Day 3 with Steve and he'd never been into Coire nan Lochan above Glencoe. He'd also seen a video of Dorsal Arete and was keen to climb the fin. He soon discovered why some people make a play on the phrase 'hurt locker' by calling the it the 'hurt Lochan'- the walk in can feel a little.... direct.
Nice light at first and an icey path but in the Coire there was a lot of soft snow and last night's showers had buried any trails... queue a bit of a wade to the base of the route. I led a pitch, Steve led a pitch and then I took us to the base of the fin. Visibility had gone right down now and snow showers were passing through. The usual pull and pause to savour the exposure and I took a last belay below the rim of the Coire. Steve was soon with me and it only remained to top out into windier weather and coil the rope before a rapid descent down Broad Gully. Teams heading into Twisting (looked deep and snowy) and Raeburns Ordinary and a pair working hard on Scabbard Chimney. We were followed up the route by Gill with 2 students from West Highland College and Alun and a pair of Irish warriors. A soloist also swam up Forked Gully.
Steve... legs finally feeling it
Stob Coire Nan Lochan and a snowy coire
Are we nearly there yet?
Steve gets on the sharp end
Getting thinner
Belaying me on the fin
Always fun on the fin
The iconic shot
Walk the line
Nearly there
Last bit
Swing
Gill tackles the fin
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