Cobwebs on the crampons - Gone!

Today Kenny and I had an early start with the head torches and shot up to Lost Valley Buttress. We set off on Neanderthal (VII,7), I lead the first pitch getting us up into the cave section. From here Kenny went for the traverse right but the condition weren't playing ball, everything was plastered in 'snice' (thanks Al, didn't know what that was called) which made the climbing a right pain in the backside. So we abbed off and headed round and climbed Sabre Tooth (IV,5), which was very steep and seemed abit harder than the suggested grade. Anyway after two pitches and lots more 'snice', we abbed off and headed back to the bags, it was getting late. So no routes completed but 3 pitches climbed, glad to be climbing in winter again!

Grey Corries

Today Dan and I loaded up the bikes and headed up to Corriechoille, up from Spean bridge. We cycled into Lairig Leacach Bothy, battling with a fierce headwind which really drained our energy levels. After having a bite to eat and getting psyched up for a walk, we stashed the bikes and headed up to Stob Ban (977m). We then decided to carry on, so we walked over to Stob Choire Claurigh (1177m) and onto Stob a' Choire Leith (1105m). We carried on along the ridge to some small summits, but time and energy levels were running out, (also Dan forgot his head torch) so we back tracked and headed back to the bothy and the bikes. A quick burn out to the car, after one puncture, resulted in a good day. It was super windy on the tops and wet, wasn't quite sleet or snow just fine rain. Quite a bit of snow on the north facing slopes and some of the wee lochains were frozen over.

Testing my new boots

Yesterday I recieved my new boots for the winter, Scarpa Phantom Lights, so fancied giving them a try out. Dan and I headed for Agag's Grove, which is a great mountain VD, but was even more exciting with big boots and wet rock. We climbed the route in 3 pitches, then after some more ascent, we traversed over to the top of Curved Ridge and decended this classic route. We only experienced a couple of showers, nothing worth writing home about, but the rock did feel a little slimey in places. We saw quite a few teams out on Curved Ridge, all having a good time!

Wet on Beinn Eighe

Yesterday Al and I drove up to Torridon for a spot of climbing. We camped out over night and set out on foot this morning at 7.30. We knew it was going to be very wet and possibly snowy, so Al suggested East Buttress on the Triple Buttresses of Beinn Eighe. This 3 star diff doesn't get much harder in the wet but did seem a little harder at one point when I couldn't feel the rock because my hands were so cold. First round of hot aches for me today! We climbed 2 pitches from the base of the route and then moved together to the top. We topped out very quickly so Al suggested we nip up to Ruadh-stac Mor, a Munro neither of us have done. We headed back down to Loch Coire Mhic Fhearchair battling through heavy rain/sleet and some snow. On the way out we could see an obvious dusting on Liathach. Check out here to see what Al's got to say about it . . .