UKC

4-letter word, rhymes with "rap"...

Got as high as the col before turning back - we met other parties who had done the same - soft, soggy snow with the freezing level was well above the col. What we saw of the corrie was plastered in wet snow. The landrover track up from Glen Muick was doing a pretty good impression of a stream, and while the ford lower down was passable on the way up, it was impassable on the way back down. We stuck with the left-hand bank of the burn all the way back to the green bridge in Glen Muick.

In reply to forcan:

Similar story on Beinn a'Bhuird. Partner was feeling ill, but we might have been more inclined to push on if it hadn't been chucking it down and well above freezing at the top of Glen Slugain.

In reply to forcan:

just like Stob Coire nan Lochan!

In reply to forcan: We walked in a bit later, and although it tipped it down during the walk in, it started to improve when we hit the col. So we caught the better weather later on. The freezing level dropped sufficiently quickly to give reasonable conditions, and the sun even came out for a bit!

Some of the slopes were looking dodgy (some weakly bonded layers) so we stuck to the far left of the coire (on the west facing slopes) and did a short easy climb on a buttress not in the guidebook. Everything was fully frozen at that point. Walked off the back of the hill down to Loch Muick - good day out really, even if not what we originally planned.

In reply to forcan: I would estimate that the freezing level dropped from around 1000m (which is where it must have been just before we got the col) to around 750m in the space of an hour or so. We were pretty much about to give up when we realised that our wet gear had frozen stiff and the cloud had lifted. Glad we salvaged something from the day though.