25 January - 3 Feburary 2008
We (James, Leo and Heloise) set off a little late on Friday night, but with a week of holiday and mountains ahead the excitement was high! The little car was packed to the gills but going well, until we got to Northampton and a big sign saying: M1 closed. ‘Dry’, we said.
The whole motorway was funnelled into small A-roads, and roundabouts through Northampton, all cars lost and confused. And in the midst of this, something weird happened - we realised we were being tailgated by a big white car with a young skinhead, behind the wheel. He sat about a foot (50cm - literally) behind our car, and stuck there, even though I changed lanes, sped up, slowed down etc. incredibly dangerous, and really weird. Well, after about five minutes something had to be done, so I pulled up (the other car pulled up right behind me), and got out trying to stand tall and look menacing (not easy for me!) and desperately telling Leo to get out of the back seat. The other guy got out of his car as well, and I asked him what was up? In broken English and an Eastern European/Russian accent, he said 'you have gun? Where gun?’. I expressed my confusion at this ('What?') and he, realising I wasn't a fellow Chechnya, Mafioso, and clocking Heloise’s big guns when she got out the car, became very apologetic - 'sorry, sorry…' before getting in the car and driving off. Weird.
We got back in the car a little non-plussed and shook up, and then proceeded North, another 6 hours to go still! We had an eventful drive up, but after all the traffic we got in at 4 am ish. The plan was to get up early and head North again (Scotland is a big place!), but had an impromptu lie-in and cooked breakfast first. We eventually got to Aviemore at 3.45pm, just in time for the gear shops!
Money was spent getting the final pieces of kit, before we went to the hostel where we met Ken and Lili - fellow BCC members who (cunningly as it turned out) had flown up. Dinner was found in an Australian café, and then time to get ready for Day 1…
Day 1
We'd hit Aviemore at a difficult moment - thaw, and big thaw at that. The river had risen blocking off the road to the Cairngorms ski centre (and the good pub - nightmare), and snow was literally falling off the routes everywhere according to reports (Avalanche Category 5, on a 1-5 scale!). A good day for a walk, to get us in the right frame of mind. With the road being closed we drove South-West into the Monadh Liath, to climb Geal Charn, a nice rounded Munro sitting by itself at the head of two parallel valleys. The plan was a little walk, but a small navigating error put us on the wrong side of a big stream (the streams were really high from all the thaw) - so we had to walk all the way around the valley to get high enough to cross. It was okay at first, but we went a long way out of the way and had a big final slog to the summit. And in spite of all we had a few rivers still to cross, with perilous jumps between boulders (perilous as it wasn’t the day to get wet!). Still not much snow around, but it was mighty cold and windy (always hurts on the first day) so we only huddled at the top for a few minutes (to unroll the flag, drink some tea and then off…).
Still a long walk off back to the car, but we were walking downhill now and towards the sunset - beautiful, and almost unbelievable for Scotland - no rain!
Day 2
We'd hoped for miraculous changes in the weather over night (temperature plunges, heavy snow, then thaws, then re-freezes solid before breakfast etc.) but it wasn't to be - another warm day, but this time with serous wind (90-100mph) on the hills, and gales later. Hmm. We decided to head for Bynack Mor. The walk takes us up a long beautiful valley towards the heart of the Cairngorms, before turning steeply up the valley wall to bag the Munroe.
The walk was beautiful, taking us through an old forest of Scots Pine, before opening up into a classic steep Cairngorm u-shaped valley, resplendent in the deep oranges reds of Scottish gorse and heather. The wind though was something else, and we watched it whip water of the stream and into the air, and almost knock us over at a few points. We began to feel very happy not to be on the plateau! We walked until hunger forced us to stop, and then after a relaxed lunch, headed around and walked the two and a half hours back to the car, with glorious visibility before the gales!
