Winter Climbing on Cairngorm! #djineo2

An early alpine start brought superb ice climbing conditions more suited to midwinter than mid-May. I filmed the whole climb on the left-hand side of Slabby Buttress in Cnap Coire na Spreidhe, Cairngorm, using a DJI Neo 2 drone in manual mode. In manual mode, the drone didn’t update its Dynamic RTH when the low battery warning appeared, so after returning safely to the base, I had to downclimb, swap batteries, and climb back up to my high point near the top. In the past, filming rock climbs in Follow and Spotlight modes, the drone returned to my phone, so I was both worried and relieved when it flew back to the base instead of forcing me into a tricky palm landing on steep terrain. It’s all part of the learning curve, though a bit nerve-wracking! Earlier, testing autonomous Follow and Spotlight modes worked fine until it hit the cornice on Pinnacle Buttress RHS, when the drone’s obstacle avoidance missed it, collided, slid and fell several hundred metres—luckily undamaged stopped by soft snow! All in all a very productive morning with enjoyable climbing and filming while learning some of the potential limitations of the Neo 2 drone.