The Citadel

Today didn't go quite as expected! Last night Tony and I decided to head over to the Cairngorms for a look over at the Shelterstone. On arrival it was clear that both of our possibilities were in. It was either Sticial face or Citadel. We opted for The Citadel (VII,8). Everything went well and we moved quickly. The climbing was tricky and felt very bold, as neither of us were able to place much gear. The route is very sustained but with two significant crux's. A lower crux and the top crux. Tony had got through the top crux just as it got dark... School boy error, we both left our head torches in our rucksacks at the bottom of the route. Tony couldn't see where to go or what he was hooking on and was unable to proceed. Instead we abseiled pretty much the whole face of the Shelterstone in darkness back to our bags. We were just one pitch from the top and pretty sure we had done all the hard climbing. So near but so far. A team to our left had a good day on Stical Face which looks to be in good condition. Coire an T-sneachda looked great to with lots of teams out today.