Day three in the Gorm’s and after yesterdays thaw (and rain) it was going to be touch and go if anything was climbable today. The Buttress’s were looking dark from the car park but it was worth a look anyway, so we had a walk into the coire helped by the strong wind on our backs.
The Fiacaill buttress looked the whitest of them all, it was amazing how much snow had melted during yesterdays melt. It really looked like the start of winter rather than January.
We climbed a pitch of the Fiaciall Couloir before choosing our route and ended up on Belhaven (V, 6) which gave a short tricky step to below the main corner that we then climbed in one long 50m pitch. It was really good although probably needed more build-up on the initial slabby groove and it therefore felt hard for the grade today. Some great frozen turf higher up though.
There were other teams on the buttress on Invernookie and The Seam and plenty of other folk out on some of the easier gully lines. Most of the steeper mixed routes are pretty bare at the moment though, we need more snow.
