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South Buttress of Stob Coire Nan Lochan
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Another day out with Phil, Ben and John. As we pulled up in Glencoe this morning, there was low cloud and it was drizzling, without any signs of letting up. Fortunately for us, the forecast of a high pressure moving in as the day progress materialised, and from about 11am onwards, we were treated to blue skies and sunshine, along with some great views out towards the Aonach Eagach and beyond.
This was my first time climbing 'Dorsal Arete II', on Stob Coire Nan Lochan in Glencoe, and given the traffic that the route had received yesterday, I was fearing the worst, given the current winter conditions, but we lucked out, and were the first of only two teams today. The route is quite straight forward, starting on snow slopes just to the right of Broad Gully, and with good conditions on the route for the most part, we made good progress up the easier section of the route, before heading up a slightly bare chimney, and gaining the exciting finale, the exposed rocky fin, which today didn't require an axe, but did require a bit of care due to the loose blocks. I'm sure that the route must change each season due to rockfall, but today we didn't significantly add to the erosion of the route, and topped out on the snow free west shoulder of Stob Coire Nan Lochan. Another great day out!
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| Jenga blocks on Dorsal Arete, be careful what you pull on! |
It was very quiet in Stob Coire Nan Lochan today, and the blackness of the buttresses will be the reason why. Boomerang Gully and Broad Gully (descended by a team today) are complete and Forked Gully, North Gully and NC Gully still look complete, although SC Gully is missing large sections. The top-outs of some of these gullies will be quite precarious given the steep and soggy cornices still present, and until temperatures drop, which will happen to an extent through the night, they are probably worth avoiding.
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| Stob Coire Nan Lochan |
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