UKC

Shelterstone dry?

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 CMcBain 15 May 2014
Hi,

Just wondering if anyone has been around Loch A'an recently and seen if routes like the steeple/needle are wet/dry. Would also be interested to hear if there are any problematic snow patches still lingering under the crag?


Cheers
 andy_e 15 May 2014
In reply to CMcBain:

Can't answer I'm afraid, but if any can, what is the Midge situation like also?
 Niall Grimes 15 May 2014
In reply to andy_e:

Was wondering the same myself. Heading that way on first week of June.
 alibrightman 15 May 2014
In reply to CMcBain:

I wandered past yesterday, but didn't pay much attention, sorry. There was plenty of snow at the toe of the buttress, if I remember rightly. Castlegates Gully is still full of snow.

Hell's Lum looked wet, with routes to the right of Prince of Darkness threatened by the remains of the cornice. Crimson slabs on Creagan a'Choire Etchachan still very wet.

Cheers
Al

OP CMcBain 15 May 2014
In reply to andy_e:

I was out last weekend around derry cairngorm area and there was no midge to speak of. The situation might be different now but I got savaged in the same place october last year, so we may have a few weeks left before they come out.

Cheers for the replies so far, would be great to get a few more!
 Michael Gordon 15 May 2014
In reply to CMcBain:

I would expect they'd be dry - not been much rain since tuesday afternoon?
 Robert Durran 15 May 2014
In reply to Michael Gordon:

If I were free tomorrow I'd gamble on it.
 Andy Nisbet 16 May 2014
In reply to Robert Durran:

I wouldn't, not that I've seen it (obviously because the I would have gambled). But there's a lot of snow around and the weather hasn't been settled. Not that wet but not totally dry either. I think there will be seeps.
OP CMcBain 16 May 2014
In reply to Robert Durran:

We went for it today and done the needle. Was a bit windy on the first 2 pitches but died down afterwards, it was bone dry and fantastic weather, great intro to a beast of a crag.
OP CMcBain 16 May 2014
In reply to Bob:

Forgot to say, no problematic snow at the top of the crag but there is a small snow patch at the bottom of the steeple (you would have to belay in a crevasse but easy to work around) it doesn't affect the needle so much as you can traverse into the first pitch and avoid the patch.
 Andy Nisbet 16 May 2014
In reply to CMcBain:

Well done, pleased I was proved wrong.
OP CMcBain 17 May 2014
In reply to Andy Nisbet:

Cheers, we both thought we were clutching at straws a bit on the walk in as it was baltic but glad the sun came out eventually.

On a related note, is the big block at the base of the 'crack for thin fingers' always a bit wobbly? I initially thought it was attached to the rock behind but its just a big shard of rock balanced on the ledge below the crack?
 Michael Gordon 17 May 2014
In reply to CMcBain:

> On a related note, is the big block at the base of the 'crack for thin fingers' always a bit wobbly?

seemed fine last year
 Robert Durran 17 May 2014
In reply to Andy Nisbet:
> Well done, pleased I was proved wrong.

What did you ever know about Cairngorm conditions?
Post edited at 16:04
 Robert Durran 17 May 2014
In reply to CMcBain:

Well done, pleased I was proved right
 Andy Nisbet 18 May 2014
In reply to Robert Durran:

There's a big west-east difference. I've been climbing on Binnein Shuas and it's been quite wet there (apart from Ardverikie Wall). It didn't occur to me that Shelterstone might be dry.
 Robert Durran 18 May 2014
In reply to Andy Nisbet:

I've always thought of the main bastion of the Shelterstone Crag as the fastest drying of all the high mountain crags, mainly because there is no apron of vegetation (or snow) at the top; the steep, clean rock ends abruptly and the plateau slopes back away from the top.
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