Windy in Sneachda!

Today myself, Gordon and Stevie made our way through the fresh snow into Coire an t-Sneachda in the vain hope of finding the gully lines in condition to climb. However after breaking trail for most of the way in , before letting three younger folks take over, it was soon becoming clear from all the spindrift cascading down the Goat Track that there would be lots of loose snow being moved around the corrie in the wind.

Coire an t-Sneachda looked stunning, but this photo doesn't show just how windy it was!

Stevie making his way up from the relative warmth of the sun into the shadows of Sneachda.

As any of the gullies seemed out of the question, we headed up below Jacobs Ladder and the Mess of Pottage to check things out. Aladdin's Couloir can just be seen top left of the photo and the Fiacaill Buttress on the right.

The Fiacaill Ridge and Buttress. We saw a couple of people on the ridge, but not many taking the most exposed line in the wind.

A couple of teams were looking for routes on the Mess of Pottage. Here two guys are checking out the Haston line, left of centre (grade III, 4). Just right of centre there are teams on the Slant which rises to the left, and in the centre you can just see a climber heading for Hidden Chimney. We headed for the edge of the rocks to the left of the Buttress and took a rising traverse up to the broken ground, top left.

Stevie and Gordon traversing below the buttress, before we roped up and pitched up to the broken ground.

Myself, struggling with the wind and a pack full of rope and metalwork!

360 view as we headed down to the ski centre.

By now the wind had increased and walking down above Coire Cas became a little challenging!