:: Tour Route(s) or Location Skied/Ridden
The Slant (Mess of Pottage)
Aladdin's Mirror Direct
N.B. Actual date of descents was 19 February 2014
:: Weather Conditions
sunny and beautiful in the morning - completely necessary for The Slant, which was the main event... Then clagged in terribly, but I know the Mirror well enough, and there was no ice-fall section, so 6-8m visibility was somehow enough...
:: Snow Conditions and Distrubtion
strange mix of soft and hard, with some places just soft (such as on top of boulders / protruding rocks), others something like a crust on top of a firm wind-pack and still others scrapy and horrible. But the cover at the time was exceptional, and I believe it still is.
THE SLANT
Dropped in off a small but firm cornice, but I was probably glad of the firmness as a welcome alternative to being avalanchy... Picked my way down, across and through the Slant, and thoroughly enjoyed a rather exposed route but on decent snow. The chimney section was intimidating, as a fall would still have been costly at this stage, and the average steepness remained elevated throughout, but a couple of confident turns saw one through to a point where there was a clear line to the bottom.
ALADDIN'S MIRROR DIRECT
One of the "jewels in the crown" of Scottish extreme skiing, but I feel rather a counterfeit for my efforts that day. All previous attempts had involved a significant huck over the chunky ice-fall which normally sits in the direct route, hence giving the line its Grade IV winter climber's rating - on the day I came, saw and descended, there was almost no ice to speak of (I had to dig with my pole right at the crux to find some sitting just 2inches below the surface of snow-caked hoar-frost, which held my edges better than a traditional January Cairngorm piste...). It was a pretty awful, bridging side-slip to the crux, and then a brief point-and-shoot out the bottom, with a stoppage turn immediately after, as I really couldn't see anything once past the rocks... Not a pretty descent, but no rope was used, and a descent was achieved nonetheless.
Apologies for the delay in posting here, it was a busy time at work, and then I was straight off on holiday...
:: Skiers/Riders
Peter MacKenzie (theph mack), Michael O'Donnell (photo credit for distance shots)
This report was posted by
thephmack at 16.44hrs on Sat 8th Mar 14