Chute Route, Coire an Lochain

A sunny day again at Cairngorm so Ron and I went out to climb in Coire an Lochain. We had thought about Sidewinder but the buttresses looked a bit black over that side of the corrie so we looked again and went to Chute Route. As it is so seldom in condition, it seemed a shame not to climb it!

The first pitch gave a tricky start over a bit of a rocky step which Ron bridged up then above that was some lovely steep ice that just swallowed up the picks of the axes as we hit the ice. That gave some fun pulling the picks out again without losing balance! The ice above was a bit more brittle but still good.

Above that I climbed up on good neve up to and over the cornice and then back into the sun on the plateau.

After chatting to Al and Charlotte completing their third route of the day we wandered back and down the Goat Track chatting to Smiler on the way.

More to come from Ron here and I'm sure he'll have pinched some of my pictures!