Snow hole expedition on the Cairngorm plateau!

A good winters day with lots of fresh drifted snow on Cairngorm for digging spacious overnight group shelters. It looked set to be a great night out BUT temperatures rose extremely rapidly this evening. The warm winds and rain arrived earlier than had been forecast this morning with the snow turning to slush even at summit level!

Our group decided to repack their sleeping bags and sacks to return to base due to deteriorating conditions and snow stability!

In contrast to this morning's climb up with fresh snow in the ski area, it was melting fast in the WARM winds on their torchlight descent back to the cars. Full details on Fi's blog here and Part 1 of Simon's blog here
It's to be mild tomorrow before it turns cold YET again!!

Simon has a good write-up and lots of photos of the course on his personal blog at www.alwaystakeacompass.com

A proper winters day on the Cairngorm plateau

We had a good mountain journey in manageable BUT proper windy winter conditions with rimed beards and eyebrows, goggles, maps, compasses and good micro navigation techniques!
Most of the  recent snow has been blown into sheltered hollows on SE to NE aspects leaving most northerly aspects wind scoured but rimed.
A select few sheltered areas on the plateau have gained a metre or two of fresh windslab. This sheared easily when traversed on setting of a small slab avalanche and was great for teaching avalanche awareness. The snow was also ideal digging snow blocks and squeaky snow shelters for our snow-hole expedition tomorrow night.
Within the ski area the upper runs looked scoured and bare. Once we descended the traverse and into the Cas we found a lot of deep drifts which should piste out well on a few middle runs and allow the ski centre to reopen again.
Judging by the fresh snow buildup on SE aspects any winds from the south over the next few days will significantly improve the snow cover in the NC's - here's hoping....
More wintry photos of day 3 on Simon's blog www.alwaystakeacompass.com can be found here
Since my return home there's been several heavy snow showers in Aviemore and a good few extra cms of snow at 400 metres.
Fi was out with a winter skills group in Coire na Ciste and found our old snow shelters here

Very wet and windy with snow on the hills

Less windy but a LOT wetter than expected in the east though at least it's now falling as snow on the higher slopes.
The Cairngorm's are now looking whiter and the rivers higher. We found a convenient sheltered location and dug emergency snow shelters, looked at basic winter rope-work and wrung out our expensive waterproof gloves!!
More photos of day 2 on Simon's blog www.alwaystakeacompass.com can be found here

Winter skills

The recent mild weather has taken it's toll of the snow and winter climbing. The remaining old snow patches lie on high NE to SE aspects and on the high plateau. With imagination some long winter mountaineering and easy climbing excursions are still possible. Other aspects are more or less bare though care is still needed as the ground is frozen and icy in places, with dangerous exposed rocky run-outs.

Today the colder weather meant ideal bullet proof neve for step kicking, step cutting and cramponning for our course in an almost empty coire.
Good scenic winter hillwalking conditions on the Cairngorm, MacDui and Braeriach plateau but apart from' Half a Gully' the winter climbs in Coire an t-Sneachda and Coire an Lochain are now all broken.
We saw some folk descending Point 5 and someone was soloing in the Trident gully area - other than that it was quiet!!
Can't complain, we had light winds, the place to ourselves and good views on day one of our Xmas winter mountaineering course - tomorrows weather looks wild though! See also the Cairngorm SAIS blog for photos of the plateau here

Winter's on pause yet again!

The rivers are very high and it's still mild and windy. The good news is that it's turning much colder over the next few days. The bad new is that the remaining snow will turn very icy and it's also forecast to be even more stormy on Wednesday!

Cold again and great neve BUT!

Today was bright and cold so we took a wander in to our local crags in Coire an t-Sneachda to see what routes had survived the thaw. Initially it looked promising as folk were still skiing on Cairngorm Mountain's Coire Cas and there were still large still snow fields on NE aspects. The snow also had refrozen hard to provide good ice and neve. However on entering the main coire bowl the extent of the thaw became apparent as very few routes had survived and what was left was now broken. The only decent cover is on NE aspects around Point Five and Fiacaill Buttress whereas apart from the Runnel and a few patches NW aspects are completely stripped. Over in Coire an Lochain the cover is slightly better with the Couloir and Y-Gully almost complete. Despite the gloomy picture there is some good news and that is that some of the ice routes on SE aspects in the Loch Avon basin were complete or at least climbable today by Andy N and Sandy A. More details on Sandy's blog here!!!

Still skiing but major thaw in progress!

Photo courtesy of the SAIS Cairngorm blog here 

It's currently very mild and windy with patchy cover in the hills. The deep snow lying in high easterly aspects should consolidate really well!!! Snow cover has almost disappeared at low levels making walking and driving a lot easier...
The unofficial WinterHighland ski webcams give a better idea of the cover than the Cairngorm Mountain cams. They can be viewed at http://www.winterhighland.info/cams/cairngorm-mountain/ a few photos on the SAIS Cairngorm blog here
It's forecast to refreeze on Friday and into Saturday with snow showers though it does sound windy and gets milder again for Christmas day!

