cliffs, especially at peak holiday times, when it can be worth avoiding. However, there is a good selection of routes of all grades and of most styles of climbing. There should be something climbable most of the winter season, and some of the rockier routes come into condition very quickly.
On the far left of the corrie is The Mess of Pottage, with the straight gash of Jacob’s Ladder on its right flank. Next is an area of broken ground, and in the centre of the corrie is Aladdin’s Buttress, which is defined on its left by the big dog-leg gully of Aladdin’s Couloir. This buttress actually consists of a lower dome-shaped mass of rock with more broken ground above. Here are a number of ridges, the right-most one, Pygmy Ridge, being the most obvious. Next is Fluted Buttress, which gives the longest routes in the corrie and merges into Aladdin’s Buttress, and it is cut by a number of gullies and faults. On its right side it runs into the snow slopes of the Goat Track, the wide slope leading to the col at the head of Coire Domhain. Last is the Fiacaill Buttress, which lies in a subsidiary part of the corrie high on the right and forms the side of the Fiacaill a’Choire an t-Sneachda, usually just referred to as the Fiacaill Ridge, which separates this corrie from the Coire an Lochain.
Approaches
From the car park in Coire Cas follow the good path heading first west then south round the Fiacaill a’Choire Chais for several hundred metres to a junction, then take the left fork into the corrie. This path is not marked on some older maps. The right fork continues to Coire an Lochain. Follow the path south into the corrie, where it peters out at the start of the boulder field, and go on to the small lochans below the centre of the cliff. It is unusual if there is not a track in the snow, even when the path is buried. A less obvious alternative is to go from the car park to the White Lady Shieling, then follow the track which zig-zags up Coire Cas until the Fiacaill a’Choire Chais can be crossed and a slightly diagonal line taken down into the corrie.
Descents
From the top of the climbs the usual descent is to follow the plateau rim round to descend the Fiacaill a’Choire Chais into Coire Cas and so to the car park. The Goat Track, the slope west of Fluted Buttress, gives a steep but convenient return to the corrie floor, but can be an avalanche risk. For climbs on the left of the corrie it is possible to descend from the col east of The Mess of Pottage and go down diagonally below that buttress. For climbs on the Fiacaill Buttress, the Fiacaill Ridge or the Goat Track give convenient descents.
No Blue Skies living up to its name (photo: Henning Wackerage)
In thick and misty conditions it may be difficult to identify some of the climbs, but from the first aid box just south of the lochans, the magnetic bearings to some of the main gullies are as follows.
Aladdin’s Couloir 110°
Aladdin’s Mirror 145°
Trident Gullies 184°
Goat Track Gully 222°
Fiacaill Couloir 242°
Conditions
This is a high, accessible, north-facing corrie whose buttress routes come into condition very quickly; the easier gullies do not take much longer to form either. However, the ice development mostly depends on freeze–thaw and snow-melt, so takes longer to come into condition. Because of the popularity of this corrie many routes are becoming harder as vegetation is destroyed, especially by ascents in lean or thawing conditions. However, this can mean that the route is well marked with crampon and tool placements. There can be some serious rock-fall danger in thaw conditions, particularly in the area of Fingers Ridge and Red Gully.
In windy conditions, especially with westerlies, the top of the cliffs, especially The Mess of Pottage, can be very exposed. The Fiacaill Buttress is much more sheltered then, but the approach slopes can have dangerous slab build-up in these conditions. With a northerly airstream these cliffs are often shrouded in cloud.
The Mess of Pottage
NH 998 032 Altitude 1060m North-west facing
The left-most buttress; the main section is seamed with cracks and corners, while the right side is slabby low down and easy angled above. In the centre of the main section a big stepped fault slants up slightly left and is used by several routes.
| The Opening Break | 100m IV,5 |
A Cunningham and A Fyffe, November 1990
The obvious left-facing corner on the left of the buttress – low in the grade. Start below the corner and climb cracks up the initial slabby steps, with a detour right then back left at the first bulge. Climb the corner, which can be icy. Above, go right to easy ground and follow a fault up left below a steeper wall until twin cracks lead to more easy ground and the top. It is possible to avoid the first pitch and the crux by slanting in rightwards to the corner from higher up, making it a Grade III.
| Honeypot | 90m IV,6** |
J Lyall and M Sclater, 25 March 1989
Lies near the left edge of the buttress and takes the obvious square-cut chimney near the left side of the top wall. Start in a recess, where awkward moves give access to a right-slanting line. This leads to easier climbing up a gully, which is followed to the upper wall. Climb the square-cut chimney, passing the roof steeply on the right wall. The left side of the wide chimney fault can also be climbed.
Honeypot
| Wachacha | 90m VI,7* |
J Lyall and A Nisbet, 6 January 1990
Takes a line to the right of Honeypot and has two possible starts. Either begin about 6m right of Honeypot and climb a right-slanting crack to gain easy ground that leads to the steep top wall, or climb an obvious right-facing corner further right again. Where it steepens, swing onto the left rib then continue up the crack line to the top wall (this is the summer line). Follow a crack and left-facing corner system, then trend left to below the upper roof and come back right to the crack going through the roof and follow this to the top.
No Blue Skies (photo: Henning Wackerage)
| No Blue Skies | 110m VI,7** |
A Fyffe and L Healey, 20 December 1990
A good but somewhat devious climb. Start left of the lowest point of the buttress, where an obvious diagonal line slants left. Climb the diagonal corner until a traverse left to gain a right-facing corner can be made. Climb this, then exit left onto a ledge by a horizontal slot. Continue up the crack line above to easier ground below the upper walls. Climb up to a fine right-facing flake crack, which is climbed to a ledge. Go to its left end (at this point it joins Wachacaha), then through the walls above by the crack, which is followed to the plateau.
| The Melting Pot | 90m V,7** |
A Cunningham and A Nisbet, February 1987
