Less windy but a lot wetter than forecast

This weekend we are running a winter skills course and winter walking weekend.
The weather was a lot wetter than expected and the winds dropped rather than increased this afternoon.
Steve, Richard, Jeremy, Jean-Alain and I looked at ice axe techniques and avalanche assessment in Coire na Ciste. We then walked up and over into Coire Cas, in heavy blustery rain and sleet.
A lot of wet looking climbers were returning from Coire an Sneachda down the lower slushy ski access track. Rather than increasing the winds in the Coire Cas carpark were negligable by mid afternoon.
Fi, Kim, Peter and Kathryn headed up via Lurcher's to Ben MacDui this morning but due to the strong winds, snow and poor visibilty headed round Coire an Lochain, Coire an t-Sneachda and returned via pt. 1141. See http://www.marmotte.co.uk/blog/2009/03/around-northern-corries.html

Snowy morning, sunny aftenoon

Quite snowy this morning though the weather fortunately improved by mid-day. By late afternoon it was actually nice and sunny.
Flat light, windy and a bit misty on the walk in though the snow wasn't too deep. In the coire you could still make out the crags and see the plumes of spindrift descending from many routes. Many of the harder mixed route were being climbed though the gullies were full of deepish fresh snow on top of the old neve they too were being climbed.
We geared up and headed up towards Aladdin's buttress and the Mirror wary of the deep snow on the crag aprons and the spindrift flowing down some routes. We'd thought the Direct ice route would have been very busy today due to the Guides and MIC assessments so we'd left behind our sharp ice axes and crampons. However there was only one team at the base of the Mirror Direct. The top section of ice which only a few days ago was completely detached from the rock also looked a lot more appealing...!
Keith and Fi were keen to give it a go so we had a bite to eat and waited until the other team had climbed up. I got a good video of the spindrift pouring down onto the leader at one point - well done and please get in touch if you want a video copy.
I climbed up clipping the two insitu pegs on the left and then wishing I'd brought my sharp Quarks with clipper leashes as I placed an iffy ice screw. The route is short though quite steep but my blunt mixed tools were OK despite the wobbles in the old axe hooks. BTW the top bit of ice is still a bit detached and needs a delicate touch to avoid it collapsing - no whackers please...!
Keith followed me up and did really well on his first Grade 4 ice route with straight shafted blunt ice tools then Fi, hotly pursued by an arrogant tailgater Nick from Cumbria, who seemed to think women shouldn't climb ice, that beginners shouldn't get in his way or that he shouldn’t be polite and ask to clip into our belay and tangle up our ropes. They were last seen heading up and getting stuck in a groove right of the top Aladdin's Couloir thinking it was Pygmy Ridge... ;-)
We continued up the Mirror on good neve with Keith getting a chance to lead, place gear and set up belays before descending a banked out Aladdin's Couloir which despite all the fresh deep snow in the gully felt relatively stable underfoot.
A good last day with Keith still buzzing at his first steep Grade 4 ice climb.
More details and photos can be found at http://www.marmotte.co.uk/blog/2009/03/lot-of-aladdins.html
I'll upload some more great video footage tomorrow.

An absolutely brilliant snowy blue sky day

Tuesday was very stormy with significant overnight snowfall. This morning the car needed cleared of about 7 inches of snow and quite a few of the high roads were closed at the snow gates. They opened the ski road around 9 ish although I was concerned how all this fresh snow would affect my planned walk into the coires and the avalanche risk on the climbs with Keith.
Keith had arranged a couple of days private guiding and Fi came along too to keep us company.
Well the day turned out fine with the skies clearing and the Cairngorms winking in the sun at us!
The local outdoor centre crocodiles were busy at work establishing a good trail into Coire an t-Sneachda which we then followed with ease to the NW facing climbs after they all headed towards the Fiacail Ridge and buttresses...
I had a hunch that the NW aspect would fairly well scoured by the SW and Westerly winds!

Many gullies weren't really an option and had grown fairly large cornices since Monday.

We used safe travel techniques assessing the snow pack as we headed up for the ribs and ridges between the Trident gullies ready to turn back if need be. Fortunately it turned out to be OK and we had the climbing to ourselves. We saw a few folk heading up towards Central Gully and the start of the Runnel behind us but they turned back when they saw where we were heading...
We then followed our noses up scenic Grade 3 ground on a secondary rib up right from the foot of the main rib then two easyish pitches on soft snow with neve underneath that I'd climbed last week. We headed for an interesting little RH technical groove of around an unplanned Grade 4/5 on a mix of neve, rock and frozen turf whick I'd previously spotted...!

We finished after a short steep rocky step onto a sunny squeeky snow and rock ridge that met the plateau between the steep soft corniced gullies on either side.

The plateau was sparkling white and the skies were blue - a great climb and a great day out for us all.

More pictures on Fi's blog at http://www.marmotte.co.uk/blog/2009/03/trident-area-coire-t-sneachda.html

The latest YouTube video above can also be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqMR84YeAfU

Coldish in the morning but warmer and winder by mid-day

Apart from the strong southerly headwind this morning and the heavy sleety showers and winds this afternoon, today was actually OK.
The snow was frozen in the morning but by mid-day the buttresses were black and the snow surface softening.

The popular gullies were in good condition but some mixed routes that were being climbed nearby such as the Haston Line and Hidden Chimney were just bare rock - see photo above!

Charles and Alastair wanted to climb some mixed rock, snow and ice and practise belaying.

We made our own route up as we weaved between some mixed rock, snow, ice, turf and in places loose ground as the ice started to thaw...
Good fun and very educational as we had the line to ourselves and could unearth our own gear placements and belays and chat about the erosion problems on popular routes that are being climbed when not frozen or covered in snow.
Fi came in with us today and details of what she got up as she followed my topo from yesterday can be found at http://www.marmotte.co.uk/blog/diary.html
It's now snowing outside my cottage - video later!

Nice morning with good snow climbing conditions

A pleasant sunny morning in Coire an t-Sneachda with good firm neve on the climbs and a light dusting of snow on the buttresses. During the afternoon the winds got up a bit as a few light snow showers passed creating some atmospheric spindrift on the climb.

Fi was out hillwalking with Kim who was practising her navigation.

See http://www.marmotte.co.uk/blog/2009/03/mullach-clach-abhlair.html

YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jQ2_TGYUZ0