The next morning, Ken and Lili had to head back to London and work, so we had a goodbye supper at the all you can eat Italian buffet - they saw us coming and hardly bothered with the menus steering us towards troughs of pasta, pizza and salad - just what was needed!
Day 3
We went to a café and said a sad goodbye to Ken and Lili over coffee, especially sad because it had got a lot colder over night and any snow around would be in good condition (Cat 2 in the Northern Corries and Cat 1 on Creag Meagaidh). Today we climb!
The three of us left, Heloise, James and Leo headed up to the Cairngorms ski centre, the carpark giving access to the Northern Corries, with us heading for Coire an’t Sneachta. The corries are very high (the floor being over 1000m) so conditions are often better then elsewhere, and it‘s a popular area. We started the walk in with great visibility and the corries clear in front of us - a cold crisp morning, with only a little wind and small flurries of snow - looking good! The only slight upset was Heloise forgetting her harness, but with the conditions looking so good we thought we’d give it a go solo, and then if we get to difficulties we’ll use a classic belay - Brixton style! (Unfortunately Leo and I didn‘t think to get geared up so we‘d be ready if anything had happened…)
After scrambling around the boulders around Loch, we headed to the back wall and our objective - Aladdin’s Couloir. We spotted a couple of teams ahead of us heading for the same route as we walked up the corrie, so we spent a little time practicing foot placements and ice axe technique for Heloise and Leo who were new to the game, and then headed up. Leo was borrowing Pascal’s crampons and having a little trouble fitting them, Conditions were good, and we moved quick, very soon coming to the first of the two teams on a course pitching the route, with a set of instructors solo around them. We politely asked if we could climb through, and keeping out of their way kept on climbing, the rock walls now rearing above us, and the lake far below. The second team were on the crux, so we stood for a bit, and then quickly moved through. The gully suddenly got lean here, with the stream showing (never a good thing to see), and one had to step up on sodden turf with a poor axe placement, and make a couple of scrambly moves to good snow above. Not a hard move, but with so many in the gully it felt a little fluttery. Heloise and Leo moved through well, and we were almost clear of the other climbers when Leo said he was having problems with his crampons.
We were above the crux now, so Heloise continued on and Leo and I made a little ledge for ourselves to sit on and have a look - they were broken, and it looked like they’d been like that a while…(we should have fitted them the night before!). I got out some accessory cord in my pocket, and was about to begin trying to strap the crampon on when one of the guides came over to have a look - he held the crampon up for the other climbers saying, ‘this should be in a museum’ - much laughter, slightly nervous laughter from our side. Then he turned back to us and said, ‘There’s a guy in Sheffield that collects old gear - sell it to him‘, and with a ‘Rather you then me’, he smiled and headed back to his students. We turned back to the task at hand, and decided to get them back on, and if I kick really good deep steps then Leo can just follow behind - which we did (unfortunately the steepness of the terrain meant getting the rope out would be even more hassle, or so we thought!). Slow old work, but we got back on our way and very soon got to wider couloir and the top to join Heloise. First route of the season done - time to get the flag out!
After the shelter of the gully the full blast of the wind off the plateau sent us hurrying over to the Fiacaill Ridge that runs down the Western side of the corrie. We had lunch behind some rocks out of the wind at the start to the ridge, and then headed down it (the ridge being a grade one route in itself). The weather was coming in with a little snow, but it was still a clear view back over Aveimore - cool - last time I was here I couldn’t see for snow! We headed on down the ridge, until the cornice to the right disappeared and we felt it was okay for a glissade down the side of the valley, and then easily headed back to the path (with only a little river crossing - but we had experience by this point).
That night we left the hostel and headed to a little bothy in Newtonmore to hook up with Chris, who’d been walking with his university club. We sat around the fire and drunk ale, and got ready for the next time…
Day 4
Snow was forecast overnight (bringing Cat 3 Northern Corries, Cat 2 Creag Meagaidh), but not too much and it was going to stay cold. Creag Meagaidh looked like it was going to get less so we thought the better option. The snow pack there had got lean over the last few days, being not as high as the Northern Corries, but what was there would be good. Snow was forecast to build up, and windslab would develop towards the end of the day, so we got going early.
