One day too late.

It was strangely warm as Guy and I walked into Coire na Ciste this morning. There was no hard frost in the glen and it was above zero in the coire. A gentle breeze blew round the buttresses and gently lifted the rime off the steeper rocks. Most of it had gone by the time we got there and the rest was in the process of falling off. Guy and I wanted to climb Gargoyle Wall but it was black so we went for a less steep route instead that still had plenty of snow and ice on it.

The climb was Pinnacle Ridge on North Trident Buttress. I've been up this way a couple of times before but it was a first for Guy. The climbing was really nice and the top ridge was like something in the Alps - sunshine on a snowy rock ridge sweeping up to a deep blue sky. This is a great route that deserves to be more popular. You rarely see anyone climbing it when many other routes are busy.

As we climbed the cloud in the glen washed up into the coire like enormous gentle waves on the sea. Eventually the tide came in and the waves made it up to the summit but we were away down by then. It looks like it will be a bit warmer over the weekend so the rime is unlikely to come back on the steeper climbs. The big ridges are the best climbs at the moment and will be until it snows again.