Up in the Cairngorms snowholing with John and Gareth, Gayle, Tam and Anne from the Falkirk Team yesterday and today.
On Wednesday we walked in and improved a couple of the existing snow holes in Coire Domhain before an evening walk up Ben Macdui. Rain and sleet on a south-easterly in the afternoon and in the cloud for the walk up to the summit. However, on the return the cloud cleared giving views of Braeriach, Cairngorm and Beinn Mheadhoin and a starlit night allowing the temperature to drop a little and a crust to form on the snow.
Snow and rain (below about 1000m) started on an increasing south-westerly about 6:00 this morning. We walked out via The Goat Track, which has firm snow below a sugary crust and was building some soft fresh snow higher up. The major gully lines are still holding a lot of snow, Mirror Direct is still there, the higher sections of the buttresses were starting to look white (but this may have changed if the snow became rain at these heights during the day) and any loose rock will not have refrozen.
