Royal wedding Fingers!

Royal wedding day so to celebrate after the previous days dance gig and DJ'ing Morris and I climbed Fingers Ridge!
Over the past week Morris has been bivying in the heart of the Cairngorms near Braeriach and bagging remote Grade 1 Gullies and attempting the odd Sneachda 2/3!
Morris had mentioned down-climbing some of the gullies and climbing back up and curious I asked why? It's more tricky down-climbing than climbing up but apparently he needed 'log book' climbing 'up' ticks for his Winter ML!
After all the winter climbing and basic ropework he fancied having a go at summer rock climbing and wanted me to assess his ropework and gear placement.
I suggested Fingers Ridge and a very late start so it actually caught the sun...
At the moment the climbing is very alpine and combines snowy approaches with dry rock. The only problem was the strong gusty wind which blew off  Morris's hat and had us hanging onto all our gear and rocks in the coire floor!!!
To be honest I thought it was a no no but suggested that we at least try and get to the start of the route without being blown over as in theory it should be more sheltered from the easterlies!
Well it proved correct so as soon as the sun hit at 2.30 pm and established on the route we totally forgot about the wind and had a good day.
In fact it was so calm and pleasant that we had plenty of opportunity to look at gear placements, belays and abseiling techniques while filming all the climbing!
Another Finger Ridge and learning to lead after 60 mph gusts in the coire video coming soon...!

In the Gutter!

I met up with Erica, Kris and Yannie in Glen Nevis today. Following on from their Winter Mountaineering course Erica was interested in learning more about rock climbing ropework, placing runners and setting up belays.
We headed up to climb the Gutter in six short pitches getting plenty of practise in placing and removing lots of runners... The other two went for a walk up the gorge and scramble by the side of the Steale waterfalls.
In contrast to yesterday it was overcast but fairly warm with only the odd non aggressive midge buzzing about!!

Good Friday tomorrow

A few pictures from Thursday....

Cairngorm snow and rock 18th April 2011

On Monday it was sunny, warm with the rock dry. Folk (Glenmore night watch and staff) were out climbing Cardiac Arete/Ventrical, Fallout Corner, Magic Crack, Pygmy Ridge and Fingers Ridge and possibly the Needle.
I climbed up the Couloir for video of the 'Great Slab' mini glacier, crevasses and avalanche debris. I took photos of the climbers and had lunch on the fantastic viewing platform of Ewen Buttress before heading over the plateau and down the Goat-track donning my axe and crampons. Then crampons off  and axe away it was up Fingers Ridge. Across the plateau rim and then crampons on and down Aladdin's Couloir. This is now broken in the middle and the last 5 metres at the top. Back up via the Mirror playing on the old ice in the crevasses of the Mirror Direct! Then up Pygmy Ridge and over towards Jacob's Ladder to done the crampons one last time again for the descent and exploring the crevasses.
I had a quick amble up the winter route the 'Haston Line' which makes a fine easy summer rock route now all the turf has gone!!!!
Meanwhile Fi was guiding Ben MacDui and Derry Cairngorm and had good views across to Hell's Lum, Shelterstone, Braeriach and Coire Spatan Dearg. See her blog here for full detail and lots of photos.
The Hell's Lum and Coire Sputan Dearg crags are still running with water from the snowfields above but Stag Rocks and the Shelterstone were dry.
As mentioned previously an ice axe is useful on the approaches to the climbs and crampons pretty essential in the gullies and steep slopes due to old ice and hard snow in places.
A few more climbing photos and a video of the 'Great Slab' glacier later!

Summer on Cairngorm!

It felt more like summer today as Stephen and I headed for the summit of Cairngorm. Good views but a bit hazy in the heat. It looks like it's back to winter over the next few days just as the SAIS reports are ending! Also see here for more photos from Sunday.

Warm gullies, ridges and naked extreme skiers!!

Sunny and warm and very quiet today with one party on Fingers Ridge and Su and Rob heading up towards Jacob's Ladder and some skiers descending Aladdin's Couloir (thinnish for skiing!) and later a  streaking skier in Jacob's Ladder!
We headed in around noon and up Central Gully on surprisingly firm snow to climb the warm sunny rock on Pygmy Ridge (sun hits the ridge around 14.00 hrs.) A bite to eat while we enjoyed the views before heading over and down Jacob's Ladder following some recent ski tracks.
While I explored the gully wall bergschrunds, Fi headed down and bumped into to Su and her partner Rob climbing up. See Su's photo album here
I was quite surprised to see Su again and even more surprised when she mentioned she'd seen a completely naked skier descending Jacob's just before we arrived!!!!!
See Fi's blog here

Warm and windy all week!

Great Slab 3rd April 2011 Talisman blog

  

Great Slab 5th April 2011  courtesy SAIS Cairngorm blog

 As the title says it's been very warm and windy over the past week and a a half with some heavy rain at the start causing the 'Great Slab' to slide and avalanche over Saturday, Sunday and on Monday. See the SAIS blog here for some great photos that show the scale of great slab avalanche debris....
Due to the 'hair-drier' effect the seasons great snow cover has gone leaving only the main Grade 1 gully lines and corrie headwalls complete. At lower levels only patches and thin strips of snow remain.
Still some large snow fields on the Cairngorm MacDui plateau for ski touring and over on Braeriach but the continuing warm weather is taking it's toll and cover becoming more and more patchy by the day.

A good bright but breezy day

Richard and I had a pleasnt day sheltered from the SW wind looking at cramponning on steep mixed ground and alpine ropework before lunch on Fiacaill Ridge.
We then had a quick hike over to look at the big crevasses in Coire an Lochain before heading back down to a sunny springlike Aviemore.
The snow had firmed up nicely with climbers in Jacob's Ladder, Aladdin's Couloir, Aladdin's Mirror, Central Gully, The Runnel and Crotched Gully...
Fi's off snowholing with Winchester College report later on her blog...

Alpine skills with Richard

The heavy overnight rain turned to snow this morning before clearing around 10.30 to reveal a fine sunny and surprisingly dry day. Richard is planning to climb Mont Blanc this summer and needed to gain some basic winter mountaineering and winter skills.
The snow was firmer than expected and great for ice axe braking and OK for cramponning on the hard ice and some of the firm snow.  We headed up onto the plateau via the Goat Track for a look at some group snow shelters
Very few folk about apart from George Mc assessing, Sandy P in Sneachda and Fi's Winchester College school Easter camp group in Coire na Ciste.
The Grade 1 gullies are still complete as are a few of the Grade 2's though we didn't see anyone climbing. Surprisingly the Mirror Direct is still complete though hollow and no doubt detached from the rock from what I could see when zooming in!
Still good complete snow cover on the plateau for ski touring away from the corrie rims.