Glenshee (skiing conditions) 17th March 2013.

Ian and Brian at the bottom of the Butcharts Access Poma, listening to AC/DC blasting out of the K2 ski tents pa system! There was a little hil fog around early morning (fourth row of the car park  - the best position this year so far!).  

Every run was fence to fence and near perfect. Just needed the visisbility to improve...

Looking across to the Cairnwell with the clouds starting to break up and the wind easing off.

Slalom course looking good with a course being set up for some racing.

Carn Aosda run , the best I've seen it for a long time.

And the sun finally break through as we mess about in the Butcharts Coire area and fun park.

Over on Glas Moal it was getting busy as everyone had the same idea to get there for the sun.

Looking down the Glas Moal motorway. Great high level cruising! 

The main gully of Glas Maol.

A Gully, Corrie Fee, Glen Clova - 3rd January 2013.



It wasn't a promising forecast for the wind, and the avalanche risk was meant to be considerable. So think the east would be the least windy (ha!) , we went to Corrie Fee in Glen Clova. The walk in isn't too bad, but the soft snow made it hard going. As we left the wooded trail and entered the corrie we were blasted by the wind immediately. However we headed for the most likely safest part in relation to the wind  - "A" Gully to the east of the corrie.

Heading up to the gully was heavy going and it wasn't looking good for the gully itself. We did see several ice falls forming amongst the crags so we hoped things would improve higher up, although it did seem as mild as the forecast predicted.  

Gearing up and trying to get shelter from the bitterly cold wind. 

There was some fairly recent avalanche debris from the gully (?) to the right of "A" Gully. 

Snow conditions did improve slowly as we gained height, although a little soft in places, we saw very little loose snow, just the odd patch. The wind was blowing into the gully in places and the left hand exit seemed firmer and more wind scoured. To the right looked inviting but we choose not to and exited through the rocks to the left.   

Very tempting to turn right into the leeward slopes of the gully. 

Much better snow now and a chance for a bucket seat!

Willy on the final exit to the summit. 

"I'm a lumberjack..."

Mixed conditions on Striding Edge, 20th January 2013.



The forecast seemed to suggest deteriorating weather conditions in Glencoe, so we journeyed south to enjoy "slightly" better weather on our round of Striding Edge and Swirral Edge. The ridge wasn't completely covered so it was a choice of "crampons or no crampons". We chose the latter on the grounds we would end up on our backsides with them on.
A bitterly cold day, in fact too cold to sit for long at the summit shelter on Helvellyn. The descent of Swirral Edge was also a bit wild at times but soon eased off. Not as busy as a summers day, but still a few folk about , plus we saw a couple of teams(climbing) top out on Helvellyn. 

Quite a bleak looking day ahead of us but at least we could make out where we were going! 

Not quite enough snow on the ridge to warrant crampons, but extra care was needed in any case.

   

Night skiing in Soll, 9th January 2013. Filmed on Drift 1080p HD Headcam.



Night skiing video taken from the Stockl lift in Soll.

Skiing at Aviemore and Drift 1080p HD Camera, 16th December 2012.

At last a break in the weather gave us a chance to get up to Aviemore and try and get some skiing in before we go to Soll on the 5th January next year. Cairngorm Mountain still insisted on charging £32.50 even though it wasn't a full area, but that wasn't the main issue. We probably queued for an hour to get tickets in an almost Alton Towers style affair, as we wound are way up an around the ticket office, finally getting on the train at the end. 
However, the skiing wasn't bad, hard in some places but softening up late afternoon when it seemed to go very quiet on the slopes for some reason? I also took chance to try out my new, DRIFT 1080P HD Headcam.  Obviously, not the most extreme off piste, stunt filled video you'll see on YouTube, but I was just messing with it to see how it works etc. Hopefully, in a few weeks time, I'll get some better shots for Austria!              

Coire an t-Sneachda - Twin Ribs - Fiacaill Ridge, 2nd December 2012.

Crossing burns in Coire an t-Sneachda.

Mess of Pottage and Jacobs Ladder.

First glimpse of Fiacaill Buttress.

Wading up the Twin Ribs.

Fiacaill Ridge.

Away from the crowds.

Avoiding the bottlenecks on the ridge.

Looking over to Breariach.

Getting back on top of the ridge.

Looking back down.

Lots of "down", (that you can't see).

Shelterstone Crags and the Loch Avon basin area.

Looking into Fiacaill Couloir.

Cairngorm plateau.

Spot the climbers.

Osprey Mutant 38+ rucksack -  better than piece of Berghaus crap I have.

Fiacaill Ridge from the plateau.

Spot the climbers!

Climber belaying above the Red Gully-ish (?) area.

Top of Fingers Ridge.

Pygmy Ridge.

Aladdins Couloir complete.

Top of Pygmy Ridge.

Heading home.

Sunset over the Fiacaill Ridge.

360 video taken at the top of the Fiacaill Ridge.

Loch Avon, 18th November 2012.

After a later start than planned, we walked into Coire an t-Sneachda to show Jon his first view of the crags and gullies he may get a chance to climb this winter (?). Although there was a wintery feel to the day with a cold wind, there wasn't actually much snow. We opted not to do the Fiacaill Ridge, thinking the forecast high winds might make it difficult on its higher sections. Another option was to scramble up by the Twin Ribs area, but in the end Jon liked the idea of getting up close to the crags, so we headed straight in towards the lochans and the stretcher box.  

I don't think there was much snow on the ridge either especially with the westerly wind. The Ficaill Buttress and Couloir were also pretty bare.

Looking towards Trident Gullies and Alladins area which were bare too. We didn't see many people out, just a father and son team heading for the Mess of Pottage area and a team of two climbing way to the right of the Trident Gullies where the climber path rises up to the plateau. The path , whrn you can find it is steep and straightforward, but there was alot of ice (and little snow), so we put crampons on to be safe. This was a first for jon which he enjoyed. I hadn't really expected to be using them , or an axe so it was good to get some brief use of them.      

At the top of the climbers path we stopped for a brief bite to eat, and saw the one person who passed us on the way up, head for Ben Macdui. From there we headed south to drop down into the Loch Avon basin.

On the descent, we noticed two "boxes/huts" at the foot of Shelterstone Crags. One had a window but as we didn't cross the water at the bottom, we never got to find out just what they were for?  

Passing the area of the Sheltersone, I managed to get a good shot of the Forefinger Pinnacle, in Forefinger Gully. Maybe one day I will climb it as it is only (?) V-Diff I think.

Lunch was on the beach!

Was this the quietist beach in Scotland this Sunday? Mind you, some romantic soul had been there I guess a few days ago as they had written "I love you" in the sand!





Jon and Gordon near the top of the steep and icy path up Coire Domhain with Loch Avon below.