Jacobs Edge (Coire an t-Sneachda)

 

Check out Rons Blog @

http://www.talisman-activities.co.uk/blog/2009/01/pleasant-day-with-better-climbing-than.html

 

 

 

Popping Dans Boarding Cherry

Even though the forecasts were reporting milder conditions today we hadn’t anticipated weather nearly as gorgeous as it was!  It’s amazing how quickly things can change in the mountains.  We were hungover and Dan had never skied or snowboarded before so it seemed like the perfect time for him to pop his boarding cherry!  Surprisingly he picked it up quite quickly but couldn’t quite get over his Zoolander blight of only being able to turn left.  He probably would have cracked it but his day was cut short by a damaged board making it virtually impossible to continue.  Dan headed back down to the hire centre to negotiate a five pound refund so I took the opportunity to move onto some faster slopes.  The snow was ace and despite me saying previously that I’d never board in Scotland again i really enjoyed it.  Sadly, I’d been an absolute muppet and had left my gloves at the guest house resulting in frozen blocks of ice where my hands were meant to be… if I’d only left my pockets unzipped and the camera gaffa taped to my forehead then I would have got some great pictures and videos of Dan falling on his arse!  I’m sure there will be a next time though   Here are some pictures that I stole from the SAIS blog to show how nice the weather was (and how foxy the forecaster looks).

 

Cairngorm White Out

Dan and I had booked the time off work for this trip ages ago so it goes without saying that the weather was rubbish!  Several fresh dumps of snow and strong southish winds over the past couple of weeks meant we expected lots of windslab and large cornices to be hanging over the northern facing corries such as Sneachda.  The Scottish avalanche information service (SAIS) was giving a category three forecast.    Before we’d even arrived in Aviemore yesterday, Dan had had calls checking that we weren’t two of the three fatalities of an avalanche in Glencoe so we  gave up all hope of climbing and instead walked into Sneachda to inspect the snow pack for ourselves.  Despite the 40-50 mph winds, falling snow and very limited visibility we had a great time!  The corrie itself was quite sheltered so we passed the time digging snow pits under Aladdins Couloir and watching other teams do some of the harder buttress routes on Mess Of Pottage.  We found around 30 cm of softish snow that was sitting on an older firm and icy layer of neve but there wasn’t as much slab as I’d expected (or at least I wasn’t able to recognise it).  When we’d had enough we plodded up the east slope to the exposed platau where visibility dropped to virtually nill and we felt the full wrath of the wind!  Thankfully we’d remembered to bring a map and compass with us and were forced to refresh our rusty white out navigation skills.  Note to self – If you’ve just bought a brand new map, remember to open and refold it on the correct area BEFORE you find yourself needing it to navigate in 50 mph winds!!! 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article5581569.ece

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jan/25/climbers-avalanche-named 

    

 

 

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

Ski Scotland

My last day at work before I finished for Christmas was approaching so I started to wonder what I was going to do with my time off…  The weather in Scotland looked awful so a last minute trip to Aviemore was perfect!  Unfortunately the usual suspects couldn’t make it so just Tim and I packed our kit and off we went..  Six surprisingly short hours later we arrived at the hostel and wasted no time at all before storming the Winking Owl for a Saturday night pint!

The terrible visibility (and head ache) on Sunday made Tim’s first attempt on a snowboard almost futile but it didn’t stop him from trying!  He seemed to be getting the hang of it but there’s only so much pounding his behind could take before he had to switch to skis.  Once on two planks instead of one he was grinning like a Cheshire cat and didn’t stop for the rest of the day.  You wouldn’t believe it had been nearly ten years since he’d last ski’d!!

   

 

Day two started with a beautiful calm red sky over the Cairngorm mountains, “Shepard’s warning” Ron pointed out as we left the hostel.  The plan was for Tim to ski alone while Ron and I climbed Hidden Chimney in Coire an t-Sneachda.  Sadly Ron (a mountain guide) was right about the weather forecast and the anticipated 80 mph winds forced the ski lifts to stay closed and Tim to enjoy a scenic ten (ish) mile walk back to the hostel.

       

            

Hidden Chimney was great and although I ”floundered” at the cornice it was the walk in that I really struggled with.  It’s been more than three years since I was last in Scotland and sitting behind a desk for so long has really taken its toll.  All I can say is I need to be much fitter next time!

Here’s a link to Ron’s blog for the day and a short video of me struggling through the cornice. 

http://www.talisman-activities.co.uk/blog/2008_12_01_archive.html