"They think it's all over..." Aladdins Couloir, 11th April 2010

Well after around £400 in petrol and god knows how many miles of driving, this was probably my last winter day out (?). A little dissapointed at not getting to move up to grade III stuff, and missing out on the Aonach Eagach, Curved Ridge and Tower Ridge (although by all accounts it is still in good nick).
On the plus side, I did manage Striding Edge three times with a winter gully thrown in, the Tarmachan Ridge where I could see something and The Legde Route (at last) and the CMD in it's winter coat.
Our Glenmore Lodge trip was only spoilt by too much snow! However I did pick up a few tips and maybe we'll get back next year and hopefully get more out of it?
As for today;   
Glorious sunshine, blue skies and spring snow made for a warm, slushy but enjoyable trip into Sneachda. The coirrie was quiet with only a handful of peaple around. Most of the gullies are still complete although the steeper ones still have fairly large cornices waiting to collapse, or refreeze if we're lucky?
We chose to go up Aladdins Couloir which was still in the shade and although a little soft on places was ok. Two groups of skiers came down as we went up and we spotted more doing the Goat Track and somewhere to our left.
After messing about in Aladdins, we sat in the sun at the top watching folk out enjoying the hills, then headed up to Cairngorm and down through the ski area to end a good shorter day.
It's quite possible with some colder temperatures and allegedly a little more snow, that there could be some climbing (gullies, the buttresses are bare) still to be had for a couple of weeks yet.

   

View in the centre of Sneachda, with a couple of guys near Aladdins Mirror/Direct?

Taking the right hand side of the couloir to get the view back over into the coirre.

Heading up into the sun at last.

Looking across to The Mess of Pottage area and Cairngorm summit.

Now, which bit goes where?

Straightforward stuff up to the top, with a little bit of a cornice on the left and a nice run out to the bottom of the corrie on the right, should you choose to slip!

  

Almost at the top and time for a bannana sandwhich :)

Looking over to the Fiaciall Ridge and the Goat Track, top left.

Lorna giving the top of Jacobs Ladder a wide berth. It still has a large and dodgy looking cornice which no one seems to have near, either up or down.

Lone climber abbing down Aladdins.

Lorna taking it easy on top of Cairngorm weather station.

One last view of the plateau before heading down.