At long last the dry Summer is giving way to damp Autumn so Mike and I headed east to find drier conditions in the Cairngorms. Coire an Lochan was not looking too savage so we went to climb Savage Slit for a little extra spice. The damp, slimy, cold classic chimney climbing certainly delivered a bit of a battle at times!
Chimney climbing is a skill on its own and is not so popular these days. It can be very strenuous to gain very little upward progress but at least you get some rests. Face climbing is two dimensional but chimney climbing is in three dimensions. The holds are often behind you or somewhere over your shoulder. This was Mike's first proper chimney and possibly his last! However the fun is often felt in retrospect if not at the time so we might sneak in a few chimneys in the future. It's good to get to grips with a climb that fights back sometimes!
Nice picture of the Great Slab area on Coire an Lochan. This is where Martin Kirkbride shows the evidence that a Little Ice Age glacier developed a couple of hundred years ago. I've never been to the site when it wasn't covered in snow to look.
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