Mac, Steve and I were out today in the Arrochar area. We climbed a probable new route straightening out a line I tried earlier in the year. The line climbs a corner left of The Abyss and then the left hand side of a slab. On the previous attempt I’d decided the turf on the slab wasn’t well enough frozen, today it was super solid but the slab still gave some bold climbing on turfy blobs. Above we joined The Abyss briefly below it’s upper corner before moving right up a ramp line to gain the top of a huge flake pinnacle via some good chimney moves. A long step off the pinnacle lead to easier ground and the top of the lower tier. The discussion about grade seemed to settle out at V,4; the climbing never felt harder than 4, but there were moves well above gear on both the slab and final chimney/pinnacle. In keeping with the route names on the lower tier the suggested route name is “Hell Mend Ya”.
To gain the top of the crag we soloed up easy ground to the bottom of January Buttress and finished up this including the icefall, which was thin but good. We took in the summit of The Brack before descending the gully to the South of the Inglis Clark Arete, which was well scoured.
The turf was very well frozen at crag height. Soft snow on the ledges and easier ground with some firmer older snow on the upper tier. Some icing. Not much riming on the crag, so rockier lines wouldn’t feel very wintery at the moment. Some significant wind slab on the West side of the hill. Below freezing all day, with a fresh Easterly wind. Snow flurries on and off all day and only the odd bit of blue sky breaking through. The Brack was a good choice today being low and hence less windy than some options and with very little wind slab build up on the crag.
