We set off from the Coire Cas car park and headed up into the Coire an t Sneachda identifying flora, fauna, birds and wildlife en route. When the conversation dryed up on these topics, we then looked at glacial erosion, geological features and weather patterns.
All good stuff.
We arrived at the base of Fiacaill Ridge and had some lunch by the boulders. The ridge looked awesome, with some climbers barely visible on its crest.
After some ropework and security on steep ground stuff, we decided to get onto the ridge and give it a bash.
Gulp! this is a Grade 2 scramble with some great exposure and it's way more vertical than other ridges I've seen.
But, we topped out safely before heading over to bag Cairngorm (1245m) and doing some micro navigation practice on the plateau.
We dropped down from Cairngorm to Stag Rocks and the views were immense. Looking down at Loch Avon was simply breath taking.
From Stag Rocks we dropped down to the Saddle, ostensibly to find a bothy for the night. however it was starting to get dark and weather was looking threatening, so we decided on heading over to Ryvoan Bothy, some 6kms away with Bynack More (1090m) between us and it.
I won't bore you with the details of our flog over the mountains, but we arrived at the bothy at 11:30pm that night, having skipped dinner to keep moving.
The bothy was empty (practically) and once we'd turfed out the only inhabitant to the tent next door, we got settled down for the night.
A quick walk out the next day to Glenmore Lodge and we were back in Aviemore in good time for coffee, cakes and some retail therapy - pure Verdes.
Looking forward to next week now!
Davie
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