Winter Climbing in the Cairngorms, Scotland

The pictures below are from one of my earliy trips to the Cairngorms back in 1997. The pictures are taken with 35mm film and looking at the quality compared with the modern digital camera I use today one feels quite nostalgic looking at them. We were 18 in all from the Salford University Mountaineering Club including Ian MacNab (MIC) who was available for instruction the whole week. I drove one of the minibuses, a Ford 12 seater, complete with box trailer and all the gear, from Salford to Aviemore in the Cairngorms. We managed the 330 miles or 530 km in 6 hours which, considering that the poor old Transit was only capable of 40 mph on the uphill stretches, wasn't too bad at all. We were based at Dalfaber Golf & Country Club, an excellent place close to town, with leisure facilities (pool and jacuzzi) and most important - a bar. Each morning we drove up to the day lodge at the ski centre, a 30 minute journey following the snow-plough. From here it was a 50 minute walk-in to either Coire An Lochain or Coire An t'Sneachda and a further 30 minutes over to Hells Lum crag. On the first day two of us departed from the rest of the gang and walked in to Coire An Lochain. We were alone in the coire the entire day and conditions were perfect, -10 degrees celcius and clear but with a brisk northerly wind giving serious windchill on the exposed Lochain summit.

Left: The headwall in Coire an Lochain. On the approach into the coire the mist on the top of the crag was illuminated by the rising sun. The Vent (III) can be seen left of centre (the narrow gulley just right of the first buttress). The snow in the gulley slopes by approximately 50 degrees. The picture below left shows the narrowing gulley and the chockstone which presented several rather awkward moves as the snow was not banked out as it usually is. The view, below right, is looking westwards across the foot of the buttresses from The Vent. We also climbed The Couloir (I) before returning to the day lodge via the summit of Lochain and the Fiacall ridge. The obvious dark chimney on No. 4 buttress is Savage Slit V,6.

Winter climbing in Scotland is unique because of the way ice is built up on exposed rock surfaces. This rime ice is formed when moisture in the air freezes instantly when it is blown onto the very cold rock. Left: Ian MacNab (right) with Rich Rayner descending from the summit ridge of Coire An t'Sneachda.

The next day we walked into Coire An t'Sneachda where we used the morning practicing snow belays and ice axe arrests. In the afternoon Jamie and I climbed Aladdins Mirror (I) returning by the Fiacaill A Choire Chais to the day lodge. Again conditions were perfect, -7 degrees, excellent neve, clear but with cloud over the low lying areas. The photo below shows the view from the top of Aladdins Mirror with the Fiacall Ridge in the background and Aviemore hidden by cloud in the distance. We finished the day with an Irish coffee at the ski-lodge while waiting for the others in the party to return.

On the Tuesday morning four of us climbed Cairngorm (1245 m). We were on the summit at 9 am (right). Visibility was very poor in the mist but occasionally we were graced with clear patches. Later we descended via The Goat Track into Coire An t'Sneachda and climbed Red Gully (II/III). On the Wednesday, I climbed with Rich Rayner. We climbed Jacob's Ladder (I) moving together. Conditions were again excellent but the wind on the tops was very strong and bitterly cold. Thursday saw another fine day with ascents of several classic routes but cloud above 1000m prevented any views from the top of the coires. Conditions can change swiftly in Scotland and they did on the Friday. We turned back after walking-in in hail and thawing snow, conditions were just too bad. Luckily it was the end of the week and almost time to drive home. Below: The view westwards from Alladins Seat in Coire An t'Sneachda.

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