From: cyocum.myopenid.com

2011-01-24 02:02 pm (UTC)

Heh, no wonder Coire an-t'Sneachda means "fault of the snow". From: pozorvlak

2011-01-24 02:03 pm (UTC)

Re: Heh, no wonder I'd translate "coire" as "corrie" or "cirque", myself, both meaning "birthplace of a glacier". "Corrie" is after all the Anglicisation of "coire" :-) From: cyocum.myopenid.com

2011-01-24 02:07 pm (UTC)

Re: Heh, no wonder Huh, because DIL is coming with "crime, fault, sin" (caire 1 (http://www.dil.ie/results-list.asp?mode=BAS&Fuzzy=0&lang=OIr&searchtext=(coire%20AND%20(id%20contains%20C*))%20(Old%20Irish)&findlet=C&findcol=&sortField=ID&sortDIR=65602&respage=0&resperpage=10&bhcp=1)). I thought it referred to the shape as we would in English. From: pozorvlak

2011-01-24 02:13 pm (UTC)

Re: Heh, no wonder Interesting. It's definitely a name given to a feature of glacial rather than tectonic origin - though I wonder what the Gaelic for "San Andreas Fault" would be? From: cyocum.myopenid.com

2011-01-24 02:33 pm (UTC)

Re: Heh, no wonder I just talked to a friend who is an expert in Scottish Placenames and he says: "It's from another word meaning a cauldron or kettle, the idea being it's a declivity like a cauldron. Have a feeling it's from an OI word meaning cauldron." From: pozorvlak

2011-01-24 03:29 pm (UTC)

Re: Heh, no wonder Cauldron, eh? Makes sense. Thanks! From: aaroncrane

2011-01-24 04:27 pm (UTC)

One question Which parts of this are enjoyable? From the point of view of someone who’s never done anything like this, it’s very hard to tell (the amusing ice steps notwithstanding). I realise that probably sounds abysmally rude, but it’s not meant to — it’s a genuine question, triggered by (a) thinking that the conditions in those pictures look unbearably cold and unpleasant, and (b) fear at your throwaway comments that you’re entrusting your life to a snow bollard (whatever one of those is). And on the assumption that there are parts which you find enjoyable, I’ll happily do my best to drum up supportive enthusiasm for your chosen hobby. ☺ From: pozorvlak

2011-01-24 05:13 pm (UTC)

Re: One question



Climbing the actual route yesterday was really good fun. You know that feeling when you're writing some code that's hard enough that you need to think about it, but not so hard that you get frustrated? Like that. This is not always the case; however, even if the climbing itself isn't much fun, you're usually left with a huge sense of achievement afterwards. Taking on a difficult challenge and overcoming it with skill and determination: I'm sure you can relate to that.



The photos make the day look grimmer than I remember it being (lens fog, perhaps?). Remember that we were kitted out for the conditions. Better weather would have made for a better day (one on which we found our intended route, for a start!) but once you're on the route you don't actually need to see very far. It would have been a pretty uninspiring day if we'd just been hillwalking, to be sure.



There are some people who actively seek out mortal danger; I'm not one of them. All in all, I'd prefer it if the chance of dying on the mountains were actually zero, rather than just low - statistically, the most dangerous part is driving there and back, but a few people do die climbing (and walking!) in Scotland every winter. I try to do everything I can to continually upgrade my skills and safety awareness - I'm going on a course on Thursday to fill in some gaps in my knowledge, for instance.



A snow bollard is

I don't think it's rude at all - it's a very sensible question. Unfortunately, it's a hard question to answer - witness Mallory's line "because it's there". The plain fact is that being in the mountains is addictive - if I don't go for a couple of weeks, then I start to feel trapped and irritable. But why go winter climbing rather than winter hillwalking? That's also a difficult question - climbing ought to be much less fun than hillwalking, involving as it does more faff and danger and getting cold, but for reasons I don't understand this isn't the case.Climbing the actual route yesterday was really good fun. You know that feeling when you're writing some code that's hard enough that you need to think about it, but not so hard that you get frustrated? Like that. This is not always the case; however, even if the climbing itself isn't much fun, you're usually left with a huge sense of achievement afterwards. Taking on a difficult challenge and overcoming it with skill and determination: I'm sure you can relate to that.The photos make the day look grimmer than I remember it being (lens fog, perhaps?). Remember that we were kitted out for the conditions. Better weather would have made for a better day (one on which we found our intended route, for a start!) but once you're on the route you don't actually need to see very far. It would have been a pretty uninspiring day if we'd just been hillwalking, to be sure.There are some people who actively seek out mortal danger; I'm not one of them. All in all, I'd prefer it if the chance of dying on the mountains were actually zero, rather than just low - statistically, the most dangerous part is driving there and back, but a few people do die climbing (and walking!) in Scotland every winter. I try to do everything I can to continually upgrade my skills and safety awareness - I'm going on a course on Thursday to fill in some gaps in my knowledge, for instance.A snow bollard is one of these , by the way. Mine wasn't so deep as that, because the snow was really hard and a pain to cut through, and I was trying to work quickly because I was conscious of Elsie getting cold and in an information vacuum. Of course, the fact that the snow was so hard meant it didn't have to be so deep... I think it would have held, but in future I'll go for more of a margin of safety. From: pozorvlak

2011-01-24 11:54 pm (UTC)

Re: One question right now"* adds a definite edge to the experience. You exist fully in the moment, and afterwards are left with a deepened appreciation of the preciousness of life. The trick, of course, is to have this experience and then not die. Which involves not screwing up whatever it is you're doing, which in turn involves only getting yourself into situations that you can handle. As I hope was clear from the post, we were both constantly trying to assess and manage risk. Which is why the scary part of this story isn't soloing over the cornice or the snow bollard or the ice steps, it's getting lost at the beginning of the day. Yes, we got away with it in a hopefully amusing manner this time, but some remedial navigation study is strongly indicated.



* Actually, the scary errors are the tiny ones - often navigational - that kick off a train of cascading errors that kills you hours later. Every climber knows the story of the Having hopefully convinced you that I'm not a death-crazed, thrill-seeking adrenaline junkie, let me admit that the thought "if I screw this up, I could die"* adds ato the experience. You exist fully in the moment, and afterwards are left with a deepened appreciation of the preciousness of life. The trick, of course, is to have this experience and then. Which involves not screwing up whatever it is you're doing, which in turn involves only getting yourself into situations that you can handle. As I hope was clear from the post, we were both constantly trying to assess and manage risk. Which is why the scary part of this story isn't soloing over the cornice or the snow bollard or the ice steps, it's getting lost at the beginning of the day. Yes, we got away with it in a hopefully amusing manner this time, but some remedial navigation study is strongly indicated.* Actually, theerrors are the tiny ones - often navigational - that kick off a train of cascading errors that kills you hours later. Every climber knows the story of the 1936 attempt on the Eiger Nordwand