12th Feb: a very active day with Izzie

After seeing the aftermath of two very large areas in Sneachda, Northern Cairngorms Izzie and I tentaively ventured up to the Alladin's area. Izzie wanted to practise lots of movement skills and did an excellent job going up steep ground with an awful lot of concentration and care, and descended Fiacaill Ridge, which was particularly busy, and not surprisingly given that it was such a glorious day. On our descent we were lucky enough to spot Greg Boswell giving The Hurting a go. Unfortunately we weren't really wrapped for the occassion and eventually shuffled our way out the Coire. I only wished we watched him do the full ascent soon after.

The significantly large crown wall put in to perspective by this curious mountaineer. The blocks of slab at the bottom of the Coire were nearly the height of my axe.

Lucky girls!

Ron walker's stunning image

On Monday we managed to bolt up north for a quick fix in the Northern Coires. Heather, Tamsin & I headed for the alluring Fiacaill Buttress - she couldn't have been more beautiful!

Conditions were great - the usual early winter lack of depth, but the turf was frozen & the rock was white. We each led a pitch and Tams did a great & speedy job of the main pitch. The walk off over the plateau was stunning.

I drove away feeling full of very-over-the-top enthusiasm for the winter to come! There were only a few teams in the Coire - Andy Nesbit was attempting a new varient in the Fingers Ridge area & Ron Walker was on the Seam next door to us. Despite great efforts not one of our digital cameras worked, so I resorted to using the one on my phone!

Tams on the brilliant crux pitch. There's a teeny bit of turf on the route and the hoar gave quite a lot of purchase. The climbing is sustained but there are also a fair number of very good rests on the way.