Calm before the storm? Dorsal Arete, Stob Coire nan Lochan

Winter climbing conditions are quite tricky at the moment, with a fairly high freezing level and thin snow cover. Today's forecast didn't help an awful lot, with high winds due to come in at about lunchtime. With all this in mind, Corey and I had an earlyish start and made our way up to Coire nan Lochan, with an ascent of Dorsal Arete (and descent of Broad Gully) as our plan A. The beauty of Coire nan Lochan is that it is fantastically sheltered from the worst of the prevailing winds, although care is required on topping out.

The approach slopes to Broad Gully/Dorsal Arete are still quite awkward, with quite a bit of rock still exposed, but Broad Gully itself is well filled in. We didn't hang around on Dorsal Arete, but made sure we took in the crux fin and a fun, steeper finish, to the left of the normal finish.

On topping out, as expected, the winds made themselves known with the odd, strong gust, so we didn't hang around and descended Broad Gully. We should see quite a bit of snow over the next 24 hours, so fingers crossed, as it's exactly what we need right now!

Outdoor Research
Proagencies