Jonathan Preston at the crucial nut runner on the arête during the first ascent of Corkscrew (IV,3) in Coire Garbhlach in Glen Feshie. (Photo Andy Nisbet)
Friday January 6 was a rare calm day in The Cairngorms, and Andy Nisbet and Jonathan Preston visited Glen Feshie and climbed a new route to Coire Garbhlach in Glen Feshie. As Andy explains, this was the third route that he has added to the corrie this year:
“Coire Garbhlach is a useful option when the ski road is shut. The routes are short but follow good lines of ridges, icefalls and turfy gullies. The only snag is that the walk-in is tough when snowy, deep heather, bog and boulders. But a few days ago was my third visit this year, so it can’t be that bad. And Jonathan Preston was willing to come too. For once there wasn’t snow down to the road but it still took us 2.5 hours to reach the Upper Corrie where I knew there was an unclimbed gully. This was on the ‘pinnacled buttress’ described in the guide. I had already climbed [in December] the left arête (Sharp Edge – III,4) and the gully to its right (Moss Ghyll – III) but the gully on its right was waiting.
Thanks to the recent wind direction, the gully was packed with snow and it soon became obvious that this had insulated the turf. After about 10m of hooking and hoping, I headed out right for a runner. After about 15 minutes of digging (these modern axes do have small adzes), I finally found a crack and despite its loose appearance, I placed a good peg. The turf returning above to the gully was slightly better, but once in the bed, it was back to square one. A groove out left looked less steep (but wasn’t), so I headed that way and ran out of rope in a snow drift (we only had a short rope with us). Another 15 minutes of digging produced two poor pegs in rubble and finally a sling on a step on the right arête, fine as long as I could keep tension on it. Jonathan arrived quickly, then stepped out on to the arête, threw off some blocks and found a good nut deep inside. Now we were both happy and he finished up the gully to a soft but safe cornice. By now it was thawing, but the return is much easier than the approach. Corkscrew (IV,3) seemed to describe the line, and the grade suited the conditions.”
