MIC Training, Day 4: Aonach Dubh and Stob Coire Nan Lochan

What a wet day!  Heavy rain was falling at all levels today, saturating the snow pack, and blackening the buttresses, and a fair bit of existing snow and ice was quickly making it's way out to sea.  All was not lost however, far from it.  With the rain due to stay all day, we had a day of mountaineering, scrambling up a slush covered 'Dinner Time Buttress II', on the west face of Aonach Dubh, along up to the summit of Stob Coire Nan Lochan, and down 'Dorsal Arete II,3'.  The focus of the day was dealing with more mountaineering terrain, where straight forward pitching would be both unnecessary and very time consuming.  The decent of Dorsal Arete enabled us to look at the tricky business of managing two clients down steep and technical ground, whilst using various belays to keep everyone safe.

Tim and Dave on the damp descent of Dorsal Arete

Signs of avalanche activity were present, with quite a bit of debris at the base of Forked Gully.  There was a surprising amount of ice on Dorsal Arete, and with the forcasted refreeze tonight, the snowpack should firm up well, and provide very good climbing conditions for the next few days.  There will be a slight rise in temperatures on Friday, but existing ice on the higher crags should be in great nick.  We only saw one other team today, who had climbed 'Ordinary Route IV,5' on the Summit Buttress of Stob Coire Nan Lochan, who seemed to have had a good day, despite the rain.  Another productive, but somewhat damp day!