Friday 3rd Feb 2012
Length: 3.53 miles 5.68 km
Ascent: +750m
Scotland again
! After a night in my mate Keith’s house in Stirling en route from Wales, we set of the next morning at 7.45am, arriving in a glorious sunny Glencoe at 9.15am. A quick decision was made as we neared the Buachaille not to take the rope as there did not seem to be an awful lot of snow on the East face to warrant carrying the extra weight.The walk in was gradual and easy apart from frozen water on the path to dodge here and there.
This was the second attempt we had done on Curved ridge within 6 weeks, our previous fail on 29th Dec saw us retreat a good way up when we hit a maelstrom of wind and snow, today could not have been more different.
Once we had skirted the mountain to its East face, we started to climb steeply, crossing frozen waterfalls and climbing snow slopes amongst the rocky sections.
The lower part of the ridge proper I found the most difficult, as a fresh covering of snow covered the rock, not good for ice axes and hard to find any good rock cracks for the axes to cling to underneath, that was the only place I felt I could have done with a rope for security.
Further up again is a tricky chimney, this was supposed to be the crux of the scramble, but I found this easier.
The views as we climbed were fabulous…looking across Rannock Moor to distant snow capped mountains, and the amazing rock architecture of the Buachaille’s East face that filled our view as we paused to take it all in.
And we nearly had this all to ourselves, only 2 other’s were on the face today, we chatted to them here and there as we passed each other en route.
The last section has 2 options, either scramble around Crowberry tower and up from there, or climb exit gully, we chose the later as the snow was good and firm, this I really enjoyed, leading the now group of 4.
At 1.15pm we reached the summit and was met with amazing views previously obscured as we climbed, it was a privilege to be apart of this mountain experience, and only a few others were about to witness it…simply awesome!
Reluctantly we walked down the broad ridge and dropped out of the sunshine into the cold Coire na Tulaich, and down the steep snow slopes above the rock and stream gully below.
The last third of the walk out was by the usual path, getting us back to the car-park by 3.15pm. All in good time to pitch our tents in the Red Squirrel, and head for the Clachaig for good beer, music and company….a great end to a great day.
(Thanks to Keith Harper for some of his pictures)
Under the waterslab
Water slab by Keith Harper
Under the waterslab
Icy Waterfalls
Easy stuff (by Keith Harper)
Crampons on! (by Keith Harper)
Nice Ice
Gaining height
Snow gully
Don't slip now! (by Keith Harper)
High above Rannoch Moor
Taking a break (by Keith Harper)
Nice easy ridge
A tricky Chimney behind (by Keith Harper
Climbing the Chimney (by Keith Harper)
Climbing the Chimney (by Keith Harper)
Climbing the Chimney (by Keith Harper)
Getting a bit rocky
Summit still a long way off
Exit Gully ahead
Exit Gully ahead
Exit Gully
Exit Gully
Exit Gully
At the top of Exit Gully
Summit view to The Ben
What a view!
Summit view west
View South West
Bidean Nan Bian
Leaving the Summit
Leaving the Summit
Along the ridge
Dropping down Coire na Tulaich
And the video of the climb here:-
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUYwh9m-0hU[/youtube]
