Scotland Take 2

After weeks of waiting it was finally time to get back up to Scotland and out onto the hill. Once again we headed up to the Caingorms and after a night in the AstraCamper and some quick shopping we hit Sneachda for a quick route before dark.

As it was Tingles first ever winter climb we chose The Runnel, a straightforward Grade 2. Which could be done in 2 pitches. This provided me with the opertunity to lead my first winter pitch as well as getting back into the swing of winter climbing. After John had led the last pitch we desended back to the Ski centre with some other climbers who we stumbled upon in the white out at the top, satisfyied with a good afternoon and looking forward to a curry and the Hostel,

Saturday came and with it brought fine weather. this was our first day with the charismatic Smiler Cuthbertson who Tingle had met when they worked on the ropes together, Smiler is a big inspiration to all being 62 and Still climbing at the level demanded of the British Mountain Guide, We met smiler and headed back up to Sneachda to do do another longer Grade 2. Earlier in the day there had been quite a large avalanche in the far corner of the Coire and 2 people had to be airlifted out. We ended up on Spiral Gully and topped out to almost no wind and clear views.

After major snowfall over the evening and the avalanches the previous day Smiler deemed it to dangerous to get on any routes as the North facing slopes were most prone to avalanching so we changed plans and set out climb the Fiaciall Ridge in wild conditions, the ridge was quite straight forward with some steep sections, but due to the conditions it was also quite busy

We made it back to the car and said our goodbyes to Smiler before hitting the chippy and the road back to Sheffield.