Mike and I had a stunning day on Taxus oin Ben an Dothaidh in near perfect conditions.

The weather was cold but sunny – the route had mostly excellent perfect snow ice and excellent water ice. There were a few areas of soft, wind deposited snow which were mostly avoided easily – West Gully looked loaded higher up with a large cornice, but it was possible to approach well out of the gully bed on hard neve.

We avoided the ice fall finish as we suspected the exit slope may have wind slab, but the top pitch of the original line had perfect neve and ice all the way up.

A stunning day in contrast to the last time I climbed Taxus and the last time I wore my soft shell kit to winter climbing in!