Somewhere new: Bow Peep, Druim Shionnach

Ken: Hannah, Henry and I thought we would go for a little exploration today, and ventured to the West Face of Druim Shionnach in Glen Shiel, where we climbed Bow Peep. The route follows a slanting fault in three pitches, the first of which is the crux. Getting established on the first pitch proved to be quite tricky, with the snow having the consistency of butter at room temperature, however eventually we were able to make steady upwards progress.

The turf was well and truly frozen, but gear was quite hard to find due to quite a bit of heavy snow sticking to the crag and chocking up the cracks, particularly in the lower reaches.That said, with such good axe placements all the way, the climbing all felt very secure. Hannah led the second pitch, a series of slightly off-balance steps, before Henry led us to the top by surmounting a large chock-stone on great hooks and with good gear. We all felt that Bow Peep was an excellent route, and well worth the journey. It’s probably at the lower end of the grade, but don’t expect much gear on the crux pitch in current conditions.

Steve was out working on the East Ridge of the North Top of Stob Ban. He was out with Shane and Chris, who led themselves up the route, whilst Steve provided valuable coaching along the way.