Today was Ivon and Giles last day and they were as keen as mustard to see what winter climbing is all about! Winter climbing is what they got! With high winds blowing around the mountain we just managed to get the gondola up Aonach Mor but we had to walk from there. On top there were a few other teams around, John and Adam abbed into Left Twin, another team abbed into another route but we wandered over to Easy Gully and abbed in off a bollard with two other teams. It was quite nice once we got over the edge as we became sheltered from the winds. We walked round the base of the crag, being mindful of the wind slab which has been building up, fortunately there wasn't too much. We got as far as Tunnel Vision and decided this was for us. Having never done this route, we were all super keen. The ice pitch looked great from below. 3 pitches saw us battling through the cornice (it wasn't that bad actually, good ice screw right by my feet) and pulling into the strong gusts. Giles and Ivon cruised the route leaving me thinking that maybe we should have tried something a little spicier! After topping out we dived into a ready made shovel up by the ski patroller's hut and ate bagels and chocolate! A great day, a great week and a super effort by Giles and Ivon despite having 'heavy legs' most days. Lots of snow falling at the moment on the tops which is getting blown around by some strong winds.
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