Plan B and not what we came for, but as it was with a warm front with rain arriving well before forecasted, this provided a very good alternative.

In great nick, brilliant weather. Top pitch needed a little clearing to find gear/ placements.

Brilliant day. Skied there and back, blue sky. Did it in two pitches as i think the first pitch was pretty banked out. Jack lead the Chockstone pitch. Second half of the chimney floor was full of powder but first pitch had good snow and some ice

Second deep cut chimney this week this one much more enjoyable thsn scnb. Done as two long pitches skid in and skid out on bluebird day what more can you ask for!

4 pitches.

N

Absolutely superb, continuous strip of ice and neve, good rock gear and odd screw, finish is spectacular

Amazing route in amazing condition!

Great fun. Each of us climbed the final section a different way! Easier perhaps for the longer in leg?!

Lots of snow! Awkward out the chimney at the top

Plan B

Big build up meant we could solo the slabs directly up to the Chimney itself. Very warm and melty on 1st belay but once in the Chimney cold and good connies. Excellent final pitch

What a fun & atmospheric route. Soloed up to the cave belay & then rock paper scissored for the last pitch. Tim won. Would happily climb this again.

With Mike, Joe and Si following behind. I led 2 and 4. In generally good condition although some bits of ice and nevee could have been firmer. Lovely choice for a windy day! Interesting and fun the whole way up: I was pretty slow on the last pitch as I got a bit confused about the best way to approach it! Weirdly airy feel given you're in a chimney-think it's cause the gully floor drops away as you approach the chockstone. Back and footing felt increasingly tenuous as the chimney widens! According to the guys I missed the bomber hook for the committing move over the chockstone. Amazing route!

Simon led P1 into Gully. I led Pitch 2 up into the deep cut chimney over the multiple chockstones of fun. Simon led pitch 3 through the roof

Abbed off before final chockstone pitch...a long day of swimming through powder snow : (

Fantastic route, led the traverse

A seriously dodgy traverse to the start across powdery slab. Turf now frozen but buried under a tonne of powder most of the way up the route. Some rime ice and harder snow to ease the way. Despite these challenges, an utterly fantastic day and we had the route all to ourselves.

Approach ramp was a powder slog, I made it a few meters from the belay to find that the turf was nowhere near frozen. Abbed off a slung chokestone and a hex to the left; if anyone is up could they remove this as I don't want it staying to become fixed mank. A 60m ab just made it to easy ground.

Turf not frozen. Buried under powder.

P2,4. Lean conditions. Good frozen turf but the ice steps were not complete. We finished direct through the capping roof at about IV 6.

James practicing guiding

Mega route with a mind-f*** of a finish. In good nick.

Rather soggy and lots of powder on lower pitches. The upper ones improved. A very memorable and unlikely climb, recommended

Snow is insulating the turf underneath so a bit soft in places. Some useful ice though, very enjoyable climbing, great moves on top pitch!

Superb route with loads of interesting climbing from the first move to the last in a stunning location with the shelterstone as a backdrop. Conditions were OK. Some useful ice with some not so useful powder. A lot of verglas around too. Split into 4 pitches so we both got to lead some beefy bits...the top pitch was a right laugh.

Snow pretty unconsolidated in places and the top pitch was pretty stiff for IV but a great route.

What a brilliant climb in a stunning location. The 1st time I've ever climbed in the sun in winter? On the other hand this melted the snow on the right-hand-side of the chimney which wasn't so good! P1 was fine but P2 had hideously soft snow to progress up: a real battle. Thank heavens for those pegs which made protection quicker & easier. P3 is deceptive but brilliant; Andy took the credit there.

Got the final lead, what a mental pitch! fantastic climbing. turned into a longer day than expected because of the ;arg amounts of powder before the chimney.

Swam to the base of the route, swam up the first 3 pitches, last 2 pitches done in the dark then 3 hour walk back in a storm, good value day out!

First winter route!! Superb atmospheric route. Blue bird day!

Fantastic climb, especially last pitch.

A lot is packed in to the final meters!

Quite thin Ice on pitches but Great Climb

Andrew lead P1 and P3, I lead P2 (all roughly 30 metres). Scratchy, as the there was little to no ice, except for the bottom part, which was in a good nick. Nice alpine weather.

Fantastic alpine conditions, shared the route with only one other party. Could do with a hard freeze but otherwise excellent.

Lots and lots of snow and no frozen turf. Abandoned after first pitch with Tom

Unconsolidated and precarious. Big moon spectacular on the walk out. Felt hard.

Still some unconsolidated powder in the gulley. Still not sure if I was facing the right way on the last pitch.

Climbed 1st & 2nd Pitch A team were on the crux pitch and I was concerned about having to climb it in the dark, We decided to abb off and walk out. Had fun naving across the in a pitch black blizzard.

