Day 1 of 3 with Claire today and we wanted IIish, something she hadn't done before and not in the wind. I haven't done The east Buttress of the North Ridge of Stob Ban for a few years but its a good option for a snowy day with strong westerlies. It didn't disappoint. With Julie along to observe as part of the work towards her MIC Assessment we had hail on the walk in and then snow and a breeze as we geared up but almost no wind on the route. The lower part is rambling, heathery and a little loose but worth doing when under snow- and there was no shortage of that today! Last night provided us with a few inches of fresh (plenty of graupel in evidence beneath the surface layers) to dig through.
The upper part of the route get more defined presenting a tower with a nice corner on its left hand side (II/III) followed by a couple of knife edge aretes. With things a little windier on the N Ridge we turned right dropping straight back down to Glen Nevis.
Snowing hard in my garden now!
The 2 steps of our ridge looking wintery
Snowing as we geared up
Lower part of the ridge
The fun bit
A cheval on the arete
The gully yawning below
Nearly there
Heading down
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