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Had a couple of days off, I had recovered from a bad cold, and the weather forecast was actually looking alright
so I decided to head up to Glen Coe for a bit of a scramble - well winter is coming so perhaps not many scrambling days left - I remember last year I was thwarted from lagangarbh buttress in mid November..
I had trouble with packing - couldn't find any of my kit, so it was a later than intended departure, and I didn't reach the glen until lunchtime.
Decided to head up north face of Aonach Dubh, as I have sadly neglected the area. Weather didn't look promising when I got there, with drizzle and wind
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Seana CarrollSo I headed up the familiar path for only a short distance before heading left over the river - not without some difficulty it must be said, and wet feet were the result
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Seana CarrollThere then followed a long pull uphill - a bit of a slog if I am honest, but at least it was nice and cool, and there were nice views down to waterfalls in the gorge. A bit of a path developed, and there was some firm ground, but generally the hillside was so sodden, the turf came away when you trod on it
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Seana CarrollThe changing clag/sun/rain situation gave a different view every 30 seconds, and it was hard not to dilly dally - an hour and a half to the band of rock, only some easy isolated scrambling to get up to there, and a lot of plodding.
The weather looked promising for a few minutes before it took a turn for the worse - proper grim, so I ditched my exploration plans, and carried on up Dinnertime - a couple of moves more difficult than expected for a grade 1
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Seana CarrollJust 20 mins of climbing took me to the top of the buttress, and I found myself in a corrie.. I traversed left just a short distance, and found an entertaining scramble, which gave me wobbly legs
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Seana CarrollThe grim weather returned a I headed up to the summit - this photo says it all
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Seana CarrollI didn't linger, headed down to the shallow col, not far, but the mists were the confusing kind, I started up the other side until I saw the traversing path, which wa surprisingly good going for a time - pinnacles came and went in the mists..
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The the path fizzled out and I found myself on the open hillside, I had descended enough to get out of the worst of the clag. and could see the waterfall in Coire Beith down below me - looked like a sheer drop near the bottom, but it turned out to be not bad going across boulderfields and now dead bracken.
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Seana CarrollDown in the corrie I had a break and texted Dougie to let him know where I was. Coire Beith has an idyllic, peaceful air I have enjoyed many times, and I didn't want to leave until I had to, but the sun was low so eventually I headed off down the well constructed path - so much down!
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Seana CarrollGot back to the car at dusk, so perfectly timed exit from the corrie. I headed down the glen and camped the night, which started off really windy but it was perfectly still by morning and there was a condensation problem when I awoke. I had had a midnight visitor, helping themselves to my milk supplies, and chewing the teabags
I was up late - had a much needed epic sleep, so was just looking for a short route so I wouldn't be too late back. Decided on the route up the nose of Gearr Aonach, as zigzags for descent makes it a quick outing, and although I've been up before I remember this as a good route.
The weather was altogether better, a nice crisp, sunny day. Squeezed into 3 sisters car park, and set off on my way, I'm sure I have written a report detailing the route before so I wont reiterate. I didn't rush, lots of stops to enjoy the weather.
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Seana CarrollI didn't bother going to the top, from the top of the buttress, the path for zigzags were only a few feet away, felt like it would be time for lunch but I wasn't hungry so just headed straight down. The bulbous slab was wet and scary - bumshuffling a go-go
Once I was off zigzags, I felt like it was too early to go home, so at the path, I turned right to follow it uphill for a while. I had lunch looking down into the gorge, watching folk on their way up to lost valley making a hash of crossing the river. I descended into the gorge by way of the eroded path and enjoyed rock hopping over the boulders. I heard a shout behind me - a family had tried to follow me and had got a bit stuck
so I went back and helped them to the path. I got back down into Glen Coe in what felt like no time at all, and it was time for home. Just a short stay, but quite nice way to spend a couple of days.