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CairnGorm Mountain - Fri 2nd Jan 2009
Posted by: Ron Walker at 21.40hrs on Sat 3rd Jan 09

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:: Route(s)
Spiral Gully
:: Route Grade
Grade II
:: Weather Conditions
Perfect, cold, calm and clear.
:: Climbing Conditions
The easy gullies are in the best nick for a good number of years and are well filled with perfect neve. Solid first time axe and crampon placements from top to bottom. No cornice problems either!

Full report on the Talisman blog at http://www.talisman-activities.co.uk/blog/mountain_diary.htm

YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pchih_7uvEg
:: Climbers
Chris Halliday and Ron Walker
:: E-Mail Contact
ron at dlanor dot freeserve dot co dot uk

Report Edited Once. Last edited by alan: 2009-01-04 01:35:54

CairnGorm Mountain - Thu 25th Dec 2008
Posted by: Ron Walker at 11.31hrs on Fri 26th Dec 08

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:: Route(s)
Central, Aladdins and grooves far right of Jacob's Ladder.
:: Route Grade
Grade I
:: Weather Conditions
High pressure inversion - calm, cold and fosty in Aviemore and warmish on the summits - YET - with great rock hard snow in the gullies which was perfect for climbing on!!
:: Climbing Conditions
Over the past few years we've always done a route on Christmas day. Again as in the past three years the weather was calm with a high pressure inversion, rock hard neve and bone dry rock - really fun to climb on!
This year there's a really good choice of the easier gullies to go for in Coire an t-Sneachda and after a late start from the Coire Cas carpak at 14.00 hrs I still managed to get three routes in on frozen snow before it got dark at 16.00 hrs.
Jacob's Ladder and Aladdin's Couloir have a line of rock hard bucket steps all the way to the top and through a choice of exits in the cornice on Jacob's. It's best to avoid the steps apart from at the cornice though as the snow is softer and easier to place the axes away from the steps...
Central Gully Left and Right are both good with some thick ice at the top of Central Left.
The Runnel is straight forward neve all the way to the cornice at the top (apart from a couple of metres in the chimney).
Crotched Gully has a slight easily outflanked bare section at the bottom. Spiral is complete and good. The other gullies and ice routes looked OK too...
On the otherhand the buttresses are more or less bare and very dry. Routes such as Pygmy Ridge and Fingers Ridge being good big boot summer routes after a snowy alpine like approach. Despite the gullies being frozen I saw a large rock fall from Aladdin's Couloir at 14.50 hrs. Care needs to be taken when moving off the snow onto rocky mixed ground to avoid dislodging loose material onto parties below...!
The Cairngorm plateau to Ben MacDui has got a good covering of neve and crampons are useful if returning via the ski area!
YouTube video pan of the Coire an t-Sneachda on Christmas day http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRsC752RCBA
:: Climbers
Ron Walker
:: E-Mail Contact
webmaster1 at winternet-scotland dot co dot uk

CairnGorm Mountain - Sat 4th Mar 2000
Posted by: Guest at 14.34hrs on Thu 2nd Oct 08
:: Route(s)
Crowberry ridge. Buchaille Etive Mor III/4. Approach up crowberry gulley deep powder on firm icy base. debris cones from recent avalanches out of gulley down to waterslide. small spindrift avalanches unpleasant. Crowberry gulley looked pretty banked out in lower half with powder. 1 party seen in gulley itself.
:: Route Grade
Grade III
:: Weather Conditions
sunny and cold on saturday. warmed up later in day. some snow showers. visibility generally very good. Sunday - very windy and much warmer.
:: Climbing Conditions
now level relatively low but mostly unconsolidated powder. little ice or neve on first 2 'chimney' pitches. what was there was pretty rotten. axe placements ripped easily. deep powder creating problems. spindrift from hell. hard in current conditions. broken crampon and time forced retreat after 2 pitches (boo!).

Someone fell off north buttress while we were climbing - helicopter rescue.
:: Climbers
Sarah Fuller
:: E-Mail Contact
s dot fuller at geog dot leeds dot ac dot uk

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