Spiral Gully (Coire an t-Sneachda)

The temperature in Aviemore had dropped to around minus 5 so I planned another last minute trip for the few remaining days before I went back to work.  The biggest problem was finding accommodation for New Years day with almost everything fully booked until the 3rd.  Finally I found Speybank Guest house which turned out to be brilliant!!  It’s even closer to Aviemore centre than the hostel, has en-suite bathrooms, in room tv and dvd, serves a great breakfast and the bed sheets don’t smell of dead people…. I won’t be staying at the hostel again!

I met up with Ron on Friday morning then we drove up to a perfectly clear, calm and sunny mountain with spectacular views of the cloud covered Aviemore down the valley. We’d planned to climb the Runnel but it was packed so we made a beeline for Spiral Gully instead.  I lead the first pitch on well frozen neve with a few little spots of ice here and there.  Everything was great until I ran out of rope around 5 metres short of the next available belay and about 15 metres since my last piece of gear!!  Unable to communicate with Ron I had no choice but to wait patiently to see if he could conjure up some extra length.  He did but thankfully at the time I didn’t know how.  It turns out that he’d dismantled the belay and we did the last section moving together Alpine Style!  Ron stormed up the 2nd and 3rd pitches and then I did the 4th.  The final pitch was a mix of ice and some lose boulders and for me the most nervy part of the route.  It wasn’t difficult to climb but after my rock fall accident in the Alps a few years ago I was paranoid about kicking head sized boulders down to the teams below us!   The exit was easy this time, no soft cornice for me to flounder through, just stunning views over the rest of the Cairngorms and a sunny walk down.  It was an absolutely brilliant day!

  

 

  

http://www.talisman-activities.co.uk/blog/2009/01/walking-on-water-yesterday-and-above.html

I’ve marked the pitches on the picture above with small red dots and because I’m bound to lose Speybanks business card I’m going to put the details here for reference. 

Speybank Guest House

Mrs Christine Orr

01479 810055

www.speybank.com

orr.speybank@btinternet.com

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