Just back from a course at Glenmore Lodge – wild weather at the beginning of the week drove us south to Dunkeld to climb. A good dusting on snow on the Cairngorms on Tuesday morning allowed some folk to get the first “winter” climbs of the year in! Wednesday stayed mostly dry and Thursday was an epic day scrambling in Glencoe in wind, rain, sleet, and hail!

Chris, Scott and I had an epic day on No.3 Buttress on Stob Coire nam Beith. Low cloud gave a damp and challenging day on this superb, 450m classic scramble.

Wet rock forced us off the easier slabs into crack and chimney lines in search of better hand and food holds. Enjoyable scrambling and sustained lower down  – a quality route and far better than other Glencoe classics!

(L to R: Approaching route; Chris surrounded by mist; Cheesy summit photo!)

Fiona, Mike (or  is it Alistair??) and I had a great day on Crowberry Ridge (direct route) – the Rannoch Wall was a bit damp in places, so we opted for this three-star classic with fantastic positions – introducing Fiona and Mike to the delights of multi-pitch trad and descending curved ridge.

The only thing that marred the day was my ability to mix up “mike” with “alistair”???

(L to R: Fiona on the crux; The Kingshouse from Crowberry Ridge)