Back.... to black....

The thaw has welll and truely set in on the west. Today Kenny and Cilian and Andrew and I went to Stob Coire nan Lochan as the snow retreated and the ice turned to water and headed to the sea. The snow line was heading rapidly to 700m as we walked in in the rain but above the Coire floor it alternated between rain, snow and freezing rain all day.

Kenny did Dorsal Arete by the Direct Start (he had company from Tim from PYB and Andy Turner out for the day with the Mountain Equipment Team) and we did a IV,5 further round the coire.

The snow was deep and wet, with some firmer older stuff sometimes visible on steep ground and turf well frozen beneath- where insulated with snow (exposed stuff was less secure). Despite the rain we had a good day out with some nice climbing.

Quite impressive the amount of snow that has melted, the amount of water on the move and even the ice that we avoided on the way up that had turned to slush on the path on descent!

Today I was working for Abacus Mountaineering.