Cairngorm Reports

(Sponsored by Talisman Winter Mountaineering updated 24/02/2004)

To shorten download time the previous Cairngorm reports have been archived on 17th December 2003 and can be found here

10th December 2004...After several very wet and mild days the temperature has dropped again and refrozen the remaining snow pack. As far as I'm aware the easy main gully lines and coire headwalls are pretty well intact and should form a good base for future build-up. Any thin cover has now gone although today there is a dusting of fresh snow!

We're off in search of steep ice and powder snow for the next two weeks so this page won't be updated until after the 25th January 2004.

Mess of Pottage	Jacob's Ladder	Aladdins Area

6th January 2004...Very windy and showery today however there was plenty of good firm snow in the gullies for some fun...!

Coire an t-Sneachda	Mess of Pottage	Lots of Climbers!

Fiacaill Background!	Pottage Crag Apron

4th January 2004...A very pleasant morning with well frozen snow on the walk in. The climbs were all again very busy and I counted a t least a dozen folk on Spiral Gully alone. Reports suggest that many gullies although well filled and firmish had a breakable crust with easily sheared soft slab below!

2nd January 2004...Pictures from today...the natural ski gully lines seam to have filled in...such as Lurchers and Coire na Ciste...especially low down...although many of the higher areas and the plateau have been wind scoured. The climbing gullies look filled from the distance although the cover isn't as thick as was hoped for on the higher slopes!

Coire Cas	Coire an Lochain

***Happy New Year!***

1st January 2004...Areas exposed to the storm force southerly winds have been well scoured redistributing the old and fresh new snow into sheltered northerly aspects. If the ski link road is any indicator of the snow depth in the north facing gullies (almost 2 metres in places!) we should find some of the north facing gullies now well filled with snow....fingers crossed. See here for pictures :-)

	Coire Cas ski area 08.30am
Walk in Coire an t-Sneachda	Mess of Pottage	A Rocky Aladdins Couloir

30th December 2003...On the 28th I said I was going ski touring and ice climbing....today I did...it was heaven, blue skies, sunshine, no wind, lots of snow for skiing and great ice for climbing...and five easy single pitch grade 2/3 ice routes! So where did everybody else go... because I had the place to myself!

Red gully Popular NO Ice Route!	Better cover On Fiacaill Area	Great Cover On Plateau

Well the two places that had the least amount of snow and ice...the Cairngorm Mountain ski area and Coire an t-Sneachda. Both these areas were heaving with lots of queues for easy gully and ice routes that didn't even have any build-up apart from a light covering of snow over the boulders, loose rubble and a dribble of ice. As for the skiing the thinnest cover all day was when I skinned back across the plateau and climbed down over the boulders to the top of the Cas run. I took my Free Treks off just at the midstation to prevent anymore damage to the ski bases!

Lots of Ice Here & No Queue	Shelterstone	Loch Avon Basin

I won't tell you what is in nick but a lot more than most climbers think! If climbers and skiers actually worked out what the weathers been doing and where the winds been blowing all the snow...the skiers might get some good powder runs and the climbers some good ice and a build up in the gullies. A knowledge off weather and avalanche assessment is far more important than being able to make a hard technical move if you are going to get anything done safely. Conditions will change over the next few days with a period of stormy weather with winds from the south, brief thaw and refreeze which should improve the build-up in the north facing corries.

..the Wildlife!	..the Garden!	...the X-Country Skiing!

29th December 2003...escape the hustle and bustle of the cities at Xmas to enjoy Cairngorm ski road mayhem this morning with traffic queues, no doubt tow queues and low cloud or get a map out and enjoy a quiet ski through the sunlit sparkling forests and lower hills of Strathspey...the choice is yours! The lower ski trails at Slochd were a lot better today although the top trail is still very sticky. If you paid your £18.00 for the one tow working today and didn't mind queuing for hours with the tourists Cairngorm ski area had quite a few runs open and you could ski from the top of the hill to the carpark although I wouldn't on good skis as there is no real base yet...from what I hear I think the sparks were flying in more ways than one!

