First Light, Cairngorm

By first light it was obvious the weather had got a lot lot worse.
The wind was around the 50mph mark, but gusts were making it hard to breath, and we still had some shelter from the corrie walls. Much worse for us however was the huge rise in the ambient temperature (we later found out it was +6degC at 1100m) meaning the snow was melting fast and our snowhole, previously a haven, was now in danger of collapse. Quick brews, breakfast bars and kit faff had us out by first light - all trace of the previous day blown away - a good four foot of snow had been blown into Meherad.
Tracing a gradual contour up and out, following a bearing to the (relative) safety of the closed lift station's sheltering bulk, we again adopted a group strategy and made a peloton against the wind.
We used the shelter to sort kit more efficiently, wind chill was high, but ambiently it was oddly warm, and then headed down a very very empty mountain. Back at the Ranger Station we signed out with Nick, logged the wildlife we'd seen (Ptarmigan, Red Grouse, Red Deer and white mountain hares), and headed off in search of breakfast, Scotland style.
Time on the hill just less than 24 hours - amount of adventure? About the same.
I'm heading back next week, lol.