Fast forward one week and along with Skylar and Erik, I was stuffing large packs into the boot of Joe's little golf. It was a tight squeeze but soon we were in, along with all bags and on our way. Driving along the A9 north we were soon met by a lot of snowfall, the quality of the roads quickly decreased and we were forced into a crawl. Still, it meant we didn't have to worry if the corries would be in. There was no doubt about that!
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| Snowy roads! |
An early night and then morning were called for and before too long we were back in the car driving up to the snow gates. Unfortunately for the climbers who want to be awake and walking into the hills at the crack of dawn the new company who manages Cairngorm mountain no longer opens the ski road until about 9/10. We arrived at the gates at about half 8. We talked to the attendants they seemed sure the ski road would open in about half an hour. We decided they were lying and opted to lengthen our walk by starting down by the ski gates. This proved to be the best option as the gates didn't open for another 2 hours by which time we were starting up our first climb of the day. And anwyway the walk in wasn't too shabby either.
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| And people were excited for "snow" in St Andrews! |
The plan for me Joe and Paul, was to head into Coire an Lochain and do the Classic "Central Crack Route" (IV,5/6). Having not done any significant exercise in about 2 months I felt suitably out of shape for the walk in and was always at the back of the pack. Though as the season wears on I hope to get my walking fitness back and maybe even manage to keep pace with Joe (The fastest walk in-er ever). The climb is on the 2nd butress from the left (helpfully called No. 2 Buttress). Soon we had made it all the way to the corrie rim and were making our way around from the left so as to avoid the great slab. A short stop was made to put our crampons and harnesses on so we could safely make our way to the base of the route.
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| Straight Outta Cairngorm |
Conditions were perfect, anybody who would refute the routes being "in" would have to be completely blind. The whole corrie was plastered in a layer of beautiful rime, the sun was out, Though our guns definetly were not as it was -5 degrees at 900m.
Joe struck out with the first lead, which forms the crux of the whole route. The start involves awkwardly making your way over bulges of rock on some far from optimal pick placements. After going up and then climbing back down a few times Joe committed to the crux. Having done the crux there were one or two more slightly concerning moves from there up to the belay. A strong lead!
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| Joe with the "Seagull Slayer" hex |
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| Joe having just pulled the hardest moves |
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| Joe in the corner, with views over to No. 1 Buttress |
From here the climbing eased significantly, with only a few tricky step moves getting in the way. After a slight trouble with route finding on pitch three we were soon at the top of the climb. The top few metres were very heavily rimed with in some places it being nearly a foot thick, I pulled over the rim of the corrie to see that the belay was basically made by slinging some loose blocks with Joe and Paul clipped into the system to add ballast. This didn't come as much of a surprise as from previous experience belays on the cairngorm plateau are generally poor!
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| Paul having a good time |
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| Looking up pitch 2 |
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| Definitely in condition |
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| For future reference, this is the wrong way |
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| The right way! |
Soon we were once again walking around the corrie and back down to the Cairngorm car park where we planned to hitch our way down the ski road back to the car. We were picked up by some fellow climber and bundled into the back of his van. Upon arrival back in the car we discovered Erik and Skylar hadn't yet made it down from the mountain so we'd need to wait for them to get back. Soon they too were with us and we made our way back to Aviemore and the old bridge.
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| Not bad. |
 Obligatory panorama shot |
| The plan for day two was to head over to Creagan Corrie Cha-no, reputed to be the shortest walk in in the cairngorms. Being my first time heading over I didn't know what to expect though I'd heard it normally took 45 minutes to an hour to get over. Unfortunately due to all of the snow and poor visibility we spent nearer 2 and a half hours walking over to the corrie. By the end of the trudge I was done though still had enough ammunition left in the tank to go for my first winter lead of the season. One of the interesting things about cha-no is that you approach it from the top and then descend down a gully to get to the bottom of the crag. Two other climbers were at the crag with us and they'd descended the snow gully without abseiling and we decided to follow suit to make up for time lost in the walk in and avoid the hassle of setting up an anchor. Soon we were at the bottom of our chosen route: Jenga Buttress (III/IV,4). I racked up and then headed up the turfy start to the bottom of the real climbing beginning with several short, though tricky stepped corners in sequence.  The hooks were there, though they were definitely out of reach and some cool footwork got me the height I needed to make the tricky moves. Having reached a grassy ledge I continued up for a bit to find a spot to make a belay before bringing the other two up to me.  Standing at the belay I realized I was only a short distance from the top and I probably could've done the whole route in one. I lead the last short section to the top up an awkwardly wide crack where once again the hooks were an awkward distance above me. Soon I was on the plateau stood next to a quality belay bringing Joe and Paul up to me. Originally our plan was to squeeze two routes in, but sadly due to the kerfuffle with the walk in we no longer had the time, and instead opted to walk back down to the car. Once again we hitched as soon as we reached the ski road to save us the effort. Getting back to the car Erik and Skylar were already there having got disoriented whilst trying to find there way over to fingers ridge and instead ending up having a long walk along fiacaill ridge and the rim of coire an t'sneachda. We all piled back into the car and were soon heading back south to the dulcet tones of Heartland FM. I was pretty keen to get back before it got too late, I had a dinner party to go to (typical St Andrews), Which I turned up to having neglected to shower wearing my thermal leggings. |
