The New Year meet gets off to an early start in Aviemore!
Alarms set for 0630, leaving the ski centre car park at 0800 we climbed Ben Macdui and Caringorm Mountain, we walked about 17km, returning to the car park by 1430 in time for some gear shopping!
The weather was very kind, about -4 on the summits, and the wind slowly building throughout the day, visibility was excellent all day. There was a small amount of snow underfoot pretty much all day, a few slips resulted from icy rocks! The vistas are wintery, however a lot more snow is required at Cairngorm before there can be any skiing or Snowboarding.
Plenty of fast running streams to be crossed, a testament to the recent heavy rainfall and snow melt, some snow bridges remain in places, however you need to be prepared for an unexpected dunking!
A few snow gullies appear to be complete, with a few enthusisatic climbers having a go at routes!