A very snowy Dorsal Arete

The forecast was for gale force winds on the tops but crucially the freezing level was coming down from above the summits. We headed up a long line of teams making the trek up into Stob Coire nan Lochan and onwards to the classic Dorsal Arete II. The coire was full of avalanche debris from the thaw the previous night but their were still some huge cornice overhanging the right hand side of the crag. However the approach slopes had refrozen and we made good time to the base of where Dorsal arete normally starts. The depth of snow meant that I struggled to recognise many of the features on this trade route and even the final rock fin was a narrow snow arete which was climbed au cheval. The cornice needed a little bit of work before we crawled on to the ridge and were immediately pinned down by the gale force winds. A quick descent of Broad Gully was the best option in these conditions before a pleasant walk out beneath blue skies.