Mid May winter climbing!

I took another wander into the corries today to see how the icy lines from last weeks were doing.
There was a good path of packed snow until the main coire bowl where I had to trail break. There was a large cone of old cornice and avalanche debris, from a few days ago at the foot of the Trident gullies.
The general cover was similar to last week though the snow was pretty crusty on the approaches and in Red Gully. This was worrying on the steep crusty ice pitch!
Much firmer snow and better ice in Goat Track Gully due to the previous weeks traffic. The crux ice pitch was still OK with the snow improving the higher I climbed.
The plateau and summits are still plastered white and at times it was difficult to see the corniced edges due to the flat light and mist.
It was snowing heavily when I left with large amounts of cascading graupel pouring down the gullies!

Eeeeeegach on the Aonach in Glen Coe!

Thomas and I traversed a wintry, slippery and deserted Aonach Eagach on Saturday, while Fi and Ian were enjoying the sun and powder skiing on Cairngorm.
We'd arranged to do this outing a few months ago, expecting warm sun and dry rock after March's heatwave.
The weather had other ideas which became increasingly apparent as I crossed the country, surrounded by the hills in their full winter glory!
I'd normally expect the carparks to be full on most May weekends in Glencoe, especially at the start of one of the great hillwalking and scrambling classics, but not today. Glencoe was quiet and the carpark even quieter, with only one other car at 10.00am!
Prepared for the worse, we headed up with axes and crampons in reserve, to the the soft wet snow a few hundred metres below the ridge crest.
We decided to keep the crampons off while we short roped the ridge. It was neither summer nor full winter conditions. The snowy descent from Am Bodach being the most unnerving compared to the exposed but positive and less snowy Pinnacles.
Whatever we did it would have been awkward. Climbing on the snowy rock and slippery snow, slush covered slabs. The fifteen metres of short-rope provided extra security and a tight rope or counter balance as and when required!
Given the conditions it was a challenging alpine ridge traverse that Thomas and I will remember for some time to come.

Back on our local hills there was even more snow, an avalanche and some great Cairngorm skiing both on and off-piste....
See Fi's blog here for more details and lots of snowy photos.

Yet more snow and powder for the skiers!

"Last Updated on: 11/05/2012 17:44
End of day update... and the snow just keeps coming. We have had over a foot of fresh snow over the last 18 - 24 hrs, and it is still chucking it down!! As a result it is now possible to ski back to the mid platform via first 2 zig zags then on to the gunbarrel section of the Cas track. It is a similar story for the M1 and Lady pistes, although there are still a few rocks lurking, so go with care. Amazing cover in the top bowls, and the team will be in early to get the Shred Park reshaped for the freestylers. The M1 poma should be ready for first thing, after an amazing effort by the engineering team. We intend to run the Ptarmigan, Ciste,Polar and M1 lifts, with the train doing middle upstops. We may run the Cas from the gunbarrel if the demand warrants it.
Who knows if it keeps snowing there could be top to bottom riding available!
Facillities opening from 8.30am and first train at 9.00am.
The Head Wall still has an Avalanche Warning set in place, and Avalanches have occured during this week......"
For the full details see http://www.cairngormmountain.org
There is also a considerable avalanche forecast for Cairngorm on the SAIS site at  http://www.sais.gov.uk/page_northern%20cairngorms.asp

May bank holiday ice climbing!

Good winter ice climbing in the Cairngorms for May. In fact the climbing conditions would be described as pretty good even in the height of winter never mind in late Spring or early Summer!!!! 

We were expecting good firm snow condition so rather than skiing the gullies we headed in to climb them with our axes and crampons. 

Originally we thought about climbing a mixed rocky route but given the quality of the snow and thick ice in places we decided the gully lines were more appealing. 

A few skiers had headed into the Coire with crampons and were climbing up Central Gully as we headed up towards Spiral Gully. 

We moved together as the climbing was very straightforward on good firm snow. We then headed back down and were pleasantly surprised by the amount of thick ice around the Red Gully and Goat Track areas. 

We played around on the little RH ice falls before Fi led up a very icy, fun and atmospheric Goat Track Gully. 

We were back up onto the plateau just as the bad weather, poor viz and fresh snow arrived at around 13.30 hrs.

The new snow was being blown into the ski area on SW and this should further improve some the runs in the Cas.

More details are on Fi's blog here

Hot and snowy turning colder for summer!

Another great day t-shirt off-piste skiing in the Cairngorms, now my toe nails fallen off and I've patched up my shins and feet with Duct Tape!
The weather is forecast to turn a lot colder and the snow will freeze up solid for some fun May winter climbing with our ice axes and crampons as well as the great skiing!!!!
Always lot's of activity choices in the Cairngorms during April and May, which include, rock climbing, skiing, mountain biking, winter climbing, paddling, sailing, wind surfing and much much more :-)
A few more details and photos on Fi's bog here

Biking and paddling!

A rest from the ski boots and skiing today!

Fun, sun, and snow on the 1st of May!

Despite it being another hot and sunny day, there's still complete snow cover on the upper mountain.
Much quieter than the weekend so Fi and I bought a ski pass today and spent a few hours on the piste for a bit of practise on the White Lady and M1 etc. before heading up and over the back of Cairngorm.
The snow was getting sticky on the piste and starting to thin at the bottom of the M1 tow. The snow was much heavier and not as nice as the weekend so we headed back up to the top of the Ptarmigan and over the back of Cairngorm.
To our pleasant surprise there was plenty of untracked and silky snow off-piste as we wooshed down toward Loch Avon. The snow cover extends all the way to the Saddle and the loch.
The snow was so good compared to the piste that we skinned back up to do it all again on a slightly different line before heading back over the summit and down Coronation Wall.
Another great day and more red faces!

Another cracking day off-piste in the Cairngorms

Another stunning sunny day and another afternoon hike up from the Coire Cas onto the plateau. Despite the effort I really wanted to ski a few of the lines I'd noted from yesterday! I'd timed it just right but even at 2.00 pm was surprised how firm the snow was for walking on compared to a few days ago. 

Once on the plateau I had a few descents down into Coire an t-Sneachda on the most amazing sun softened silky snow near Windy Col. 

Like winter climbing skiing is all about timing to get the ideal snow conditions. A few hours earlier before the sun hit, it would have been icier, a bit later it would be too heavy and likely to sluff. The effort of climbing back up was just about justified for the descents. On my last climb up the heat, snow glare and rapidly softening surface convinced me that twice was more than enough! 

I then skinned over to the top Half a Gully/Point Five to have a look as the Goat Track looked rockier and less appealing. I'd seen some tracks and a few skiers descending the gully and there was a nice safe runout of deep soft snow at the bottom. 

The lower half looked excellent and although the top wasn't as corniced as normal, the start had a few tricky rocks step to negotiate before the main gully. The sun had also just moved off and the surface was starting to get icier. After few tense minutes giving myself a good talking too, I dropped into the gully which was not as full as normal at the top by with plenty of deep soft snow in the middle. The lower half was still in the sun and had lovely untracked pillows of snow.

Once in the main corrie again I was surprised at the amount of soft ice that was developing in all the main climbing lines including the Mirror Direct, Left and R!!!! 

As I traversed below Aladdin's Couloir a few skiers were negotiating the tricky narrow section at the bottom which was looking a lot icier than yesterday with the odd rock to negotiate!

A video of the skiers and few more photos and it was off down Sneachda. A rising traverse took me on good snow into Coire Cas. 

Below the the mid station it was skis off for the last few hundred metres back to the car. All in all a good and totally unexpected late season skiing weekend :-)