For over three years I have been trying to ski this line, had a couple of failed attempts due to conditions and was super keen to get it done.  This weekend the weather forecast looked good and it was time for another attempt.  Partners in crime where Lara, Scott and Alan.

Once we got near the col, we decided that a ski down Red Spout gully was a good idea, a warm up and a line that Scott had never skied as well (Scott has skied most things!) so we walked up the ridge.  The wind was pretty strong blowing us off our skis now and again, some times having to resort to walking with them.  When we got to the top of the gully we had a look in to it, every time we stuck our heads over the edge we got a face full of icy snow being blown painfully in it.  Once a thorough exfoliating had finished, we all chose our entry points and off we went.  This is by far the steepest thing Lara has skied and she made it look easy once she plucked the courage up and went for it.

Above is Alan with his chosen entry.  The gully was pretty icy in places but not too much so to make it unskiable.  From the bottom we skied across the Corrie to the bottom and up to the bottom of the climb up Black Spout gully.  Poor Scott climbed a certain section a couple of times due to him getting near the top and his skins failing him and sliding back down.  Very funny to watch, but lots of internal swearing on Scott’s behalf.

From just below the gully, we took our skis off and put them on our rucksacks and got ready to go climb up black spout.  It is always a good idea to climb these things first so that you know what to expect on the way down.

The climb was fine on good solid snow (Lara above nearing the top of the gully).  The gully itself was a beautiful place to be, it sheltered us from the exfoliating winds, and was just magnificent due to all the rock walls being covered in hoar.  The very top section of the gully was unskiable due to exposed rocks so we stopped 10m short of the top and dug little platforms to put our skis on.

Time to realise a goal that had been in my head for three years.  The ski down was concentrating, the snow was of the kind that if you fell you would be lucky to stop until you hit less steap ground at the bottom of the gully, which would be very annoying and probably rather painful.  One by one we skied down.

Was brilliant, the snow was a little hard, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I came out through the bottom of the gully whooping and had a huge smile on my face to finally having managed to ski it.  Lara (above) skied it like a hero, a little tentative at first, but once she got going and got a few turns in she was fine and skied it with no worries at all.  Her first graded gully!  Go wife!  Alan unfortunately had a nasty head plant just as he exited the gully and slid quite a long way down the slope before he managed to stop himself by using his pole to arrest himself.

He had a glasses nose interface and cut his nose and broke his glasses, all I could hear him muttering was ” think I might go buy a helmet”.  He was fine, dusted himself off and carried on skiing.

A small skin up the col was helped by an incredibly strong tail wind, at points it actually pushed us up the hill, then a long ski down through some great spring snow back to the cars.

I got there happy as a pig in excrement and very pleased to have got this line skied.  The big question is….. what line can I start obsessing over next?

The rest of the pics can been seen by clicking here