Blue skies and sunshine yet in exposed areas the SE wind was gusting at well over a 100 mph this morning. We again had Nottingham's MPS society with us. Our walk into Coire an t-Sneachda was quite tiring with the headwind and strong gusts stopping us in our tracks every so often.
However, Jonathon and I had a fair idea that as soon as we entered the main coire basin to the base the NW facing crags that we would be sheltered. In fact it was totally calm without the usual blasts of painful spindrift until we topped out on the wind swept plateau - even that wasn't too bad.
Jonathon had the more experienced climbers and the two teams pitched their way up the ground to the right of Jacob's Ladder, down for lunch and then back up for a pitch of mixed climbing before heading back to the minibus.
I had the less experienced climbers so we went up Jacob's Ladder as one team practising cramponing techniques, using technical axes and looking at rock anchors. We then met Jonathon's group having lunch in the sun before going to a small crag to look at equalised belays using wires and hexes.
Meanwhile Karl, Tracey and Ian had rushed over to the Ciste with the introductory Mountaineering Skills groups to practise cramponing and emergency ropework after I mentioned that I hadn't realised it was that windy and wet yesterday...!
Today Fi was looking after our weekend Winter Skills course and more details can be found at http://www.marmotte.co.uk/blog/diary.html
Apart from the wind the climbing conditions on Saturday were absolutely superb with many routes being banked out in good neve and a lot easier than normal. On the down side some cracks were iced up and all my usual flake belays were well and truly buried - in fact the gully sidewalls were buried under good solid snow...!
However, Jonathon and I had a fair idea that as soon as we entered the main coire basin to the base the NW facing crags that we would be sheltered. In fact it was totally calm without the usual blasts of painful spindrift until we topped out on the wind swept plateau - even that wasn't too bad.
Jonathon had the more experienced climbers and the two teams pitched their way up the ground to the right of Jacob's Ladder, down for lunch and then back up for a pitch of mixed climbing before heading back to the minibus.
I had the less experienced climbers so we went up Jacob's Ladder as one team practising cramponing techniques, using technical axes and looking at rock anchors. We then met Jonathon's group having lunch in the sun before going to a small crag to look at equalised belays using wires and hexes.
Meanwhile Karl, Tracey and Ian had rushed over to the Ciste with the introductory Mountaineering Skills groups to practise cramponing and emergency ropework after I mentioned that I hadn't realised it was that windy and wet yesterday...!
Today Fi was looking after our weekend Winter Skills course and more details can be found at http://www.marmotte.co.uk/blog/diary.html
Apart from the wind the climbing conditions on Saturday were absolutely superb with many routes being banked out in good neve and a lot easier than normal. On the down side some cracks were iced up and all my usual flake belays were well and truly buried - in fact the gully sidewalls were buried under good solid snow...!
Some stunning photos of the day can be found on Jakub's website at http://picasaweb.google.com/jakub.marecek/2009Cairngorms#
4 comments:
Hi, do you know what time of the day you took that wphoto of the haston line? because i think me and my friend laura may be the ones on it! could you email me the higher resolution copy of the picture so i can zoom in and see if its us?
email: bs08cwk@leeds.ac.uk
Regards
Chris Kay
Dear Ron,
many thanks for your patience this weekend and for the pictures at your blog. The weather was awesome and I am really glad I could be out there.
Jakub Marecek at the University of Nottingham
Hi Ron and Fi,
Just a quick one to say thanks for running the courses for us this weekend. Everyone I asked said they'd enjoyed themselves (even the wet on Friday!) and had got a lot out of what you'd covered with them. Everyone went out on Sunday and put all they'd learnt into practice which was great for them.
I didn't see you you on Saturday because I'd met up with some friends not from Nottingham, we'd been planning to go climbing but didn't like the sound of the stories of everyone falling like dominoes on the walk in so diverted our plans to a leisurely walk over Lurchers Crag and back through the Chalmain Gap. We managed to avoid the wind most of the way by countouring into Lurchers Gully so it proved to be a good option. Yesterday we managed to get out and climbed Pot of Gold on the Mess of Pottage (I might have spotted you with a winter skills group on the slopes below?) which was a new - read steep! - experience for me. Conditions were good, partly because we followed another pair up who dug out all the best hooks for us! So that was three days in Scotland for one short route - better than last year at least!
Anyway thanks again,
Chris
Hi Ron, yep, thats my climbing partner Laura, just above the crux corner. I'm belaying up out of sight, shame! dont suppose you took anymore did you? never the less Laura will be really chuffed with those photos, its always difficult to get shots when your out winter climbing. we did have our video camera with us but only got a bit filmed on the first pitch. I'd also like to say that you do a fantastic job of keeping me motivated by reading your blog and drooling over the great photos you post. Keep up the good work!
Chris
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