Cairngorm Reports
(Sponsored by
Talisman Winter
Mountaineering updated
27/04/2005)
To shorten download time the previous Cairngorm reports have been
archived on 12th February 2005 and can be found
here
For full weather details see Geoff Monks weather reports for the East
Highlands here or
West here (Adobe PDF
reader required)
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| Easter course
26/3/05 |
Coire an Lochain
30/3/05 |
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| Jacob's Ladder
30/3/05 |
Climbing Jacob's
30/3/05 |
carryout curry...! |
26th-30th March 2005...There was just enough
snow for our Easter Mountaineering course and we climbed Jacob's on the
last day in reasonable conditions for a grade 2/3 although most gully
lines were broken in Coire an t-Sneachda.
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| Coire an Lochain
23/3/05 |
Exposed approach to
a grade 1! |
Ice thread belay! |
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| Good firm snow in
the Couloir |
Plateau looking
towards Braeriach |
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Wednesday 23rd March 2005...Barring the strong
wind and morning drizzle it turned into a fine sunny afternoon. Coire an
Lochain still has plenty of snow and the only complete grade 1 in the
Northern Corries. The usually late season survivor Y Gully is now broken
and all the buttresses and chimney lines black. The climbing was very
alpine with the odd few crevasses to negotiate. We were surprised when we
even found some thick ice for threads and ice screws at the start of the
Couloir. The gully is complete although it doesn't look so from below. The
exposed approach is harder than the climb...! Some eastern aspects still
have reasonable cover and possibly buried ice? The weather is forecast to
turn a lot colder so we may have good conditions on the old surviving snow
pack... Although there's no hard ice climbing there's still lots of easy
grade 1/2 alpine mountaineering routes to do in the Cairngorm Massif over
Easter.
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| Marilyn, Jim &
Peter |
top of Jacob's
Gully 21/3/05 |
21st March 2005...Many gullies broken with large chunks of loose debris
and rock making careful route choice and anchor selection essential. The
snow was quite firm in Jacob's and the climbing good fun nevertheless with
a direct assault on the top at around grade 3 or easier on the right...!
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| Coire an t-Sneachda
20/3/05 |
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Jacob's & Aladdin's
20/3/05 |
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| top of point 5
gully 20/3/05...! |
Cairngorm plateau
20/3/05 |
summit of Cairngorm
20/3/05 |
Sunday 20th March 2005...Our guides Davie and
Fi had a very alpine weekend with our winter skills and mountaineering
groups! Despite it being very warm and sunny there's still plenty of snow
for winter mountaineering though many gully lines are now incomplete... As
well as the usual worries of loose rock etc the main hazards over the
weekend were heat stroke and snow blindness...! Still good cover on the
plateau on eastern aspects and towards Ben MacDui. Coire an Lochain is
still holding snow...
Sunday 13th March 2005...My phone line has
been faulty for past few weeks and BT has been working on the main line
with no indication of when I will have my landline reconnected. So this is
done at 9.6 kb on my mobile phone. Condition in the Gorms were fairly good
last week for climbing with ice where required on the popular routes
though bruised shins from post holing was a problem midweek! Some areas
though have a lot of rimed soft snow ... In the meantime until the
landline is reconnected I cannot afford to update the site or load
pictures :-(
Sunday 6th March 2005...Reasonable visibility
today with good sunny spells. Still tons of powder which makes trail
breaking hard work. The skiers were out in force taking advantage of the
great ski conditions throughout the Cairngorms. On the plateau and on
Cairngorms summit dome not a rock to be seen just perfect complete snow
cover... Although the gullies and approach slopes have deep snow many of
the buttresses were just thinly frosted. The corrie rim has some
reasonable cornice development in places...!
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| Winter skills
snowhole city...! |
5th March 2005...Sunglasses essential today! A
beautiful sunny day in my local hills at around 550 metres with
their own microclimate and plenty of fresh snow for snowcraft / snowholes
whereas the Cairngorms looked gloomy and were shrouded in cloud..
3rd March 2005...Cairngorms sparkling white
today in the sunshine. Allison at Cairngorm Mountain Sport was complaining
of sore legs after skiing the powder in some of the climbing gullies today
such as Aladdin's...!
2nd March 2005...Whiteout and LOTS of DEEP
SNOW so we opted for Fiacaill Ridge which was in excellent condition with
good axe placements and very little crampon sparking... Visibility was
POOR so local knowledge and good navigation skills were essential on the
plateau and in the coire. We gained a bit of a convoy from the Glenmore
Lodge International meet us as we waded out...! As far as I could see the
start of many routes were almost banked out in places and there is now
DEEP SNOW COVER EVERYWHERE... On the walk in we met Rick Potter with his
client discussing hot chocolate at the ski area. He mentioned playing on
good ice at Lurcher's the other day so maybe worth a visit to get away
from the crowds in Coire an t-Sneachda and Coire an Lochain...
28/27th February 2005...Poor visibility on
Monday until about 14:30 hrs when the sun came out. Although there's a lot
of fresh snow about it seems to be consolidating well to give firm
conditions underfoot and even in the gullies. Kevin has a had "the best 3
days ever" and after a lot of encouragement climbed his first COMPLETE
route!
Beautiful sunny day on Sunday 27th with
most of the popular routes being climbed. You can see many of the routes
from the rime ice having been scrapped off the rock. Our group from Durham
University/College had a great time with myself, Smiler and Jonathon
Preston. So did Kevin, Keith and Steve with Fi and Dave.
Also a report from Stephen McCarthy
27/02/05...Plenty of snow still left in the Fannichs. Nice
and crisp above 750 metres, perfect neve on all wind blown slopes.
