Lochain

Day 3 of our Intro. to Winter climbing at Glenmore Lodge and we went over to Lochain to escape the crowds. It was warmer and milder from the word go and the thin smears of ice that had frozen overnight were falling off the crags from the beginning. We climbed Milky Way which was only just being held together by a coating of ice on the steeper sections and there was water running under that- although there was plenty of firm snow on the ledges. We had been going to abseil down before the route joined the Vent but the thought of us and our ropes dangling above, below and amongst all the loose rock decided us against it. So we headed over to the Vent and went down and back up that instead. It looked like Y Gully Right Hand and Oesophagus (possibly) were the only other routes climbable in the coire.

Over in Sneachda the usual chaos abounded as loose rocks came down the bottom half of Spiral Gully and parties chose to walk above other climbers on steep firm ground whilst roped together but not connected to the mountain. One slip is enough to send them and anyone they scythe off beneath them to the bottom........