avalanche hazard from SAIS.
  • Know our trip T&Cs, particularly when it comes to cancellations. Last minute cancellations due to lack of snow are bad form! Our overnight trips are nearly always sold out, but last minute spaces are usually hard to fill by that stage as folk have made other plans.
  • Each trip has a ‘Trip Contact’. They are more experienced club members there to help with the co-ordination and planning who have volunteered to help. The club depends on them so be nice to them!
  • For day trips, ensure you know where the meeting point is – they can change at short notice and you don’t want to be stood in the wrong car park wondering where everyone else is. If you are going to be late, make sure to tell folk.
  • For overnight trips make sure you know how to get to the accommodation, any hut rules and let folk know your expected arrival time. Leaving people standing around in subzero conditions at the gate to Strawberry Cottage is a sure way to lose friends and alienate people…
  • Pack your bag and check your kit the night before – this will cut down on the faff-factor and mean you are less likely to forget some vital bit of kit like your boots or skis! And if you do forget something like your skins or goggles or gloves, speak up – people often bring spares.
  • Before heading onto the hill the TC will help the group/s finalise plans for the day ahead. On overnight trips this will usually be the night before at a suitable moment before the socialising begins in earnest! For day trips it will be at the start point.
  • We try to keep group sizes to no more than 6 when touring – it’s both safer and faster. So on bigger trips you’ll need to sort yourselves into groups. If it’s a hill-walking day then the need to keep the group size small is less and larger groups are OK, but really big groups (over 8) tend to have more stop-start & faff.
  • Make sure others know what your groups plans for the day are in line with the club Late Back procedure. This is a key safety measure and not up for negotiation!
  • Don’t be surprised if you are asked to help carry group safety equipment – its mandatory on our trips but it all packs down small and weighs next to nothing when shared out.
  • If ski touring, you’ll be asked to participate in a transceiver check at the start of the day. Your TC will organise this.
  • Also, when touring get yourself a ‘ski buddy’ for the day or weekend. You can watch out for each other, spot kit problems, help hold a ski steady etc and make sure things like hard-to-see heel pins on binding are secure.
  • Speak up when you need to. Don’t suffer in silence if you’ve got a problem with your kit or a blister coming on. And if you are not happy or got concerns about the plan or the weather/avalanche hazard or anything else, then you really should speak up. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t!
  • Equally, listen to what our experienced members have to say – there is a lot of hard-won wisdom to in the club you can learn from. But what should never happen is you being made to feel inadequate or unwelcome on a trip. Each member is as much as part of the IBSC team as anyone else and you’ll be listened to.

January 2025