Creag Meagaidh has a long walk in, so it was a couple of hours before we reached Lochan a' Choire and the crags of Coire Ardair. There was a bit of snow about, but not too much and visibility was good when the flurries passed.
We were heading for the unmistakable line of Raeburns Gully (above Leo's right shouder), so had walk around the lake again to get to the snow ramp below the route. Conditions being what they were, we thought to pitch this one once in the gully, so we roped up, ate some chocolate and were off. The snow was pretty loose up to the gully entrance, but once there we hit harder neve and got happier - not that lean!
We started pitching it with me leading and then bringing up the other three together on a tight rope. Pitch 1, 2 and 3 passed with no hassles (only one snow bucket belay, and that was backed up with my one new ice screw) - all going well! Some snow was falling but not too much…
At the belay of pitch four, things changed a little! I met a rock step above head height, with a waterfall flowing over it, right up to the righthand wall of the gully. There was another smaller waterfall along the left gully wall, and around them both the snow had turned to deep slush that I was having trouble staying upright in. Between the two there was a steep slender ramp of hard snow looking very precarious, but seeming to lead to better ground. There were good placements under the step, although it took me standing under the waterfall to get them, so I made a belay and then hung back from the water and to bring up the other guys, looking nervously at the snow ramp rearing above me as I did it.
I headed up again once the team had reached the belay, slowly cutting steps in the hard ice and hoping the whole ramp wouldn’t just crumble. The next few minutes passed slowly, but I got the top of the ramp, placed my screw and continued… until the next step! This one was a single, wider fall, but not as high and with no gear under it. The slushy snow stretched right across the gully to blank walls, and my feet placement were sinking into the one’s beneath them, again and again. I couldn’t get an axe in anywhere - like teetering at the top of ladder! It didn’t take me long to see that going forward wasn’t really an option today, which was almost the harder decision - I really didn’t want to go back down that ramp!
Still, needs must, so I quickly set off down to the head of the ramp, and then started the ginger process of backing into my steps, wishing to hell I’d made them deeper - it’s not easy to cut steps downward! It was hard to tell Heloise (who was in fact relieved because she was belaying from an ever increasing waterfall!!), Leo and Chris we were heading back down, but with the lean conditions, and the snow continuing to fall, all knew it was the only choice. We decided to abseil the last steeper pitch or so and then solo down the rest, so I set it up and then, as always, tested my work by heading down, pausing to hand out prussics (always bring a prussic guys!).
I got off the rope (staying tied in under the knot) and shouted to the others to start coming down. This was my first moment to relax on the route (we wanted to be quick so it was lead, belay, lead, belay all the way up) and for the first time I had a proper look around at the lake far below my feet, and the rock walls looming above. I started to notice little powder falls coming down the walls around us, fairly regularly - a bad sign, that windslab had built up quicker then we’d hoped - and I remember thinking it was a good thing we were heading down, and as quick as possible!
I looked up to the others to see why they weren’t coming down (frozen prussics and gloves!) and at that moment, in the gully high above I saw a puff of snow flung high in a swirl. It looked like a gust of wind had picked the snow up, but then beneath that I saw a wall of rolling snow, coming fast towards us.
‘Avalanche’, I shouted up at the others. And shouted it again when they turned around not hearing me, before we all looked up and saw it coming towards us. The others were still at the rock step, so I shouted to ‘get down’ so the blast would sweep above them, while Chris shouted, ’get up’ or keep up’ (correct procedure when hit and swept away so you don’t get buried at the bottom). The gully wall widened into a little hollow where I was at the end of the rope, so I stood and saw them as the snow hit, hoping the belay was sound before jumping out of the path into it. I watched snow rush past me and down the gully, filling it with lots if avalanche debris - up to about a foot or two next to me. It was all over in seconds, and the next thing I heard was Heloise shouting my name - she couldn’t see me in my hollow from above.
