A mix of climbing at Cairngorm

Ron and I went back into Coire an t-Sneachda today to enjoy the fantastic sunny weather.

We left the car park early in the hope that there had been a bit of a freeze overnight and whilst the temperature in Aviemore this morning was +9c, the snow on the routes was solid.

We started off with The Runnel which had nice ice in the upper chimney pitch then down the Goat Track to Finger's Ridge. Once we were onto the rock, it was off with the crampons and the axes were stowed away so we could enjoy some great rock climbing.

It seemed best to carry on as there was lots of day left and the sun was still shining so down Aladdin's Couloir to reach the bottom of Central Gully which we climbed up to get to the start of Pygmy Ridge. More lovely dry rock to climb on without the hassle of crampons and axes.

In all, I'd guess we did about 450m of climbing on a great combination of snow, ice and sunny, warm rock.

Lots more from Ron here and he has lots of video clips so a video to follow. http://www.talisman-activities.co.uk/blog/mountain_diary.htm