28th December 2003...Substantial snowfall overnight and today has deposited 22cm of fresh snow on my garden table and car! The Cairngorm ski area was again stormbound due to snow in the ski area.... so a circuit of the x-country ski trails was called for! Good cover on all the tracks although there wasn't the nice icy base we had last weekend as the ground under the fresh snow is quite soft and wet. This made the skiing quite hard going with it sticking in clumps to the ski bases...forget all your blue, green and red waxes it's WD 40 next time...it's Scotland!

The climbing conditions will have changed dramatically from yesterday evening making trail breaking hard work and leg breaking in the coire boulder fields. I personally wouldn't bother climbing until the snow consolidates a bit as it is likely to be more of a dangerous hindrance than asset although many north western aspects may well be wind scoured and south eastern aspects snorkel territory. Snowed up rock routes will be in nick though turf not as frozen as I would like but it should be more of a challenge to real dry toolers... if they actually have to dig and clear the snow from the rock in a blizzard. Deep snow filled gullies...if there are any... will be just stupid unless you like being buried alive. See the SAIS avalanche reports and the weather outlook.

The weather outlook for the coming week certainly looks promising for a good build-up of snow and ice into the New Year with continuous freezing temperatures in the mountains and severe storms midweek blowing all that nice snow from the south into north facing corries and gullies. The climbing conditions in the Cairngorms meantime are likely to be very poor due to the amount of powder snow blowing about and little if any base of old snow ice in the gully lines or crag aprons. The exception probably being on southern aspects that are exposed to the low winter sun allowing some consolidation of the snow and melt water for ice development and in low lying areas with good drainage for water ice build-up. I'm going ski touring and maybe even ice climbing .....or maybe not ;-)

For full details see Geoff Monks weather reports for the East Highlands here or West here (Adobe PDF reader required)

Aladdin's Buttress Area	The Trident (Runnell) Areas	Red Gully and Fingers Ridge

Fiacaill Ridge Area	Mess of Pottage

27th December 2003...I woke up this morning to a surprised wintry view of the forest at 400 metres. Yes snow so it's turned cold...well up to the Cairngorms via slippery roads and a snowy car park. After an hour or so's trek into Coire an t-Sneachda along snowy but not icy paths we were presented with...bugger all snow in the Coire apart from on some easterly aspects such as the Fiacaill area and on the old moraine ridges. Happy climbers, were however  bouncing out having done stuff on the Mess of Pottage, Fluted Buttress Direct and Goat Track Gully. And a pair with competition axes had done the Seam and mentioned there was also a pair doing Stirling Bomber. A rather more experienced pair (older!) had done Deep Cut Chimney and said it was crap with sleet on rock...HMMMM!....judge for yourself!! The outlook is good though for more snow and freezing temps. As for conditions tonight ask the staff at Nevisport Aviemore, as Simon and friend were heading in tonight in to check it out as we were heading out..!

Coire an Lochain NE aspects have a lot more snow...but conditions really are very marginal...

Several of the lines mentioned as having been climbed as winter routes I personally would never even have considered due to the damage to soil and vegetation and risk from loose rock.

***MERRY CHRISTMAS***

Northern Corries 24/12/03	Snow at 500m South Aspect

24th December 2003...yesterdays thaw didn't seem too bad until last nights huge rise in temperature and warm storm force westerly winds almost stripped the hills bare overnight. The snow never had a chance to drift over from the southern slopes so there wasn't the depth to survive the thaw. We are not back to square one yet but forget about the skiing and any climbing in the Northern Corries is going to be marginal. Coire an Lochain has the most snow in the north facing slopes. The good news is that all the snow that never got a chance to blow over from the southern slopes could well still be there as even at under 500 metres altitude and 15 minutes run from my house there are several large surviving snow drifts...all facing south...ideal for an easy walk for winter skills practise.....;-)