I climbed up shouting, ’I’m alright’, and then ’Are you okay? ‘. The gully was now filled with snow, so I plunged up towards the others, and miraculously everyone was fine, bar a shake and a few bruises! Snow had filled the gully to the bottom, so we decided to grab the belay, dig the rope out and plunge down the mountain fast. A few minutes heel-plunging down through steep snow trailing gear, and we were back by Lochan a' Choire, sitting under a boulder by the mountain rescue kit, with our own rescue kit of sugary snacks and hot tea! It was cold, and Chris had a train to catch, so we didn’t stay around too long and started the long walk back to the car. Adrenalin was running high and we walked back in the gathering darkness and snow without torches and smiling and happy to be here!
Getting back in the bothy and getting the fire going was wonderful, and soon we were showered and half asleep with gear drying all around.
Day 5
We woke early, and looked out to deep snow that had fallen overnight - not a good sign - back to sleep for a bit… Gales were forecast with very high winds, and more snow (Cat 4). We had a think over breakfast, that did go on for a bit having rushed out early on every other morning, and decided maybe a bit of extreme skiing/snowboarding was the better option in this weather. It was a little too extreme though as the ski-centre had closed, so we did some extreme sledging instead. Much Brixton style was displayed, as we started sitting, then lying, then kneeling, then standing – you get the idea…
Day 6
We did kind of know which way the conditions would be going, but you can only hope! We woke up to more snow (Cat 5 now – the highest possible!), and more gales for our last day in the Highlands – time to bail… We drove South out of town, but five minutes later were met with a wall of trucks as the road had been closed due to the snow. The police said all roads would be closed, but we turned around and tried to go North instead, managing to skirt around the mountains and the snow, doubling the journey time – still, we got down to the borders that night, feeling like we’d really been in the mountains!
Day 7
The next day we had a big breakfast and set off (accompanied by Jacqui just up from London) to do some craggin on the excellent Northumberland sandstone.
There’d been snow overnight and the crag had a little covering still – it was deemed too cold for trad, so we all had a boulder, first at Bowden Doors, and then at Back Bowden just behind and out of the bitter wind! We had a good crag day, finished by a walk on the beach – very relaxing before our drive back to London the next morning!
Heloise
Scotland has to have been one of the most physically challenging Brixton trips I have been on so far. This for me made it the more rewarding, as a result. The long walk in and outs, often through (what is for me) demanding terrain (snow covered rocks, uphill or muddy uneven ground) were knackering but once in a rhythm allowed for some good, intense thinking time or crazy laughs and banter with Leo, Chris, James, Lili and Ken.
The scenery was mind blowing and Leo’s photography is testament to the beauty of the snow-capped mountains, lush valleys, pulsing rivers and atmospheric skies. The Scottish weather seemed to change so whimsically, which for me was one of the great attractions of Scottish mountaineering. Waiting for the right conditions to climb made the moments on the mountains more special, as if being granted a window of opportunity by the Weather Gods. Additionally, feeling so aware of how vulnerable we could be up on the mountains if conditions were to change significantly was a great distraction from the mundane niggles of life and reality in London. Nothing like being avalanched to put me in my place and put life into perspective.
Overall, Scotland was an enchanting experience that I was fortunate enough to share with some amazing people. It was an ideal introduction to winter walking and climbing, and the concepts of understanding conditions. Next step, winter skills training followed by Patagonia…yes yes!
Heloise’s Lessons Learnt
Check kit
Check kit again
Scottish ale is lovely
Scottish people are lovely
Scottish mountains are even lovelier
Scottish weather is antagonising to the point of obsession
ROLL ON NEXT YEAR!!!
