Scottish Winter Conditions - Spiral Gully, Coire an t-Sneachda, 30th March 2014.

Ive' been wanting to climb Spiral Gully for a while now, and today was the first opportunity this winter where it seemed possible. Ian and myself were the first people in the corrie, and it was only as we checked out the route, shown in yellow, that we saw a couple more teams arriving. The two guys we spoke to at the stretcher box were going for Fluted Buttress Direct, and it turned out we would see them on and off as we both climbed our respective routes.   

Still some large cornices hanging over the Trident gullies.

The Mess of Pottage looking a little clearer now, but Jacob's still has a serac style cornice above it!

We saw a couple of teams heading over towards Fiacaill Buttress.

First pitch of Sprial Gully up the right hand groove of the twin grooves. 

Higher up in the right slanting gully, of Spiral Gully. Much better here here than on the strangely steep, broken ground below it.  

A small section before the col, was starting to get bare with a few rocks showing.

The col itself was more of an arete leading left to the summit.

Lots of snow waiting to go somewhere!

Skiers at Aladdins seat, on their way down the couloir.

Ski tourers on their way over the top of the Mess of Pottage.

Another video of our day!

Aladdins Couloir, Coire an t-Sneachda, March 3rd 2013

This was Jon's first "proper" winter mountain trip, so we took the grade 1 route of Aladdins Couloir to go the basics of belaying, using axes and crampons, and all the faff that comes with doing stuff in winter conditions. Luckily we had good weather, although the snow was soft in some places. Everyone seemed to avoid Jacobs Ladder, as it looked to have a very dodgy cornice (which we saw from above later in the day).    

Although relatively straightforward, we roped up for Aladdins, and went through the motions to give Jon an idea of what goes on.

Mark and Jon, taking it easy at onr of the belays.  

Just before Aladdins Seat, there is a split in the gully, so we headed right to see if could get a view over Aladdins Buttress into the corrie. 

Jon enjoying the airy perch above Coire an t-Sneachda.

My belay stance whilst Jon took his pictures before dropping back into the gully.

At Aladdins Seat we stopped for a bite to eat, with cracking views of other climbers topping out above the Fluted Buttress area.  

Looking down at our route variation (Left as seen from above) from the belay.

Wide exit slopes with steeper, more interesting options to the left.

Jon and Mark, about to leave Aladdins Seat.

Final belay before topping out.

And Jon and Mark, topping out.

Team of three climbers who appeared from Aladdins Mirror area as we climbed out of the gully.

Video of the days activities.

"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. 

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!

Northern Corries

Today myself, Gordon and Willy had a great day out in Coire an t-Sneachda, with none of the crowds of last week.

Having decent weather helped, as you can see form this shot of the Fiacaill Ridge in the centre and the Goat Track on the left. We climbed Jacobs Ladder ( Gordon and Willy's, first trip up it ) as practice with the rope, placing and removing protection and belaying. Even managed a "stomper" belay at the top this time!

A deserted Jacobs Ladder with Gordon and Willy waiting to come up from the last belay point. We only saw a handful of people climb it and two of those were descending! At the top we turned right (West) and walked back along the top of the corrie, checking out the exits of any complete routes and enjoying the views.

As we walked along we passed the top of Aladdin's Couloir which was tempting to descend but there were quite a few people coming up so we decided not to get in the way

We also checked out the area at the top of Central Left Hand, Central Gully and The Runnel, with teams topping out on most of them.

Willy near the top of Aladdin's Couloir with the Fiacaill Ridge in the distance. We dropped down into the corrie just short of the Goat Track where there is a well worn path through the snow below the buttresses, right down to the stretcher box. We stayed high and had lunch in the snow bay at the start of Central Left Hand, Central Gully, The Runnel and Crotched Gully (the Trident Gullies). A couple of teams passed on their way up the various routes, so after checking the Cicerone guide book, we chose Central Gully.

Gordon climbing Central Gully, a straightforward grade 1 so we didn't rope up. Central Left Hand to our left had a team in it and looked very icy for a grade 1 with quite a fat bulge of ice that required them to get the rope out.

Willy and Gordon at the top of Central Gully, just as the snow started. We chose a line to exit at the left of the gully which was quite thin in places with grass showing through. In hindsight the right hand side may have been better, but with more snow forecast this week everything should still be in place for the weekend.

Bumped into Adam of Hughes Mountaineering in the Ski centre car park. He told us he had been over at Hell's Lum with a couple of clients, but it didn't take him long to scran some food off us!