Tuesday 25 January 2011

SC Gully and Dorsal Arete:

On Sunday I headed down to Stob Corie nan Lochan in Glen Coe with Graham, Craig and Lee. We had an early start but were still beaten to the carpark by a surprising number of cars. With a good pace up the track however we made it to the crags before they got too busy.
Graham had been hoping to do Ordinary Route but unfortunetly we were beaten to it and as it didn't look in great nick we all headed for SC Gully.
This proved to be rather thin and felt sporting for the grade (especially when accidentaly trying to do the grade IV variation). The bottom Ice pitch was think, cruddy and poorly protected. The steep, right trending ice step that starts pitch 2 was not fully formed and very think so instead we made a short steep mixed step just above the ice to gain the ramp.  From here the snow was good and we quickly finished the route.

While waiting for Craig and Lee to finish Graham and myself descended Broad Gully then soloed Dorsal Arete before dropping drown Broad again to meet the others. I'll definitely have to go back and try SC again in better conditions.

Another long day out but a very enjoyable one.

No comments:

Post a Comment