Raeburn Hut - Cairngorms
The Hog Roast Tour
Members: Colin Maddison, Craig Marsden, Andy Stratford, Gareth Williams, Steve Graham, James Williams, Mark Pilling, Carolyn Mills, Emma Timmis, Emily Pitts, Stuart Hurworth, Helen Boothman
Guests: Andy Lole, Jamie Ledingham
Afternoon, Saturday 18th January
Andy takes a big step forward in his climbing career …. right through the cornice!
Evening, Thursday 16th January
Emma and Emily begin a weekend long excursion through a small pig, pretty much snout to tail, with sausages at Tebay services.
Most of the meet assembles at the Raeburn Hut near Dalwhinnie on Thursday evening, James and Mark have been there since Sunday and Carolyn, Jamie, Helen and Andy roll up on Friday.
Friday 17th January
The day dawns fine and cold enough and most of the party head round via Aviemore to the Coire Cas car park and the Northern Coires. Andy and Gareth are keenest and away well ahead of the pack if some considerable time after Andy got up. Emma and Emilly stay in bed to digest their pork supper.
It is fine at the car park but the wind gets up soon on the walk in and it is snowing hard with low cloud and poor visibility well before we reach Coire an t-Sneachda. Gareth and Andy are already lost in the murk, reportedly heading for the Fiacaill Buttress.
Craig and I choose Patey’s Original Route (IV 5) on Alladin’s Buttress which gives a good climb in four long pitches. It’s more sheltered on the crag and the wind drops as we ascend. A descent via Aladdin’s Couloir provides Craig with a first opportunity to try out an ice axe arrest for real. I watch with interest as he first catches me up and then overtakes me.
“Lean “Lean on it. Lean on it. LEAN ON IT.”
“I am f*****g leaning on it.”
Completing our descent under varying degrees of control we happen upon the girls enjoying a hard core afternoon of snow angels and ham sandwiches.
Meanwhile, over on the Fiacail Buttress Gareth and Andy have completed a fine ascent of The Seam (IV 5) before following Steve and Stuart up and Mark complete Goat Track Gully (II) despite the excitement of a collapsing cornice.
Late afternoon – returning to the hut the breakfast devastation wrought on several pounds of back bacon by Emma and Emily is evident across the kitchen table. An enormous ham rests in hut’s largest pan!
Evening – Emma and Emily devour a sizable dead pig casserole.
Saturday 18th January
Morning – Emma and Emily are up before the appointed hour and unbelievable quantities of streaky bacon struggle for a foothold in their frying pans.
Craig, “I don’t know why I thought you two were vegetarians!”
The girls make ham sandwiches for lunch.
Craig and I have agreed to take Emma and Emily climbing as they’re still new to the winter stuff. We drive back round to the Northern Coires. Along the way, in the back, the girls are multi-tasking – essentially giggling and texting simultaneously.
It is pretty foul at the car park with strong winds and rain; it’s only 9.00am and people are already coming back from the hill. The forecast is to get worse so we think better of it and head back to Aviemore and the superb Mountain cafe, before Emma heads off for a 16 km run.
Others, departing earlier have pressed on. Andy L (who’s last encounter with the KMC was when he dug one of them out of an avalanche on the Ben) is blown over on the way in to Sneachda but he and Helen complete Patey’s Original Route (IV 5). Steve and Gareth go over to Coire an Lochain but find very poor conditions and beat a sensible retreat after an exploratory attempt at Central Crack Route (III).
Slightly later in the afternoon, Saturday 18th January – having taken his momentous step forward Andy extends his experience even further by mastering two valuable mountaineering techniques – the ice axe arrest (rapidly) and tunnelling up through a cornice (no, I don’t know why he didn’t just use the hole made on the way down).
Back in Sneachda, Andy and Stuart have completed an ascent of Hidden Chimney (III) on the Mess of Pottage buttress, finding good conditions on the route but top out into a whiteout. Thus it comes to pass that after a short downward detour Andy is tunnelling back through a cornice. Poking his head through he shouts a warning to approaching climbers not to come this way. But the leader is undeterred, he is experienced in this sort of thing having already fallen through the cornice, so mustering all his recently gained knowledge ….. he does it again! Later Stuart and Andy meet a lone climber looking for his mates, explaining that he became separated when he fell through the cornice!
Elsewhere, Carolyn and Jamie have gone to the Ben where they find better weather and enjoy an ascent of the South West Ridge of the Douglas Boulde (IV 5).
James and Mark go ski touring and skin up Cairngorm and try to ski down. It’s a learning experience for James who discovers he can’t go fast enough to fall over.
Evening
More dead pig casserole.
Sunday 19th January
Sunday dawns warm, wet and windy and after some deliberation and another visit to the Mountain café home seems the best bet. So as Emma and Emily chew contentedly on a trotter apiece we pack and head south.
Colin Maddison
