Saturday, October 25, 2008

Cairn Gorm with fresh snow

Starting up the tourist path
After the horrendous weather on Thursday, there had been a big dump of snow on Friday. We had a rest day; took in the sights of the local area and chilled out a little. Out of the window at Nakiska on Friday evening, I could see that there was a good covering of snow on Creag Dhubh above 500m. I was immediately psyched and fancied bagging Cairn Gorm the next day (via the non tourist route of course).
Sun over
Fiacaill a' Choire Chais
We left early and with the short drive up the road, we were ready to leave the car park by 08:30. As we passed the Ski Centre and headed up the wide track, I started to get an idea for just how much snow there had been. There was at least 5 inches of soft fresh powder. We were two of many folk heading up to the top of Cairn Gorm in the sunshine that morning. Not at all surprising considering the excellent weather. We passed under the funicular and into a couple of switch-backs. At this point, it was time for us to leave the tourists behind and let them enjoy their very uninteresting slog up the rest of the track to  Ptarmigan Station. The path was difficult to follow but that wasn't too much of a problem, as we simply headed straight up the slope of Fiacaill a' Choire Chais. As we passed the Ski Tows and gained height, I looked over at the funicular, ski tows, buildings and tourists. Not the most picturesque of mountains to say the least, but at least folk were out enjoying the outdoors and made it more accessible to all.
The controversial funicular
Looking down to Loch Morlich
The going up the slope was tough in the deeper powder as we got higher and as the gradient steepened. However it was great fun in the snow and we were in no hurry at all with most of the glorious day still ahead. As we gained the ridge, we were hit full in the face by the strong southwesterly. We quickened our pace and and took shelter behind the large cairn at 1141m.
Looking south across the plateau
A quick brew and a few photos later; we were heading for the summit slopes. On the way up, there were great views across the plateau over to Ben Macdui; in my opinion one of the best views in Scotland. We hadn't seen a single soul after leaving the track below but when we reached the summit, we found it swarming with people. I think they were all quite surprised to see us appearing up the slope by the non-tourist path. It was rather windy at the top and it was rather chilly, so we took shelter by the weather station on the summit and had a spot of lunch. After that, we joined the tourists in Ptarmigan Station for a hot chocolate... or two.
The Northern Corries
Summit Weather Station
An iced up weather station
On top of the world

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Sgor Gaoith in good Scottish weather

Looking South towards Achlean
It was a real dog of a day; just as the weather forecast had predicted. Relentless rain coupled with 80-90 mph winds. Classic Scottish weather! Nevertheless, we had a limited number of days in the Cairngorms so I was keen to get stuff done. I had seen that the weather would also be bad tomorrow with plenty of snow forecast, so I had that planned as a rest day. The day after that was looking excellent weather-wise so I was planning to tackle Cairngorm then. With the weather being so bad, I wanted to tackle something quite straightforward; so we could bail out early and easily if we needed to. Flicking through the books, I quickly homed in on Sgor Gaoith.
Looking South into Glen Feshie
We didn't leave until after 08:30 mainly because I was looking out the window hoping that the wind would stop howling or the rain would ease a little... it didn't. We drove into Glen Feshie and parked up just north along the road from Auchlean. To my horror, the weather had somehow got worse; the wind and rain was now whipping down the glen from the south. We were soaked through only a few minutes after setting off. Somehow, the rain seemed to be getting in underneath our jackets; something I've heard folk joke about in the past when talking about the Scottish weather.
The track heading up towards
Carn Ban Mor
A short walk along the road saw us turn onto the track to the east through some pine trees. The colours were spectacular and the trees gave us some shelter from the wind and the rain. This was shortlived however, as we continued up the track and out onto the open heather covered hillside. As we got higher, the wind cold stronger and more relentless. Finding it difficult to stay on our feet, we took shelter behind a large cairn in the bealach to the south of Coire Ruadh (750m). I couldn't see the top of Carn Ban Mor or the rest of the ridge ahead; it was covered in cloud. By now we were wet through and pretty cold. I made the decision to head back down. Looking back now, it was definately the right call. It would have meant crawling another 350 metres up the slope to the top and then trying not to be blown off the top of the ridge into Glen Einich. Drenched and cold, but in good spirits, we headed back down the track to the car. We joked with each other about how awful the weather was and how no one in their right mind would have attempted a Munro today :)
A good experience considering the weather today. You need days like that occasionally for a reality check and a reminder as to just how savage mountain weather can be. The warm of the wood burning stove and the hot tub back at base were a very welcome end to the day.