Monaliath, Nevis gorge & Polldubh Sandbags

On Friday Arno and I met in the 'Tipsy Laird' in Kingussie while waiting for Mike and John, two Oxford-based Munro-aspirants. We had to wait for a few hours which meant a couple of 'Cats' plus some Whisky's. 'All Mike's and John's fault, officer!'. We started Saturday with a hearty full Scottish and filled to the brink with cholesterol, we walked down the glen to do three of the Monaliath Munros first in sunshine...

... before the weather started to change. Here is Mike above the hidden loch...

... and here is team Oxford & co resting near a patch of snow.

A good walk despite the rain and great to catch up with Mike and to meet John. On Sunday morning Adam met us and because the forecast was better for the west we drove into Glen Nevis. However, it was wet there and so we decided to do the gorge walk to see the falls of Steall...

... and to try the wire bridge which is far more entertaining now that one of the wires had snapped. When we returned it was much drier and we went to Pinnacle buttress to do two sandbags, Clapham Junction and Severe Crack. The climbs are graded VS, steep and polished Sassenach traps...

I left the gear in Severe Crack so Adam could try his luck with preplaced gear. However, it is like climbing teflon and Adam ended up aiding it like the nose on El Cap. Maybe the overdue edition of the next Highland Outcrops will see a correction or the grades are left so that the locals can have a chuckle watching visitors collecting airmiles.
HW