Wild Cairngorm

I have been up in the Cairngorm for the last 2 days starting off a short stint of winter work. Yesterday, despite the weather, Alan, Alex and I made the wild walk up into Sneachda. The plan was to take a look, as I was optimistic that once in, we could knock out the lower pitches of a couple of routes. We made good time into the corrie, despite a brutal wind. The guys were less positive than me, and opted to head back down and spend the afternoon in the wall looking at belays etc. This turned out to be a good use of time.

Today was a much nicer day, which was highlighted by the mass of cars in the carpark before 8am. Despite only meeting at 8:30am, we made it in to the corrie fairly swiftly. We mooched over to the Mess of Potage with the view of taking what was left, but soon realised there was nothing left. Instead, we followed a team up the start of the Message, then snuck of left to climb Hybred IV,5***. This is a great route in it’s own right, made more interesting today by the very icy cracks and that fact it was buried. The whole crack appears icy and buried, so all gear it hard won. Most lines here, on Aladdin’s and Fluted Buttress were climbed today, but will most likely be covered again in the new stormy weather on its way.