Although the sun didn't shine there was practically no wind and we had the
horseshoe to ourselves. See the photos above
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| snow
belays...26/02/05 |
snow-hole
city...26/02/05 |
Saturday 26th February 2005...busy with low
cloud over Cairngorm but sunny and quiet nearer home with plenty of snow
for snow shelters and belays!
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| Cairngorms 24/2/05 |
Fi's Snow-hole at
Slochd 25/2/05 |
Friday 25th February 2005...The cold weather
continues. The web server seems to have gone down recently and a backup of
the WinterNet site put up without informing me. Several days reports have
gone missing and have had to be redone... :-(
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| Mess of Potage in
BG 23/2/05 |
Aladdin's in
background 23/2/05 |
climbing in the sun
23/2/05 |
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| wind and spindrift
23/2/05 |
23/2/05 well
deserved drink...! |
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23rd February 2005...Gusty bitterly cold winds
and spindrift made the walk-in difficult but it was well worth the effort
when we were rewarded sparkling white cliffs and sunshine from our vantage
point on Fiacaill Ridge...
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Aladdin's 22/02/05 |
A busy
Mess of Potage 22/0205 |
Simon &
Andy climbing 22/02/05 |
Tuesday 22nd February 2005...Very wintry with
heavy snow showers in the afternoon. The climbing was good and interesting
despite about 6 inches plus of fresh slab which was easly cleared. The
underlying old snow provided secure pick placements. The Slant and the
bottom of Jacob's Ladder had big queues. Further right Simon, Andy, Ian,
Debbie and myself had our climb to ourselves without having to worry about
waiting or the soft cornice at the top of Jacob's. In contrast to the NW
(See Fi's reports) we had whiteout conditions on the plateau with a lot of
fresh snow falling as we descended through the ski area. There's now a
good build-up of snow throughout the Cairngorms.
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| snow belays at
Slochd 21/2/05 |
Slochd 21/2/05 |
Monday 21st February 2005...A magnificent
sunny day practising rope-work and snow belays near my cottage at
Slochd... With the bonus of a hot bacon roll for lunch!
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| Winter skills
course 19/2/05 |
View NE from
Cairngorm |
Saturday 19th February 2005...The snow pack
has been scoured and has now refrozen solid on north aspects making axe
and crampons essential. It was perfect for practising cramponing and
winter skills. Fresh slab is building in sheltered lee slopes and hollows.
A cold day with severe wind-chill from the bitter northerlies and the odd
very light snow showers, I was expecting stronger winds and more snow,
maybe tomorrow? The north facing gullies will have been nicely refrozen
and very busy today. We found an ice hammer next to some igloos. If it's
yours send the details and we'll tell you where to pick it up.
17th February 2005...With arctic temperatures
and more low level snow (blocked roads?) being forecast for the weekend
we've been checking out some of my local snowdrifts (i.e. 20 minutes walk
from my cottage!) Our local hills now have some good areas for skiing,
snow shelters and winter skills :-) The "winter weather warning" is great
news for climber and skiers...! See the 'Herald' Newspaper's article
here.
Also see, Geoff Monks forecast "A prolonged
period of cold weather with north or north-easterly winds will set in over
all mountain areas from this weekend (with at least moderate chance of
this lasting for much of if not the rest of the month). Snow showers (day
after day) will affect many eastern and northern mountains, bringing
gradual but significant accumulations of snow" now either he's gone
totally barmy and lost the plot OR were in for a very late but FANTASTIC
end of the month! Full details
here. Fingers
crossed... :-)
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| Coire an t-Sneachda |
Jacob's Ladder |
Nick climbing
Jacob's Ladder |
Wednesday 16th February 2005...Warmer today
with the buttresses looking slightly blacker. Conditions in Jacob's Ladder
were a lot better than I expected with firm wet snow. The top section had
a small cornice which was easily negotiated. Axe shafts lower down with
pick placements at the cornice... It should be really good after the brief
thaw and refreeze.
Tuesday 15th February 2005...What a
difference! No wind and perfect weather with the Cairngorms sparkling
white in the sunshine. All the gullies are now well filled with snow and
climbers and the buttresses covered in rime and even more climbers!
There's a vast improvement in the climbing conditions though it's somewhat
deep, soft and crusty. The turf is still soft and the ice is sparse in
many places... The skiing looks really good on and off the piste with
great cover on the plateau for ski touring. There's now a good and easy
trail through the boulder field in Coire an t-Sneachda.
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| SAIS at work...! |
Unusual snow
formations... |
13th February 2005...Heavy overnight snow made
road travel difficult. The Glenmore snow gates were closed and the ski
area stormbound so we had the place almost to ourselves. Surprising the
road to the Ciste and the Cas were quite thinly covered in snow and the
SAIS were able to drive up in a standard car without to much
difficulty...! Also the north winds were a lot less than we'd expected and
we had a great day exploring the snow drifts, digging shelters and
climbing through cornices. There are lots of deep drift in sheltered
hollows and gullies although many north facing slopes are wind scoured
down to old neve. Checkout the SAIS Category 4 avalanche forecast
here
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| Winter skills group
1 |
Winter skills group
2 |
Saturday 12th February 2005...Good and
extensive skiing this morning until the wind and snow showers arrived
around midday. The winds weren't as bad as expected though but as can be
seen from the photos it was definitely wintry in the afternoon. Our winter
skills and winter mountaineering groups learned a lot about windslab as
the scoured slope we were ice axe braking on quickly built up a worrying
depth of fresh slab in a very short period of time. I couldn't get any
photos of the corries due to whiteout conditions at times. Strengthening
winds and category 4 avalanche risk forecast for tomorrow so take extra
care... |
