Thursday 14 March 2013

FIACAILL RIDGE, CAIRNGORMS

Jim getting to grips with 'moveing together' with the rope

A well rimed Fiacaill Ridge, and clear!

The sun even came out!
A great day to be out, full winter conditions for some time to come
Windslab easily avoided
Jim loving it all-again!
and Jim getting to take the lead
On the top and big smiles
The Norther Corries very quiet today
It was Jim's second day out with me and after yesterday's wonderful day on Meagaidh Jim was keen for some more adventurous winter mountaineering. Today the east was a better option with the approaching Atlantic front coming in so we stayed in The Cairngorms. The Fiacaill Ridge appealed to Jim after another winter route and with the avalanche forecast being considerable in many locations this proved to be a good option. It was a very quiet day, we hardly saw anyone on the hill, all good for us as I wanted to give Jim some instruction on rope skills and 'moving together', the ridge being perfect for this. We started off in low cloud and snow showers from the word go, the forecast was to be a dry and clear start and deteriorating as the day progressed. The reality was the day just got better and better with excellent sunny spells and cloud lifting by mid day. A lot of fresh snow as been put down and the hills are looking like mid winter, the winter is only in it's last third :) . We had great fun amongst the rimed rocks and fabulous snow conditions and Jim once again loved the whole day and gained some more skills, he's looking forward to next winter! Next time I meet up with Jim will be guiding on Mount Elbrus in August. The team of six are all hard at it on a training program in the run up to Europe's highest summit (It's not Mont Blanc!). Looks like the cold, snowy conditions are set to continue for some time, fantastic!

No comments: