Cairngorms, Mill Cottage

Members Present: Duncan Lee, David K. Lygate & Al Metelko.

 

Cancelled through pressures of work & illness - Roger Daley, Dave Bish & Vicky Alderton.

Mill Cottage was originally booked for twelve, however since the chosen weekend was the only common weekend / cross-over weekend for the English Schools Easter Holiday, not many could attend. With three last minute cancellations, there were only three on this meet. Friday

In the morning, DKL raced back early from a week away in Sandsend (near Whitby) to pick up the hut key which hadn't arrived in the post prior to leaving a week earlier. Unfortunately, the key still hadn't appeared & a few phone calls were required so that arrangements could be made to pick up a replacement key from the Hut Custodian.

Therefore when DKL finally left Manchester to pick up Duncan & head north, it was a few hours later than planned. Unlike the year before, the journey was fairly uneventful (except hitting the Glasgow / Stirling rush-hour traffic) & after picking up the hut key in Kingussie, we met Al in Cairngorm Hotel for a couple of pints of Stag. Al had taken advantage of the good weather & had been up on the hill, he had walked over Cairngorm to explore over the back on snowblades & returned on the blades via the ski centre. We had decided it was almost time leave the pub when Duncan pointed at DKL's half full pint glass & it instantaneously exploded. None of us had touched it & when we told the Barman, he was completely unfazed, apparently it happens all the time. All thoughts of Duncan's paranormal powers were dismissed when the barman quickly appeared with a fresh pint of Stag, pure magic! Finally at Mill Cottage, Duncan cooked up a delicious curry & we had a few glasses of red wine. Luckily the curry had just the right amount of heat to keep Duncan warm through the night, since he had forgotten his sleeping bag.

 

Saturday

When we headed off the next morning we knew that it must be cold since shortly after leaving the hut, we saw a heard of deer crossing the road in front of us. On route to the mountains, we had to quickly pop into Aviemore as DKL had ordered a new pair of climbing skins for his twin tipped youth fun park skis (with telemark bindings of course), so had to drop off the skis so that the skins could be shaped & fitted. Then it was up to the ski centre for the walk into Coire an T-Sneachda, we were on snow straight from the car. When we got into the Coire Al went through thin ice into one of the lochans up to the top of his legs & had to swim through the surface snow to get out. Bravely, he decided that since he was wearing touring trousers & plastic boots, he would stay warm enough to carry on. In the low cloud we spotted some ice that looked in condition on Aladdin's Mirror Direct, a 25m Grade IV,4*, this is a route part way up Aladdin's Mirror (180m Grade 1). So with some excitement we started to climb up the grade 1 towards the ice. Unfortunately, the ice was a little thin & detatched in a number of places, so we skipped the route & continued up the grade 1. The weather & Al's soaking dictated that it wasn't a day for hanging about, so we headed through the blizzard & high winds back to the ski centre via the plateau & down the ridge. Back at the car park, Al treated us to the sight of him pouring at least a pint of water from his plastic boots.

It was then back to the Cairngorm Hotel for the Grand National, where Duncan correctly predicted that Comply or Die would win & applauded Aintree for lowering the fences so that the horses would have a safer race. After a pint of Stag (in non-exploding glasses this time), we picked up DKL's skis & new skins & headed back to the hut for dinner. Mill Cottage as usual, had it's own little micro-climate of calm & everything felt peaceful as we gorged on pizza & wine.

 

Sunday

Morning at the Hut

We woke to be greeted by 4" of fresh snow, but the winds were very high again. We packed up & left , but it took a while to get the cars up to the road, as both needed a push from Duncan to get up the snow covered track. On the way to the ski centre, Al heard on the radio that all the rescue teams were out searching for a light aircraft, which had come down in the Cairngorms & that wind conditions had not improved.

Knowing that the climbing conditions in the Coire would be especially rough, & since there was plenty of snow, we decided to complete a mini ski tour at the edge of the ski centre, both in sight but away from the piste. The ski touring was a good fun couple of hours & we got up to the cairn at the top of the ridge above the ski centre. Here the cloud cleared & we got a brief glimpse into the Coire & saw that nobody was climbing, there were just a few groups practicing snow craft, so we felt we had made the right decision. We then skied down all the way to the car park via the ridge & the deep drifted snow in a disused T-bar track. Duncan did especially well, as he had walked up to ski down with Al's snowblades attached to his leather climbing boots, not easy to do especially off-piste. Heading back into Aviemore for a chip lunch, we were firstly impressed by people still out & about on their mountain bikes, but this was bettered by those out running through the snow. However, nothing compared to the penny Farthing we passed, especially as it was being cycled with a child seat! After a haggis supper, chips etc, we said good bye to Al & headed off home via Kingussie to return the key. Getting home early is great when you arrive in time for a take away curry & a glass of wine. However I was still jealous when I found out that Al had taken advantage of the light evening & a break in the weather to return to the mountain & had walked to the Chalamain Gap, but unfortunately just as he got there the weather closed back in.

 

And for the record books:

 

Duncan

Duncan!

 

We had been a little unlucky with the weather, but despite getting little of note done, we had a splendid weekend. With the following few days seeing a drop in temperature & the additional snow, the conditions are looking great in Scotland. This season proves that sometimes April can have excellent winter conditions & it also has the bonus of the lighter evenings, so very early starts are not always essential. It is a shame that this is the KMC's last winter meet, as I can easily envisage this season stretching well into May.

 

David Lygate