Euan and I were out personal climbing yesterday. This gave the chance for something a bit unusual. Knowing we’d have to go high to get crags looking properly white we decided on the high and remote Coire Brochain on Braeriach, a good four hour walk in. The crag was very white, however the snow was only partially consolidated. After four somewhat harrowing pitches on snow covered granite slabs and grooves on an alternative line on Domed Ridge we chose to escape in to Campion Gully and descend. Both the original line on Domed Ridge and the line to the left we climbed would definitely be much better with good neve/ice on the slabby sections. On the day what gear was found was usually after a lot of clearing and many of the cracks were blind.
In the early morning there was a dusting of snow and frozen ground at the Sugar Bowl car park. Most of the day freezing levels were above the summit and snow had disappeared below 850m by the time we walked out, unless it was old patches in collection features. Lurcher’s crag was looking fairly black on the rocky lines when we passed through in the morning. There was a good depth of snow in Coire Brochain and the odd glimpse through the mist showed large cornices have already developed above the coire.