Unfrozen and unconsolidated. Rapelled off.

Abbed off from beneath top due lack of gear with placements and side walls buried in lots of slush.

Ace! Sustained at the bottom and a cool last pitch. Back and foot and amazing layaway hooks - maybe a bit easier with longer leggs or a fuller pack.

Good fun, last pitch looked a bit improbable till I set off then got into the swing (or more accurately shuffle)of things. Rather hairy heading back over the plateau.

bit short for all the hype

Fantastic route (got it second time round!!) - hard going back over the plateau in the wind. Think this is probably the hardest IV in the universe - but also maybe one of the best - due to the last pitch.

Cheeky final pitch. Glad Ken was there!

Great route that gave ample opportunity for some choice swearing during the crux of the final pitch. The first pitch was climbed together as it was banked out with snow and then we belayed from the start of the chimney. Two further pitches topped us out. Only my second mixed route so it was certainly an experience through the chimney given I have no trad experience to fall back on!

Took an even earlier exit up the side of the chimney on the top pitch. This was only above the 1st step after the belay. Great lead from mat. Further progress up the chimney barred by bottomless powder on rock.

not in good condition - hard to protect, turf not frozen, ice falling off, lot of snow hiding the cracks. Had to force an early and technically difficult exit early out of chimney / arete.. probably about V 6. Excellent route though.

scary approach slopes and lots of powder higher in chimney. climbed to within 7m of top.. then backed off.

Great route

Hell's Lum choice of routes a bit limited today so went for a repeat of DCC as it looked good from below. Wonderful snow ice and a joy to climb, infinitely better than my first ascent.

Great route. Ice/snow on lower pitches was fine.

Glad I didn't lead the last pitch!

Very cold blustery day. http://pjmountains.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/20-01-13-hells-lum-cairngorms-winter.html

Led the entertaining exit pitch and a couple of earlier ones. Starting the back-and-foot is a daunting prospect, but fine once established (and once my partner's guidance based on 19-year old memories was ignored).

Conditions made this tough for the grade. Fresh snow and not much ice lower down. Chimney was very entertaining.

Covered in haw frost when we got to the point where we had to exit the chimney we couldn't see the line and so bailed. On return one look at a UKC picture and we realised our error. The sort of route that should have the phrase 'cheeky exit' or 'improbable finish' in my eyes, though probably more obvious in less powdery conditions. The retreat made for a long day, need to come back for it now!

powder covered rock...lots of scraping but good fun!

Had planned to do Sticil face but a major thaw put paid to that. This, however, was a fantastic consolation route which was still nicely frozen.

Corker of a route, fantastic finish.

Glorious day, nice continuous climbing with an entertaining exit!

Currently my favourite winter route, if not favourite ever route.

Led P1&3

turf was just about frozen although thawing quick. Ab'd off before the end as the highest pitches were completely bare rock

Lots of unfrozen turf and bad ice at the bottom changing into reasonably compacted snow in the middle and then horrible powder at the top. It was out of the wind though

A real fight due to poor conditions on the initial slopes and bottomless powder in the chimmney. Did it in five pitches and led the crux in the dark...

Ended up leading the top pitch - not as bad as it looks

Led crux.

Fantastic.

The two last pitches were great. Loved the finish :)

A bit melty and I got very damp. A difficult but short crux. A fierce white-out on top made for an interesting homeward slog.

The lower chimney was nicely iced

soloed 1st pitch, lead a short pitch from the upper gully into the heart of the chimney, partner lead the rest. excelent mixed climbing in near perfect conditions!

Very warm start to the day, powdery conditions at the start, unfortunately there was already a pair on the climb, so we didn't have the crag to ourselves. The leader of the pair infront of us was unfortunate to dislodge the flake he had used for protection and had torqued his axe on for the final set of moves out onto the chalk stones at the crux!!! Not sure how this affect the climb for those wanting to make the final set of moves in the sam way. An excellent day.

quality!

Amazing crux at the top. I'm not sure if I could explain to anyone quite how it's done...

fantastic conditions... top pitch a little gem

Must do climb. The return from inner Earth is good value for the grade.

Very nice climbing, Soloed up to the chimney then did the route in two pitches, awesome top pitch with some funky chimney action. Haul or leave sack somewhere if you can.

Memorable - exciting top pitch

also feb 2001 with Guy Fox Kelly

Brilliant!

2,L,2,L.

Sticil Face, Direct finish to car park!

used a back rope round the roof.

Only lead P1 had an epic in unconsolidated deep snow, non frozen turf and finnishing in dark without head torch's & rucksacs

Part of a great weekend bivvying at the shelterstone.