Coire an t-Sneachda
The new season has started with a welcome
return to the Cairngorms with Natsuyo from Japan and Andy from a little
closer! Sustained low temperatures and
generally settled weather have consolidated the snowpack and maintained a
reasonable amount of snow for early March.
We weren’t out to break any records; it was just a gentle introduction
to winter mountaineering for Natsuyo and an opportunity for Andy to get the old
boots out and get back to the hills!
Day 1
The Kincardine Hills
By way of easing gently into things, we opted
for a traverse of the Kincardine Hills – that shapely heathery ridge above
Glenmore that always come in useful as an alternative to the high tops in poor
weather. We started from Glenmore,
wandered leisurely through the forest past An Lochan Uaine (the little green lochan) and up to
Ryvoan bothy. The new(ish) path up the
hill from the bothy makes for a very straightforward climb and it’s less than
an hour to the large stone cairn atop Meall a’Bhuachaille (810m; hill of the shepherd).
Meall a’Bhuachaille
It was cool and breezy on top and the
atmosphere was fairly hazy – and not from heat either! So no great views today. We continued our traverse over Creagan Gorm (732m), the unnamed double top (711m) and finally, Craiggowrie (687m).
Natsuyo’s camera battery ran out of power half way through the day – no
laughing matter if you’re Japanese, I can tell you! In the event, it wasn’t a great day for
photos or hill-top picnics and we didn’t linger long anywhere. There were very few other souls about and we
were soon heading down through the pine trees towards Milton Cottage and the
waiting car on the Coylumbridge road. We
would try something harder tomorrow…
Meall a’Bhuachaille & Creagan Gorm
Day 2
We awoke to clear skies and bright sunshine
so headed up the ski road to the Day Lodge & Funicular car park at
630m. Quite a few dedicated skiers were
enduring the challenge that is Scottish skiing and winter skills groups seemed
to be everywhere, heading off to practise their belays and ice axe skills and
maybe building the odd snow shelter.
Coire Cas
We kept to the access track initially but
left it soon after passing under the funicular and struck up across the open
hillside on the western flank of Coire Cas. Very low temperatures had
produced an icy snowpack so we donned crampons almost immediately and they
didn’t come off until nearly back at the car!
We moved up the well-defined ridge of
Fiacaill a’ Choire Chais to its termination at Spot Height 1141 – a top very reminiscent
of the Silberhorn above Interlaken in the Bernese Oberland. Arriving here opened up impressive views
across Coire an t-Sneachda and the Cairngorm plateau. Cairn Gorm itself lay conveniently close.
Orographic Cloud Over the Cairngorm Plateau
Natsuyo was moving effortlessly in her
crampons (my words, not hers!) and we quickly traversed across and then up to
the ice-caked automatic weather station and summit cairn of the UK’s 6th
highest mountain, Cairn Gorm (1245m; blue
mountain). Unsurprisingly, there were more people up
here enjoying the intermittent views as thin cloud washed across the summit
taking the sun away for the first time that day.
Approaching Cairn Gorm Summit
We descended almost reluctantly, but quickly,
past the colourful crowds thronging around the Ptarmigan restaurant area. We took the well-constructed path that leads
down between the ski runs and along Sròn an Aonaich and back to the car park. A most agreeable day.
Day 3
Our last day saw the same cool and clear
conditions prevailing, but with no blue sky or sun to enhance the
occasion. We returned to the ski car
park and traversed around and up into Coire an t-Sneachda. Again, the slopes were covered in numerous
winter mountaineering groups up from Glenmore Lodge, and other places no doubt,
and the occasional ski tourer. We heard,
and then saw, some ptarmigan and I managed to get reasonably close for a clear
photo of their winter plumage.
On reaching the heart of the coire, we spent
some time admiring the surrounding ice-girt cliffs and a couple of intrepid ice
climbing parties before climbing out to the east and returning once again to Spot
Height 1141. From what was now quite a
cool and breezy summit, we reversed the previous day’s climb and descended
through the ski runs and back to the car park.
All in all, this was a most enjoyable start
to the season and it was good to be back in the hills with nice people doing
what I do. I’ll be returning to the
Cairngorms next weekend for some winter skills and, as fresh snow is falling up
there as I write, I can’t wait!
Check out my plans for the coming season at: http://www.hillways.co.uk/summer/summer.htm
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