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!

Any routes left in Schneachda? Jacobs Ladder, 12th May 2013.

Still a few routes left in condition in Schneachda, but the ones that are (some of the trident gullies) still have big cornices. Alladins Couloir is complete, so is Jacobs Ladder but the edge isn't (or Hidden chimney). Don't think the Mirror or Spiral are complete either, but with soft-ish snow too, they are probably worth avoiding?

Surprisingly the snow wasn't too bad in Jacob's.

Willy removing gear on the way up.

The snow did vary though on the way up and although the cornice was ok in the middle and not overhanging, it was quite soft and might have been different unroped!   

Ian, about to swim over the top of Jacobs Ladder. 

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!