Goat Track Gully, Coire an t-Sneachda - 2nd January 2011

Sunday was a much colder day than the previous Friday, everything was well iced up. This picture was taken close to the entrance of the coire. As you can see the rocks are well iced up with hoar frost and visibility poor, the climbing crags should be visible behind me (Jeanie on camera as well as belay duty!).

We had problems locating the routes after gearing up. Our intention was to climb Spiral Gully, but I couldn't identify it so went for Goat Track Gully hoping to locate it and also hoping there would be no queues as the crags were very busy. The picture below shows me heading up to Goat Track Gully, a grade II winter climb.

Suddenly the weather clears and all becomes apparent. I'm in the right place thankfully and no queues. Lots of other climbers suddenly become visible on a variety of routes, particularly busy is Fingers Ridge.

On the first pitch of climbing. The ice was solid though a little brittle in places. Not as much build up of snow as I was expecting, but great climbing conditions. The crux at the top of this pitch gave me some exciting moments as the rope got snagged in some ice. Thankfully Jeanie was able to unsnag the rope.

Heading up the second pitch.

On top of the plateau and coiling the rope after a great climb. Some good views to the south over Coire Domhain.