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| Coire an t-Sneachda, January 9 |
With a few hours to spare before darkness fell I decided to
wander into Coire an t-Sneachda to see what conditions were like after the snow
of recent days. Coire Cas was crowded, it being Saturday. Bands of mist drifted
over Strathspey below while to the north there was clear sky and sunshine
lighting up distant clouds.
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| View over Strathspey from Coire Cas |
Walking into the corrie I quickly found that much snow had
fallen. Even on the lower path which had been beaten down by many pairs of
boots there were deep drifts. An icy wind blew down from the mist-shrouded
tops. This late in the day everyone else was descending. Dozens and dozens of
people tramped past. I reckon there must have been queues on the popular
climbing routes on the corrie’s cliffs.
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| Descending climbers |
As I entered the mouth of the corrie the wind picked up,
spindrift swirled all around and patches of mist swept over me. Visibility came
and went. At times I was in a near white-out, only the rocks free of snow
giving any definition to the landscape, along with the occasional groups of
descending climbers. The drifting snow quickly filled in boot prints and hid
holes between rocks. Stumbling was easy. In other places the wind-glazed snow
had a breakable crust – firm until you put your weight on it. This was the real
winter Cairngorms.
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| Near white-out conditions |
By the time I reached the stony heart of the corrie below
the great cliffs I was alone. The snow-spattered crags came and went in the
mist. If I hadn’t know the place the scale would have been hard to grasp.
Perhaps those rocks rose thousands of metres into the sky? The sky already
darkening I turned and plunged back down through the snow.
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