The Message

Another fantastic day at Cairngorm!

Ron and I walked in through the ski area for a change of scenery and dropped down into Coire an t-Sneachda by way of the moraine ridge. Great snow for the crampons and nice, easy walking.

We headed towards the Message and nobody else was climbing on it so it was our route for the day. Lots of folk on all sorts of routes including Honeypot, The Haston Line, Grooved Rib and so much more.

The neve on the route was so good that Ron was halfway up the first pitch before he knew it! So we stopped, sorted ourselves out and up and away. Getting good gear placements was made a bit tricky by the iced up cracks especially on the second (crux) pitch.

This was the first time I had done away with the leashes on my axes except on really easy stuff and used spring leashes instead to stop me worrying about dropping dropping them. To begin with I thought, oh oh, I don't like this but after the next few moves I was won over and decided that it is so much less faff and my hands didn't get as cold as they usually do.

More from Ron here http://www.talisman-activities.co.uk/blog/2009/12/another-cracking-day-with-bomber-neve.html