Braeriach - the Coldest corrie in Scotland

Back to the weekend before Christmas when a thaw had stripped out much of the climbing conditions across the Highlands. This thaw was however followed by a freeze and Doug and myself were trying to decide where to go. Being optimistic and curious we decided on taking a look in the corries of Braeriach. These corries are some of the highest and coldest corries in Scotland so if winter has survived anywhere, it was likely to have survived there. They are also amongst the remotest in the Cairngorms and it would take us 3 hours just to reach Garbh Choire bothy then a further hour to reach any of the upper corries where the cliffs were.

Garbh Choire Bothy

We met at the Sugar Bowl car park around 0600 and set off towards the Larig Ghru carrying a mixed rack, ice screws as well as everything we would need to spend a night in the bothy. It was the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and it remained dark for much of the walk in. The boulder strewn Chalamian Gap was treacherously covered in powder and parts of the path up into the Lairig Ghru were verglassed. Once we were near the top of the Lairig Ghru we cut right and skirted round rather than drop down the other side. With hindsight we did this too early and went too high so ended up having to descend to reach the bothy.

Ice in Garbh Choire Dhaidh

The Bothy is in truth more of a shelter. It has been refurbished in the last couple of years but it is still just a single compartment with no fire. It would sleep three although four would be a push. It is however in an incredible location and it provides a base for climbers to access the great corries of Braeriach which it is noted as its original purpose in the SMC guidebook for the area. An Garbh Choire is a vast network of three big corries that feed into a bigger basin. It holds a sense of scale and remoteness equalling anywhere else in Scotland. A wild and impressive place.

Garbh Choire Mor

We dumped our bothy kit and began heading up to Garbh Choire Mor where we thought our best chances of finding some climbing would be. Twenty minutes into the ascent we got a view northwards into Garbh Choire Dhaidh where there appeared to be formed routes of ice. We couldn’t resist the chance to get an ice route at this stage of the season so changed direction and started skirting round towards our new objective. The closer we got the more encouraging the ice appeared so we geared up and went closer still. Upon climbing the approach slope and getting up close to the routes we were left a bit disappointed. Much of it looked climbable but probably not that easy to protect as the Ice looked very thin in places and also potentially incomplete. We now decided that we would be pushing it for time to get a route in today so elected to go light into Garbh Coire Mor and have a look at our options for the following day. We found that the corrie is an impressive high cirque and in its condition held some promise at least for mixed lines. Satisfied that we would get a go at something the next day we headed back down to the bothy and had some food before turning in for the night.

Approaching Great Gully and Crown Buttress

After breakfast the next day we again headed up into Garbh Choire Mor aiming for a route called Cherokee Chimney which makes it’s way up Crown Buttress, the buttress that bounds the left side of the corrie. We geared up and headed up a crisp neve slope towards Great Gully. The route looked good and I elected to lead first giving Doug the crux second pitch. The first pitch was a shallow gully that led up into a tight chimney which held a chockstone. The chockstone provided some interest and good gear. Conditions were excellent and I got up to a scoop on the left in which I belayed. The Route went up right from here. Before Doug set off I decided to throw one of my new mitts down the cliff for some reason. Regardless he was soon round the corner out of sight but from what I could see it looked hard. While on the belay a pair of ravens' discovered my mitt and landed beside it giving out loud aggressive squawks. I was relieved when they flew off without tearing it to shreds! When it came time to follow I found that the chimney was in fantastic icy mixed condition. It felt quite hard and Doug’s gear had been hard fought but being on second certainly let me trust some of the ice that had formed on the slab on the right than I would have been hesitant to use on lead. A great pitch and I was soon up at Doug.

Myself Rounding the Chokestone on the First Pitch (photo: Doug B)

From here it looked like there were some options. The obvious way was the continuation up to the final slopes but the guidebook seemed to indicate heading up a corner to the right. I decided to have a look at the corner and had to traverse across unprotected slabs covered in snow to get to its base. I got a thread in and tried to get up the corner which was harder than it looked. My efforts ended when A bit of ice I was hooked into gave way and left me hanging off one axe. We decided to abandon this and finish up what seemed the more natural line. Reading another guidebook later it describes the obvious easy ground as the way to go. I left some tat and done a lowering traverse back to Doug then finished up to an easy top out.

Doug on the Plateau

Upon topping out and bringing Doug up we now had the interesting task of getting ourselves back down into the corrie. ’Chasing the Ephemeral’ says that there is a boulder to abseil off down into Great Gully but even in these apparently lean conditions we could not find any evidence of anything to abseil off and the cornice into the gully was huge. Thankfully the mist was hovering in and out at plateau height so we elected to head round towards the Angel’s Peak and descend by a spur that goes down into the Corrie of the Chokestone gully. We found this without too much bother and started down. I detoured off to run back into Garbh Choire Mor and pick up my Mitt before heading back down to the bothy.

The Lairig Ghru and Aviemore (photo Doug B)

We had always accepted that we would be walking out in the dark and so it came to pass. We packed up and started the long walk out. It was dark by the time we were in the Lairg Ghru and the distant street lights of Aviemore provided a beacon for a while. After about three hours we wandered into the Sugarbowl car park. We learnt that very little else had been climbed anywhere with virtually nowhere else surviving the thaw. Pictures of the northern corries showed black cliffs and it would turn out that this would be the start of a long period in which winter would all but disappear in the mountains. Still we found it very interesting that we found full on winter conditions including ice, neve and huge cornices when even the most reliable places were stripped out. We were certainly rewarded for having the optimism and motivation to go for the long walk into a serious and remote place in the hope that winter was still hanging on.