Fiacall Ridge

In an effort to avoid the crowds thronging their way to Coire an t-Sneachda we headed up Fiacall Ridge. We avoided the crux due to the gusting wind and made our way up on to the plateau just off the crest. As you can see from the video it was a stunning day on top and the group thoroughly enjoyed the awesome conditions. We descended by the goat track which wasn’t without it it’s excitement in the conditions.

A Halcyon Day

Today was a rest day as the last two days were pretty physically and mentally demanding and the weather was not conducive to learning with winds gusting to 80mph. We also took the opportunity to move to the eastern side of the Cairngorms to Lochnagar in an effort to find more favourable conditions.

A Quality Mountain Day

We awoke to a snow covered bothy with a couple of inches of fresh all round. After porridge we headed up to Gharb Choire Dhaidh where we climbed Twilight Gully on perfect hard snow. There was no cornice at the top and as we topped out the sun came out and the sky cleared, a perfect end to the courses first named route. We hacked back thorugh the occasional snow cloud until it cleared on our descent back in to the Lairig affording us awesome views of Cairn Lochan and Rothiemurchus forest and Loch Morlich down in the valley.

Be Bold - Start Cold

This morning we headed for Garbe Coire via the Charlamain Gap and up the Lairig Ghru. The weather was fantastic with easy walking over frozen trails until we hit the snow line at 700m, the névé provided solid going as the sun reflected off the valley floor. We reached the Gharbe Coire Bothy around lunch time which was in a sorry state. What was left of the door was hanging off and inside looked like a damp cave, but five minutes of stoves blaring and a cup of tea soon found us more than happy with our rustic surroundings.
In the afternoon we headed up into Garbh Coire Dhaidh to practice movement on snow and the session finished with a climb and descent of a Grade I gully.

Intro to Winter Climbing

One of our Intro to Winter Climbing Courses started today in the Cairngorms. Initially the idea was to go to the North West Highlands to pit our clients skills against some of the awesome ridges of Torridon: An Teallach, Liathach and Benn Align, but owing to our craving for the white stuff and Torridon not having any we happily headed to Britain’s last great wilderness the Cairngorms.