UKC

Not as much ice as you would expect.
Turf bomber, cliff white. Red chimney lower pitches not fully formed. Climbed the corridor, with one ice pitch but thinnish once in the groove above the cave.
right angle gully pillar well formed but access pitches not looking great, pillar would be harder than V,6 though.
Overall looks better than it is, thin ice in grooves is crud.

In reply to French Erick:

Shame; it's been dry for too long now. Snow blowing about counts as dry.

In reply to Andy Nisbet:

Far from dry on the West today!

In reply to French Erick: Interesting! Guide suggests Red Chimney is ultra reliable. I climbed the right angle ice pillar thing a couple of years ago when all those routes were in good condition- steep and strenuous for screws as it kept barn dooring me round the corner! Why do you think harder than V,6 ? The first pitch was straightforward grade 3.

Did you come in from the north? What is ice crux on Sticil face looking like?

Cheers
Graeme

In reply to graeme gatherer:
>Why do you think harder than V,6 ?

It had formed with a large umbrella at the top which made it look hard but of course can't say for sure as we didn't do it.

> Did you come in from the north? What is ice crux on Sticil face looking like?

Yes but couldn't see into the corner on Sticil from our approach.

Red Chimney had plenty of ice on the upper section but the initial chimney would have been mixed. The main reason we decided not to do it as a mixed pitch was the heavy verglas from the rain the night before.

All in a good day out but not the nick we were hoping for.