Monday, March 30, 2009

Northern Cairngorms conditions


Today we attempted to beat the warm front that was coming on from the West. We got up early and were the first into Sneachda, but we had our sights on the top tier of Carn Etchachan. The snow was starting to go slushy at about 8am and the video taken in Sneachda on the way there and on the way back shows the effect of the hot air on the buttresses. We wandered / rambled (explored? ;p) up down across and up the cliff then decided to finish up the top section of Route Major. The turf was excellent on the the cliff but the ice was falling off and the buttresses became blacker by the hour and were running with water by then end of the day.
On the way out we saw a party on Pygmy Ridge and a couple of steps going up an easy gully but it was a probably quiet in the corries.

There isn't going to be a freeze for several days so i'm going rock climbing and hill walking till it gets colder again.

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