Icy on Scabbard Chimney and something to the right of Spectre, SCNL

For Neil's second day, we decided to seek shelter in Coire nan Lochan, where it turned out to be by and large a very pleasant day. With a few options in mind, it was clear that Scabbard Chimney was well iced and that the slab on the first pitch looked plastered, so we went for that. When I last climbed it, we took a short detour out to the left to avoid the blank and bare slab, however, today, it was a joy to climb, with excellent axe placements all the way. The crux turned out to be just off the second belay, after which the route remained very icy, with steady and bold climbing all the way. V,4/5 in these conditions.

We then abseiled back down after the difficulties (a 60m ab down a groove to the right of the first pitch of Spectre) and in doing so, noticed that the line of the abseil looked like it would be good fun to climb, so back up we went. The climbing was a bit more mixed to begin with, before joining icy grooves to a peg belay overlooking the Tempest wall. From here, a short traverse brought us back onto Spectre, which again, was plastered in ice. The line we took was perhaps VI,5, if anyone has climbed this groove (not the one immediately right of Spectre, but the next one over), please let me know.

Excellent icy conditions developing in the mountains right now, and this trend should continue throughout the forthcoming week.