Out for a quick solo trip in the Cairngorms today. I climbed Central Left Hand, which was complete and generally on good neve, with a pleasant bit of ice on the left at the top. I then headed across to Stag Rocks and descended the Y-gully on soft sugary snow, which requires care not to go through to the stream. Then put the axe and crampons away for a “summer” ascent of Afterthought Arete, which was completely free of snow/ice except for a dusting of fresh snow near the top, before heading back out.
The major gully lines in Sneachda were all still complete with the usual suspects of Jacob’s, Alladin’s, Alladin’s Mirror, and the Trident Gullies all appearing to be getting mass ascents as I was walking out. The old snow was generally solid above about 800m, there were some minor accumulations of new snow on East and North aspects and light snow falling occasionally above 800m on a south westerly to westerly. Raining fairly hard as I drove back through Drumochter, which may mean there was more fresh snow in the afternoon. Turf was still fairly firm above 900m except where water was running.
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