Bruach na Frithe Blizzards, 19th December
Ben has been dealt more than his fair share of weather for his course but enthusiasm and attitude has given us a couple of excellent days.
Yesterday we avoided the wind down on the beach at the Braes with a refresher session on gear placements and retrieving abseil ropes. We finished with a great bit of fun dry-tooling up a greasy steep corner.
With nearly zero friction for the feet it was a fight to the top but great lesson (for both of us!) in trusting thin placements.
This morning winds dropped to gale force instead of storm force so we headed past the Fairy Pools toward the Spur of Sgurr an Fheadian. It looked very dry and unlikely we would need crampons so we gambled instead on heading higher, hoping that the wind gods would be kind.
A tail-wind up the Tairnilear stone shoot was most welcome.
A good coating of ice covered almost every rock for the final 100m of ascent and crampons were a definite good move.
Peace from the wind over the crest of the Ridge was made even better by the subtle colours out towards Blaven and beyond.
Snow started falling as we set off and everything turned white very soon after but the wind was steady more than gusting and we made good progress, reaching the top in about 2 hours.
Midst of the heavy snow shower
The descent down Fionn Choire was another matter as we were battered from every direction, slapped by walls of spindrift and pelted by hail that felt more like lead shot; strangely no pics;-)
Our route went from the V-notch leftward to Bruach na Frithe.
Enjoy the gallery-