22nd December 2003...great skiing in the lower forest tracks and foothills today as well as some limited skiing in the ski area. The Northern Corries are very white and walking hard going but the bulk of the new snow has been blown over to the southern slopes and into the valleys. As the winds change to a more westerly, south-westerly direction it'll hopefully get blown back to fill the Northern Corries gully lines before it melts...well that's the theory. Today the snow remained dry and frozen at 400 metres until the warm rain arrived tonight at 19:00 hrs so it'll be interesting to see how much survives the thaw tonight and tomorrow. The good news is it's to get colder again midweek from late Wednesday, Thursday which is exactly what we need as it should bring a good few lines into condition. That's assuming all the fresh snow hasn't melted away... It is however looking very promising for some good winter sport over the festive period :-)

Cas Headwall (WinterHighland)

See Alan's WinterHighland site for more pictures from the Cairngorm ski area here.

21st December 2003...Glenmore snowgates were shut and the ski area stormbound today. There's about 10-12 cm of snow at 400 metres. The snow has several layers with a wet icy layer below a fresh dry layer at Slochd. This makes the roads very slippery but has provided a good base for cross country skiing at both Slochd and Glenmore. Despite all the tracks at Slochd being complete with dry powder on a firm base we were the only skiers to use them...beware...the road is very icy!

20th December 2004...I've not been up the hill today but I think the cover is still generally very thin. Over on Ben Nevis four climbers have been avalanched in No. 2 gully although the avalanche category was only 1 for today and now only 2 for tomorrow! This should tell you that you need to be able to make your own judgement and use all the tools available to you when deciding where to go...! We're quite excited about the snow falling and will give you a picture update tomorrow.

Northern Corries Loch Morlich	Coire an Lochain	Ptarmigan Ski Run

View west from Cairngorm	Loch Etchacan & Carn Etchacan

19th December 2003...very cold today with a very high windchill from the north westerlies. The ground above 700 metres is now frozen again and very icy in places. The few isolated patches of old snow are now rock hard....so axe, crampons are definitely essential where there is any drainage and on coire headwalls. The forecast is for heavy snowfall and blizzard conditions with a severe windchill of up to minus 28 over the weekend :-)

17th December 2004...it's all gone apart from the old snow patches from a few weeks ago....

The forecast is for temperatures above the summits on Wednesday and Thursday and then to drop again below the summits on Friday with a freezing level of 700 metres. The long range outlook is...:-)

• PLANNING OUTLOOK: all mountain areas of Britain On Friday, some doubt as to the location of a weakening slow moving front; most likely across Cumbria. Rain is likely in many areas on Saturday, before forecast models increasingly bring down a cold (possibly briefly very cold) northerly with widespread wintry showers; giving significant snowfall over northern mountains of Scotland at least. Very low confidence in terms of persistence of this weather type as yet.

Northern Corries Loch Morlich	Coire an Lochain	Coire an t-Sneachda
Fiacaill Ridge	Aladdin's Buttress	Mess of Pottage

15th December 2004...it started to snow late on Saturday and into Sunday but unfortunately accumulations have been very minimal with only a few cm on the path into Coire an t-Sneachda and only slightly more in the Coire bowl. There has been very little drifting and not much in the way of riming on the rocks though they were definitely wintry looking. Despite the marginal conditions several teams having been climbing with Savage Slit looking very black as was the Message and Pot of Gold due to clearing. Climbers were on Fingers Ridge, Genie and on the Fiacaill area when I jogged in late afternoon today in a pair of trainers (gives you an idea of the snow depth and icing!) and a few will no doubt be still climbing tonight! The gullies and ice lines have no real build-up to speak of...so when the temperature rises even a few degrees as it is forecast to do tomorrow it will disappear instantly leaving only the old snow strips from last month. The Scottish Avalanche Service has now resumed it's reports (SAIS) and can be found here.

Archived Cairngorm's Reports:

• Archived 17th December 2003
• Archived
• Archived

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