I was down at Ratho on Monday with my Mum, Lawson, Ruth, James, Clare and Cameron as they all wanted to try some climbing. Ron and I belayed to give them all a few chances on various routes then all finished off with some bouldering. Our group covered a great range in ages from 12 to 75 years old!

My Mum had never climbed before so she was really pleased to get so high up on the wall (3rd photo).

Ron and I then went back again on Tuesday for some climbing for ourselves and had great fun on the longer lead routes. Inverness wall is going to feel rather short in comparison!

Crystal Ridge and Quartzvein Edge

A good weather forecast made us think about getting out and about somewhere so we packed lightweight camping and scrambling gear and headed off to the less visited areas of Cairngorm.
We walked up to Ben MacDui and found it was rather colder than we had thought it would be and the rime ice on the grass confirmed our thoughts!
Still. we went down into Coire Sputan Dearg by Glissade Gully and scrambled up Crystal Ridge enjoying the fun rock though the grassy exit proved to be the most worriesome bit of the route,
Loch Etchachan gave us a great camping spot and a chance to try out Ron's single skin bivvi tent.

The morning gave a sharp frost but after a few cups of tea, we were away scrambling on Creagan Choire Etchachan and Quartsvein Edge. Great fun and a good walk out by Loch Avon and Coire Raibert to finish off the trip.

More from Ron here http://www.talisman-activities.co.uk/blog/2009/10/golden-gem-of-weekend.html