ICE AXE & CRAMPONS, COLD & WIND

Fiacaill 'a Coire An t- Sneachda

Fiacaill Buttress

Calm (ish) on the ridge this morning

Dawn and moon

Cold morning

Cornices forming, Cairn Lochan

High winds, windblown snow by mid day

It was -3 C in Aviemore this morning. A clear night with temperatures dropping again. Up on the Cairngorms it was maybe colder. A lovely early morning start before the next Atlantic weather front arrived later in the day. I took a wander up into Coire an t-Sneachda. There were a few climbers heading up on Alladins Buttress. I headed below the Fiacaill Buttress and onto the Fiacaill An Coire Sneachda ridge. There are some that say that winter hillwalking soon becomes mountaineering as soon as the ice axe and crampons comes out to play. Today then must have been a mountaineering day then as they were out for the ascent up the coire and along the ridge. First time this season for the ironmongery. There wasn't much ice about but any bare ground was frozen, no rime on the rocks. By 10am the wind had already picked up and by the time I got off the ridge and on the plateau it had increased to around 50mph. Lots of snow being blown into the corries, quite atmospheric. Cornices were starting to form in the gullies on Cairn Lochan. By the time I headed down the hill the wind seemed to have increased further. Nice winter morning foray and great to see real winter conditions.