Stunning Sunday on Chute Route

Another great weather snow and ice day this time in Coire an Lochain. We met Ian from Carrbridge again after meeting him on the Mirror Direct last week and had a nice chat on the walk in to the coire.

Our plan a was to climb Sidewinder which had been good early last week or Chute Route. However on entering Coire an Lochian we took one look at Sidewinder and changed our plans immediately as the buttress was now almost completely black.

On looking around we had a number of other icy options higher on No. 4 buttresses as well as the area around Y-Gully LH which had some big worrying cornices. The area above the Couloir was nice and icy too with Snow Bunting and the neighbouring routes looking good. Over to the left of the Corrie the Vent area and Milky Way were looking good so our plan b was to have a closer look at the narrow strip of ice on Chute Route!
It looked quite thin at the start though better higher up. Another team of two John's were starting up the route so we set up our belay opposite to get a good view and photos as we chatted to them and Al Halewood and Charlotte above on Milky Way.
It was then my turn and after feeling very chilled in just my VR smock the coldness quickly evaporated as I dealt with the technicalities of the thin start. Ten metres higher and a few good ice screw runners and the world was a better place as I then headed up on good ice to join Anne and her partner on the Milky Way belay on 50 metres of rope stretch. Another young lady and her partner later joined us on the cosy hanging stance! Fi climbed up and lead onto the plateau where I joined her for lunch in the welcome warmth of the sun. YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPxsm3QGio4
We headed back via the Goat-track chatting to Al and Charlotte finishing the Vent and their third climb of the day including Ewen Buttress (good nick)! On descent we met Smiler and his client who'd had a good day on Red Gully (bottom looked thin) and Fiacaill Couloir (still OK) In all a nice rest and very sociable day...!
More details and photos of me on Fi's blog here

Superb Saturday

  

 

The cloud lifted, the snow froze, the sun shone, we all smiled. We smiled even more at the anctics of the "cheeky" kilted skiers on the icy Fiacaill poma ...!

The buttresses were black but the snow climbing and weather conditions were perfect for Joanne and Nick leading their first winter climb. The lack of wind and spindrift was perfect for all the kilted skiers on Cairngorm too! More of the same tomorrow :-)

Thaw and refreeze for the weekend

There has been great climbing conditions and weather all this week though it did start to warm up on Wednesday. By Thursday the snow pack was starting to get a bit wet though any thick blue ice was plastic and fun to climb as long as you were aware of any potentially loose blocks.

The later part of this week has been spring like with no overnight frosts and a slow thaw of the snow pack. The main snow gully lines in the Northern Corries are still complete but the buttresses and some of the thinner ice routes are now broken or looking very black. Many of the buttress routes would suit an alpine style ascent in big boots rather than axes and crampons once actually on the route.
Having said that with good route choice there is still plenty of good winter climbing to be had on the easier snow routes and a few of the ice and mixed routes of Grade 1 to 3 and the odd 4.

The Loch Avon basin and Loch Etchachan area has seen a fair bit of activity recently due to the good weather, underfoot conditions on the plateau and good ice buildup in some places, though the sun will have taken it's toll on any south facing aspects.
The good news is it's to get colder again and everything should start to freeze up well from the weekend. In fact it's likely to become very icy yet again!

There is also snow being forecast to low levels from the middle of next week, so winter is far from over yet!
Rather than mention specific honeypot routes and create dangerous overcrowding just look below on the blog and on UKC's winter reports to see what's being climbed by SOME registered UKC forum members.
It's also worth looking at Alan H's blog and his videos to see what Glenmore Lodge and other guides have been doing.

Windy and warmer on the Mirror

A slight blip in the perfect weather today. It was windy with a grey sky, the snow surface was excellent though softening slightly.
Chris wanted to climb some steep ice so Fi joined us and we headed up to the Mirror Direct to form an orderly and polite queue!
Despite the slightly warmer temperatures the thick bue ice was in excellent condition and still very dry. We continued up the Mirror's perfect neve slopes for a bit. Then followed a super direct narrow icy chimney I'd previously spotted.
This ran up to the top of the RH knife edged Aladdin's Arete and the plateau!
Really nice climbing in the icy chimney to the notch on the arete overlooking Aladdin's Couloir. The last 15 metres on the exposed alpine-like rock arete was bare but good fun and very photogenic!
Photos and more details on Fi's blog here and on Chris blog here

A superb day on Invernookie

Another superb alpine day this time climbing with Chris on the three star Invernookie on the side of Fiacaill Ridge.
Excellent climbing throughout on the route and an unusual amount of hard ice which was fun though tiring and a little brittle in places. See Chris's blog here for more details and photos.
Again it was surprisingly quiet on most of the climbs. On Fiacaill Buttress apart from us there was one team in Fiacaill Couloir and ahead of us Gary S guiding Tim.
HD YouTube video of Invernookie can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xnlwF7rUUo
Fi was out with Becca and Joe and has uploaded photos onto her blog here