Really nice mixed climbing - pity about the wind!

A clear day with a drop in temperature following yesterdays brief thaw. The winds were also forecast to drop later in the day so the climbing conditions looked promising and they were.
On the walk in we met and chatted to Jonathan P who was heading towards Twin Ribs with  his two clients. We last bumped into JP in Spain climbing on Puig Campana about three weeks ago!!
We also met Karl and his mate gearing up for a stroll up Central Gully. Later at the foot of Red Gully we met Davie V heading towards Western Rib Direct. Chadder's was in the coire for a quick hit too and photos of the Mess of Pottage area are on his blog here.
With a reasonable forecast it was fairly busy for a Tuesday with teams on many of the popular classics.
We fancied climbing Fingers Ridge although it was windy and had party already half way up the route.
We set off to climb the ridge which compared to last week now had some excellent consolidated snow on it. The enjoyable climbing conditions were spoilt by the gusty wind which every so often blew Fi off her feet! The wind got even stronger around 13.00 hrs just when we caught up with the team in front.
The guys in front were still approaching the fingers and were having problems with the constant wind buffeting!. Fortunately the axe and crampon placements in the snow ice were reliable enough to prevent them and us from being completely blown off. Most (but not all!) of  the loose blocks on Fingers Ridge were well frozen and provided reliable anchors.
Rather than hang about in the strong gusts a quick bypass move was in order and this got us safely by on the left and up onto the plateau in good time. More details and photos on Fi's blog here

Most mid grade routes being climbed update!

Still early season conditions in the gullies however most mid grade and several of the hardest winter lines in the Cairngorms have been climbed this weekend...
Due to a Winter Skills course cancellation we ended up free for some climbing on Sunday! Fortunately unlike Saturday the weather was completely clear, bright and crisp - so lots of photos. Surprisingly with the ski area fully open there was still plenty of space left in the Coire Cas ski carpark when we arrived at 11.00 am!

In Coire an t-Sneachda away from Fiacaill Buttress, most of the popular mid grade routes were being climbed. Despite this there was plenty of route choice and it was easy to avoid queueing or climbing below other parties.
Routes climbed in Sneachda, include Honey Pot, The Message, Haston Line, Hidden Chimney, Jacob's Ladder(thin), Aladdin's Couloir (thin), Doctors Choice, Patey's Route, Mirror Direct, Pygmy Ridge, All the Trident Gullies, Grooved Rib, Wave Length, Spiral Gully, Fluted Buttress Direct, Broken Gully, Fingers Ridge, Western Rib, Red and Goat Track Gullies to name but a few!
Further afield there were quite a few teams climbing in the slightly higher and steeper Coire an Lochain. Route climbed include, Central Crack Route Ewen Buttress, Hoarmaster, Aqualung, Auricle and no doubt quite a few others!
The BIG news is that the mighty 300 metre crags over in the Loch Avon basin, were also reported to be in excellent condition. The UK's biggest, hardest and boldest winter lines such as Citadel, Needle and Stone Temple Pilots were all climbed. Several of the Cold Climb classics such as Route Major, Sticil and Scorpian were also done!!
Details, photos and some inspirational and nail biting accounts can be seen on the respective blogs on the links above.
Finally on Henning's blog there's details of a new ice climbing venue and sunspot. The new route details and topos over at Glen Clova are here
It's always worth looking at Simon Richardson's blog on Scottishwinter.com for details of major Scottish ascents what's being climbed.
If I've missed anything please let me know and I'll add them in later!

Much improved build-up of firm snow in the Corries

We took a wander in the corries today to get some photos and for some winter climbing on Grooved Rib trying out my new Quark axe and hammer which broke on their first outing. Hopefully an isolated problem as the Petzl Quark hammer's Trigrest just snapped off!
The Cairngorm plateau is still wind scoured and icy however the recent fresh snow and constant wind drifting has filled many of the lower runs in the Cairngorm ski area.
The main N to NE facing climbing lines and especially the Fiacaill Buttress area through to the Trident Gully area are much improved. There's now good firm snow cover, even on the approach slopes as well as the climbs. There's also plenty of thick ice in the main drainage lines.
Still fairly sparse cover on NW facing aspects such as the Mess of Pottage/Jacob's Ladder area but at least you don't have to dig for your routes!
For off piste skiers there's much improved snow cover in the gullies and in the stream lines. Lurchers gully has now filled in completely which is good news for ski mountaineers who just need a wee bit more cover on the plateau!!
See also Fi's blog here for more details and photos from our climb on Grooved Rib.

