Savage Slit

Today we had a great plan to head in to Lochain and try and do a couple of routes.   This was thrown to the wolves early on as the road to the ski centre was closed.   In typical cairngorm fashion, all the staff cars go up.  I understand how that fits with there no public till passed safe policy, but all handful of delivery vans not so much.  As usual there was not rush to get things open before the ski centre was at 9:30.  A bit frustrating for every other user of the mountain,  rant over.

Look no hands

By the time we got up to the carpark and set off,  it was getting on.  Despite reasonable conditions underfoot, the wind made it hard work.  Care was needed to pick a safe way up to No.4 Buttress as there is a lot of funky slab around.

Alex getting stuck in

Old school 

We eventually got stuck into a very white Savage Slit V, 6 * * * *.   There was not a crack it sight,  other than the main feature.  It made it a proper winter outing, clearing, searching for hooks and digging for gear in some quite icy cracks.  It was a perfect learning experience for Alex to show how a route is not only technically challenging, but the time and effort you need to go through to make it safe.

Living the dream

Almost there

It's been roughly 11 years since I last climbed the route, and it felt like an on sight all over again. I think we both had a great day on a truly classic route.