North Buttress, Buachaille Etive Mor.

For the bad weather day of the week today turned out to be a very good day. We had a little fresh snow over night and there was a wind from the west blowing it around a bit. Jonathan, Will and I went to climb North Buttress of Buachaille Etive Mor which turned out to be a popular choice. It's quite reassuring when other people look at the forecasts and ground conditions and come up with the same answer as you about what to go and climb. When it's busy though it's useful to be able to change plan or be happy to spend a sociable day on the climb. 

As it was, Stu let us go in front so I hope we didn't slow him down. There was a team in front of us which we did not quite catch up and then three teams below Stu! The climbing was as brilliant as ever with enough snow to be useful but not to bury the hooks and ledges. There was even some firm snow in the chimney that held a pick for a move. We finished straight out the top of the chimney onto the terrace before abseiling down the side of the line of the climb. We did not want to abseil on top of the other climbers. In three pitches we descended 140m which was a nice first abseil for Jon!

​Meanwhile on Ben Nevis, there was a good bit more snow than in Glen Coe. Caspar and Rob decided not to go all the way to Number Three Gully Buttress and went back down to Douglas Boulder instead. This proved to be a good decision when they saw some avalanches from Number Two Gully and Green Gully areas!
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​More sunshine tomorrow!