Telephone still not fixed from last weeks storms...:-(

Our land-line number is still ringing out as engaged due to storm damage last Thursday. Please use our mobile number (poor reception) or send a text or email for booking enquiries!

Wild weather and more snow yet AGAIN!

Since Monday the weather has become a lot more unsettled with strong winds and yet more snow on the hills. A few folk climbing on Monday before the winds increased... Unfortunately I never made the climbing as my car spun off the road into a ditch and I had to spend the rest of the day trying to get it towed out :-(
See Fi's blog for more climbing details and Carron's photos later?
Today has been really stormy with torrential horizontal rain in Inverness and heavy horizontal snow at the Slochd falling on an icy untreated road. The Drummochter pass was closed for several hours due to an accident involving several lorries and cars. Cairngorm has been stormbound today so climbing and skiing conditions will have changed from the weekend.

Cairngorms

Quite a lot of folk enjoying the winter weather either skiing or climbing though it is very much early season conditions for both! In the Cairngorm's more snow is needed on northerly aspects - though there's a lot more snow on the western hills! The best cover for skiing is on easterly aspects with other aspects wind scoured and icy. The local forest trails are thin with icy ruts in places...

Petzl Aztars for sale

I'm selling my leashless Aztar axe and hammer. The technical tools come with Sum'tec trigrests and a spare set of picks (one for mixed and one for ice) I'm looking for £160 for the pair.

Cheers Ron

After the storm!

Damaged roof, trees blown down, icy roads, power cuts and landine still not working! The snowgates at Cairngorm were closed so a few hill photos taken from Loch Morlich which showed surprisingly little change in Cairngorm's snow cover. Much of the snow has either been blown onto lower slopes or over to the other side of the hill! The remaining old snow should be firmer though crusty in places. More pictures on the SAIS blog here

Red alert weather warning!

Another 5 inches of snow fell on Wednesday making road travel difficult in the Highlands. Today (Thursday) we are in the middle of a Met Office red weather alert as a huge storm hits Scotland.
Winds well in excess of 111 mph are hitting the mountains, with fallen trees, flooding, flying roofs tiles and garden furniture proving a hazard at low levels...! The temperature has briefly risen but is forecast to drop again soon and freeze hard by Friday. This will make the paths icy and will help consolidate the snow and improve climbing conditions - assuming  if it's not all been blown away!!! The winds are currently from the SW through to NW though winds from the east at some point over the next few weeks would be nice. We need more of the drifting snow to get blown back into the Northern Corries and especially onto the NW aspects to create a good long lasting snow base...
The SAIS have issued the first avalanche report of the season here
Latest Cairngorm summit reading at 1248, 8 Dec Temperature -2.9 C, Mean Windspeed 111 mph, Gust Windspeed 127 mph. Similar wind speed and weather to what I experienced on my Winter ML assessment snowhole expedition with KG!!!! Worth keeping an eye on the Cairngorm summit weather station to get an idea of the wind speed and direction by clicking here

Limited snow but good ice building in the Corries

Quite a busy day in the Cairngorm's with lots of routes being climbed in unusually icy conditions.... :-) A good winters day out despite me suffering from a cold and just wanting to move to keep warm!
There's limited snow depth but surprisingly good ice build-up on many routes, including some of the popular low grade ice routes! A number of folk out including John L soloing the icier gullies. The big easy snow gullies on NW aspects still have limited snow build-up compared to the last two years, so no ski descents down Jacob's Ladder or Aladdin's Couloir yet - however the NE aspects are now much improved with Cairngorm's Point Five or Half a Gully looking skiable!
Still very much early season conditions so grades will need to be treated with a pinch of salt - some are easier, some the same and some much harder! The recent wet weather  has provided a good water feed for ice build-up on the drainage and weep lines.
In Coire an t-Sneachda the westerly aspects have been scoured with buttresses quite black although with a white marbling of ice in the grooves and corners. Photo of a rather black 'White Magic' here!

Over on the higher Coire an Lochain the buttresses are looking much whiter and more rimed. The plateau is scoured and icy with deep drifts in some sheltered hollows. Climbing conditions range from a mix of slabby powder, some neve and some quite thick ice. Protection is tricky due to iced up cracks and fairly sharp crampons and axes will make the climbing more pleasant on even the rocky mixed routes!
It's worth mentioning that with the icy conditions under foot and with the exposed rocky run outs, poor crampon work our slipping is not an option.
A few of the routes we saw being climbed include, The Message, Hidden Chimney, Central (L&R), Runnel, Crotched Gully, Grooved Rib, Red Gully, Fingers Ridge. Invernookie, Fiacaill Ridge with John H and Dave on The Healing to check out the Hurting ;-)
Mark C was out again on the other side of the plateau on Scorpion! He some good links to other routes being climbed there as well as photos of Loch Avon and the Hell's Lum area. For more details see Mark's blog here