The Traveller: Out for a stroll? Take the ice axe: Oliver Gillie dons his crampons for a scottish winter ramble

EILEEN RICHIE is 61 and is thinking about buying herself an ice axe and crampons - equipment she never expected she would need. But winter hill-walkers in Scotland are not considered to be properly equipped without them.

Mrs Richie was one of six women who joined a winter skills course in the Cairngorms that is designed to help people who want to walk safely in snow and ice on Scottish mountains. The Ramblers' Association, which organised the course, has found that too many of its members do not understand the problems winter can bring for hill-walkers.

Hardened ramblers who are used to long walks in the hills can easily get into trouble in the winter if they do not have the right equipment and know-how to use it. Others avoid remote walks because they have not been trained to cope with problems such as ice fields or sudden white-outs.

A light mist hung over Cairn Gorm as a small group of ramblers, including Mrs Richie, walked past the stationary ski lifts. Despite the absence of snow on the lower slopes, hopeful skiers were still arriving. Their skills were not sufficiently versatile to get them up the mountain. So they congregated unhappily in the snack bar at the bottom of the lift.

Wes Sterritt, the Ramblers' mountain coach, uses an easy quadruped method of walking in the hills. With a ski-pole in each hand, he gets up and down slopes like an all-terrain vehicle. It is a method of covering ground that he used in the Himalayas before he returned to Scotland.

At about 3,000ft we came to Ciste Mhearad, a gully covered in hard snow. Wes demonstrated how to cut steps with an ice axe and walk safely across a steep slope that would otherwise provide no foothold. It is always possible to turn back on coming to an ice field. But on the way down, another ice field may trap walkers who do not carry ice axes. It may be too late to retrace your steps and impossible to go on without risking a slide over a precipice.

Apart from enabling the climber to cut steps, the ice axe may also be used to stop a dangerous skid. Wes demonstrated how to slide downhill and, rolling over, stick the point of the ice axe in the ground to bring the body to a juddering halt. With some trepidation, Mrs Richie and her friends slid down and brought themselves to a sudden stop with faces close to the ice. Having tried it cautiously once or twice, they became like children, wildly sliding down a snow slope on tea trays.

'I didn't expect to be able to do it, but I enjoyed it,' said Mrs Richie. 'I had a spin-off of self- confidence. I would like to be out on the hill every weekend.'

Climbing up the slope, we came to man-made caves in deep snow, which had been blown into the top of the gully. They had been cut into the bank by people practising survival methods. The entrance was about 2ft across but inside were three large connected rooms. The best had a sleeping platform close to the roof so the sleeper was surrounded by warmer air.

It was a luxurious shelter. For simple survival a more modest hole will do. As Wes explained, the winter walker should be equipped with a bivvy bag: a waterproof bag that gives protection from the wind, even without a snow shelter. Most of the body's heat is lost into the ground, so when sheltering in a bivvy bag it is best to crouch or lie on top of a backpack.

On the other side of Cairn Gorm, the Coire an t-Sneachda rises in a grand face of rock with small goat paths between the outcrops. The ancient glacier that carved it has left an extraordinary debris of boulders scattered along the bottom of the cliff. Above the boulders was a small but intimidating ice slope.

Mrs Richie was hoping no one would notice if she did not put her crampons on. She was not convinced they were necessary for walking in the hills. But when everyone else put them on she did not want to be left behind.

'Be positive,' said Wes. 'Stab your points into the ice.'

Mrs Richie made one stab, then another. After a few steps she was off, like spiderman, walking up a frozen stream at an angle of 45 degrees. It was not what she had expected of herself as a pensioner entitled to free bus tickets. After a little more practice, some of the party were running on their points, sticking their toes into the ice and gathering speed.

An ice axe and crampons can help the rambler in a difficult situation and experts say they should always be carried in the Scottish mountains in winter. W W Naismith (1856-1935), one of the pioneers of mountaineering in Scotland, was the first to point out that Scottish mountains are as dangerous as the Alps. He is now most remembered for Naismith's rule.

It is a simple, even banal, observation but, used properly, it can be life-saving in a mist or white-out. It states that an average walking pace is three miles an hour, with an extra half-hour for every 1,000ft of ascent.

Translating Naismith's rule for metric maps gives us one kilometre in 12 minutes and one extra minute for each 10- metre rise in contour. If you use a magnetic compass and Naismith's rule, it is possible to navigate in very poor visibility. Counting paces may be an even better way to estimate distance, but it is first necessary to measure your own pace by counting the number of steps between two landmarks: about 70 or 80 paces per 100 metres over rough ground.

Painstaking navigation based on these methods will keep most walkers out of

trouble.

With guidance from Wes, a hut appeared from the mist in one place, a cairn materialised in thick falling snow in another and, after crossing some wild country, we were back in the car park by the ski lifts at the end of the day. The skiers were still in the snack bar.

It was time for the apres-ski, but only the ramblers felt they could enjoy it.

The Ramblers' Association runs a series of two-day courses in winter skills at Kingussie in the Cairngorms. Cost: pounds 78 to pounds 84 for non- members, discount for members. Details: Bernie Jones, Sonnhalde Guest House, East Terrace, Kingussie, PH21 1JS (0540 661266).