 |
Ian, Willy and myself followed what seemed like loads of people into Coire an t-Sneachda, battling against the wind and spindrift as we headed towards the Twin Ribs. It wasn't until we got almost below the Fiacaill Buttress that we got some shelter form the cold southerly wind, whipping up the snow around the coire. |
 |
Teams below Aladdins Buttress. No one seemed to be on the Mess of Pottage, Jacobs Ladder and Trident Gullies...for obvious reasons! We saw a couple of Teams head up to Faicaill Couloir, which looked okay, but not wanting to wait around, we stuck with plan A, and went up the Twin Ribs. |
 |
We only saw two teams on the ribs (whilst we were on them), one roped, the other solos. Sadly the roped team got to the bit of ice first that I was hoping to use my new ice screws on! |
 |
The snow was a mix of neve, small bits of ice and some powder, but not too much to be a concern through the broken ground up to the Fiacaill Ridge. |
 |
Willy belaying on the Twin Ribs. When we gained the ridge we saw more teams traversing it and one team coming up from Coire nan Lochan. We attempted to get shelter on a snow scoop whilst we had some lunch, but the spindrift was getting into everything, so we put the rope away and move on to the plateau. At the end of the ridge, the wind was at it's worst, and I felt for the guy having having to belay his team out of the couloir, whilst he sat in the freezing wind! |
 . |
We took a wide berth round the Goat Track, and headed east over to 1141. At this point things were pretty atmospheric as the wind transported snow was racing across the plateau. |
 |
Definitley a goggles day on the Cairngorm Plateau! |
 |
Looking back to Aladdins Buttress and Aladdins Couloir from near 1141. |
 |
Fiacaill Ridge, with the Twin Ribs just left of centre below the low point of the ridge. Fiacaill Buttress and Couloir to the left. |
HD Video of the day.
No comments:
Post a Comment