This Area includes some of the most accessible (and some of the hardest) winter climbs in Scotland. Coire an t-Sneachda has an excellent variety of winter climbs, many in the lower to middle grades, while Coire an Lochain hosts classics of a range of grades and some extremely demanding test-pieces. This Area also includes the very accessible Creagan Coire Cha-no, Lurcher's Crag in the northern Lairig Ghru, and the training bluffs of the Chalamain Gap. Also included here are the cliffs of the northern side of the Loch A'an basin such as Hell's Lum, Stag Rocks and Stac an Fharaidh (as they are on the same general massif as Cairngorm), while cliffs on the southern side of Loch A'an are in the Ben Macdui, Carn Etchachan and Shelter Stone Crag Area of DLOG. The range's former name is Am Monadh Ruadh (the red hills), distinguishing them from Am Monadh Liath (the grey hills) to the west of the River Spey.
Mountaineering practice day with Rachael Crewsmith and Kris Mccoey. Ascend up towards the base of Savage Slit from the right, then into Y Gully. Climbed with one axe the descended down the ground to the climbers left of Twin Burns. Used buried axes as direct belays during ascent as snow was bullet hard and had good chat about limitations. Serious ground to descend and as we had to build rock belays due to snow hardness. It would be hard to manage with clients on one rope.
