A MUCH CALMER DAY

Excellent old frozen snow above Coire an Lochain

Almost white out conditions at times today

Snow shelter construction in Coire Domhain

Well banked up snow drifts

15 minutes later and a comfy lunch break

A bit of climbing fun at the drift cornice

Crags well rimed

Andrew is out with me for a two day course and it was a much calmer day with light winds and still very cold with a temperature of below freezing at Aviemore this morning. We headed up to Coire an Lochain and brushed up on some crampon technique on some excellent old refrozen snow. There is plenty of windslab lying on top of this, especially in the corrie below the main crags, we found plenty of exposed, frozen snow to gain the plateau. We then had some excellent poor visibility, verging on white out so excellent for some navigation. Later on we headed to Coire Domhain and dug a couple of snow shelters, some good well banked out drifts here. Finally Andrew bagged another Munro summit as we finished the day on Cairn Gorm before heading down Windy Ridge. A very cold light wind today which was gradually increasing by late afternoon. All change again tomorrow to heavy snowfall and winds increasing.