Information and photos of my mountaineering trips in Scotland,England and Wales: Including hillwalking,scrambling and easy rock climbing.Also via ferrata, skiing and alpine trips in Europe.
New year's eve and another fantastic day in the Cairngorms today, this time taking the Gunner up Jacobs Ladder in Coire an t'Sneachda, see map, which is still in great condition. About halfway up we switched to the right hand side of the gully to give a slightly different feel and exit at the top. Also with another temperature inversion, I had to scrape ice off the inside of Stevie's car, to see anything as we drove into Aviemore with temperatures of -10c at least! Even with the heaters on full!
However, higher up we had clear skies and great visibilty, and it was a little warmer, especially in the gully. The drive home was still chilly though, with the windscreen washers still freezzing up.
Luckily there was some some Red Bull left to wash the screen with!
Looking down over Coire an t'Sneachda, with Aviemore covered by cloud.
Stevie and Mark on their way up Jacobs Ladder.
Stevie doing his last pitch with another team moving together on his right.
A couple of well prepared mountaineers passing by, blissfully unaware of the drops to their left. Wellies and shopping bags are of course essential when taking any trip into the mountains.
Watching the skaters on Loch Morlich with Coire an t'Sneachda, the Fiacaill Ridge and Coire an Lochan in the distance. What a great way to spend Hogmany!
We used the Cairngorm map from the Harvey, Superwalker series and the Cicerone guide to winter climbs in the Cairngorms - both available from Amazon.
Mark and myself went to Coire an t-Sneachda see map in the Cairngorms today and joined the crowds looking for something in condition to climb. The temperature in Aviemore was -9c, but as we headed up to the Ski Centre car park it rose to a tropical -3c/4c, which with generally clear skies gave us great weather. Luckily most of the easier gully lines were complete so we opted for Jacobs Ladder, a 110m grade I that seperates The Mess of Pottage from Aladdins Buttress.
Jacobs Ladder is the gully sloping to the right (although it is actually vertical seen straight on) in the centre of the picture.
When we arrived at the foot of Jacobs Ladder, there were already three teams in it and one crossing over to a route just to the right of the rocks. Fortuneatly we were out of the wind by then so it turned out to be quite a cozy route!
Looking back down the gully towards Mark, with Coire an t-Sneachda below.
Setting up the final belay before the cornice.
Me, just about to climb over the cornice.
Mark just about to "top out" of Jacobs Ladder.
One last look down Jacobs Ladder at more climbers on their way up, before we headed for Coire Cas, and then down to the Ski Centre.
On the way down we spotted a pair Ptarmigan in their winter colours.
For this trip we used the Cairngorm map from the Harvey Superwalker series, and the Cicerone guide to winter climbs in the Cairngorms - both available from Amazon.
Stevie doing his last pitch with another team moving together on his right.
A couple of well prepared mountaineers passing by, blissfully unaware of the drops to their left. Wellies and shopping bags are of course essential when taking any trip into the mountains.
Watching the skaters on Loch Morlich with Coire an t'Sneachda, the Fiacaill Ridge and Coire an Lochan in the distance. What a great way to spend Hogmany!
