Thaw again.

After a wonderful cold and sunny day on Saturday the temperature rose over night and rain fell on the tops during Sunday. It was a weekend of contrasts! So by the time John and I walked up the Allt a'Mhuilinn this morning lots of snow and ice had been lost again. It was over cast today but mostly dry with a light wind from the SW and the base of the cloud was quite high.

John and I climbed NE Buttress along with Donald and Abib. This is a great mountaineering route and good fun on most days. John had done it a few years ago but under soft powdery snow which made progress very slow. Today it was mostly on rock but with occasional patches of smooth hard ice requiring crampons. I thought there would be ice in the Forty Foot Corner but there was none at all and the Man Trap is clear of ice.

We went over the summit and down Number Three Gully to see what we could see. Thompson's Route is too thin to climb along with all the other icy routes to be honest. Andy and Richie made a determined effort to climb Green Gully but they retreated, very sensibly, after a lots of water went up their sleeves! There's not much cold weather on the horizon just now so I think we'll be enjoying classic mountaineering for a while.