Winter Climbing - Cairngorms.

Here we are in Coire an Sneachda, Cairngorms. The lower graded climbs are in reasonable conditions although there are areas where the snow or ice is broken.The harder climbs are stripped bare and even although we are getting occasional snow showers, it's been very wet snow and this mild weather is to continue for a day or two yet! There were quite a few climbers around today, ascents of all the gullies seem to be OK, with some interesting little ice sections. There are some loose rocks around so be careful what you are torquing and standing on. On Spiral today one large rock was dislodged from the upper pitches by another party which had potential to cause lots of upset, fortunately it bounced passed, although delivering a striking blow to Alisons backpack breaking her goggles which were stored in the top pocket of her sac!

Shelter from the storm!

Transceiver practice, Glen Feshie

We have had a pretty wild day here around Cairngorm mountain. We skinned up on our touring skis as far as we could go in the strong winds then abandoned the skis, stashing them behind some big boulder. We continued on foot into Coire an Sneachda and did some short roping skills on the steep ground there. Eventually we end up at Windy Gap and then made our way back to 1141 and part way down the Fiacaill to our stashed skis. It was wild work removing the skins and trying to stand on the skis , but the new wind blown snow (potential wind slab!) made for some nice skiing over the frozen crusty old snow. Once we were down to the Cairngorm Mountain ski area (which was closed for today, due to high winds) we enjoyed the freshly pisted run back to the car park. These piste machines and drivers have done a fantastic job up there and if this snow continues, there is going to be some good skiing to be had by this weekend if not sooner!

The wind prevented us from doing any out door skills there so we went round to Glen Feshie ( gealic translation: the sheltered place from the story blasts) and carried on with some avalanche transceiver work in the long heather which makes great hiding places for such practice.

Glen Feshie lies within the Cairngorm National park and was first settled about 2500 years ago. It hosts fantastic woodland, including Scots Pine, Oak, Alder and Birch. Red deer run wild and the deep pools of the river Feshie hold salmon. Map makers in the 17 th century discovered the huge reserves of woodland and by the end of the second world war the woodlands had been felled. Edwin Lanseer visited Glen Feshie in the 1820s and his famous painting "the monarch of the Glen" put him amongst the leaders of the Highland Romantic painters.

Alison and Julian at Windy Gap

Ben Macdui/ Beinn MacDuibh- Grampians

With Alison and Julian we have had great day ski touring. We skinned up Lurchers towards Cairn Lochan (1215m) and then on over the plateau to the summit of Ben Macdui (1309 m). The snow cover is superb, all be it bit icy in places. We descended via Coirie Domhain and in one photos you can view all the snow cave entrances and instrutor led groups working there. We then crossed up on over into Coire Raibert and passed windy gap to ski down the Fiacaill a Chorie Chais all the way back to the Day lodge.

Coire Domhain

Beinn MacDuibh summit.

Rainy day on Cairngorm

It's mild here with rain falling on the summits today.With Alison and Julian, we managed to skin up to the summit of Cairngorm and enjoy some piste sking on the way down. High on the mountains there is still a lot of snow so a slight drop in temperature is all it needs for good conditions to return. Cairngorm Mountain has still a good depth of snow on its upper runs and you can jsut ski down to teh car park, but as you near the day lodge its worth taking of your skis to walk back the last 30 meters or so, Buttress climbing is out now but the gullies remain full but waterfalls are forming, again if a freeze comes which is forecast then it will be really good again. We also practiced some hauling systems on large patches of snow near the Cairngorm Mountain car park...all in all, a good interesting day! We did not see any SAIS avalanche observers on the summit weather station pylon ( please refer to the SAIS blog!)

A wild Cairngorm Ski Touring day

One has to try and try we did! It would be easy to assume that in the mild weather there is no snow left but in the Cairngorms, however there is tons of the stuff! With Nick and Tony we skinned a track up Lurchers burn ( Allt Creag an Leth choin) and once we reached the crest over looking the Lairig Ghru we continued on reasonable snow to Cairn Lochan 1215 meters and the around the plateau to the Northern corries. We had to carry our skis a bit and don our crampons. Eventually as we tried to ascend to 1176 we simply could no longer move safely against the wind so roped up and were forced to descent the Goat Track into Coire an Sceachda. This of course resulted in a long carry out with the skis, where as we optimistically hoped that we would have been able to skin around the back ( South aspect) and ski down by Marquis Well and "the white lady" to the car park. The wind was ace, wild and free, Nick and Tony enjoyed the adventure!

Ski Mountaineering- Aviemore

Its been a wild windy day but we had a great day. We skinned up to the Ptarmigan Restaurant from Cairngorm car park this morning and really did not expect to get a lot further as the wind was very strong. While having coffee Cairngorm Mountain announced that the upper ski tows were closing due to wind, however Nick, Tony and I decided to carry on and we skinned towards the summit of Cairngorm and then enjoyed a wind blown but interesting ski descent to Loch Avon which is still frozen over. For climbers reading this Shelter Stone and Carn Etchachan are well and truly stripped!
We did some T- axe belays and crevasse rescue hauling systems, then skinned back up to the plateau, abseiled over some small cornices from bollards and generally practiced skills to prepare Tony and Nick for a Chamonix to Zermatt ski tour ( The "Haute Route", hut to hut trip). Finally we skied down the White Lady all teh way to the car park which while in soft snow was in good condition and slight freeze and a shower of new snow will bring conditions back in conditon quite quickly

19 Feb in the Cairngorms

Yesterday with Matt and Dan we climbed the Runnel and Goat Track gully and things were very soft, and also I forgot to take my camera along - hence no blog!Today conditions are better, all frozen over and good the guly lines are full of frozen steps. We even had a snow shower so the climbing was Ok. The buttresses are stripped and I have posted a photo of the "Mess of Pottage" for those wondering about buttress routes this weekend!