I’ve been out and about in the Northern Cairngorms this last week. We’ve been spoilt with another long period of stable weather which has brought a few snow flurries on the lightest northerly breezes. The snow cover continues to be superb and plenty of folk are out making the most of it. Climbing conditions are also pretty good but its worth noting that rock protection is hard to come by as the buttresses are so well rimed and cracks are choked with ice. Its interesting to note that these conditions are quite different from recent years where we haven’t had such long periods of stable ‘proper’ winter without warm atlantic fronts sweeping through. Many mixed lines are now in the condition that they were in for their first ascents rather than having to revert to the recent techniques of clearing away useless snow to climb bare rock.
