Did our homework the night before, weather better in west so bezzed over for first gondola up Aonach Mor saving 650m of trudging. Contoured in to the Allt Daim and along to the 675m contour. Difficult to establish the start of the ridge as the cloud base was around 800m obscuring any detail. Luckily an AMI guide was taking 2 clients up the same route and he had done it last week in good weather. Spent the day in the clag but all the interest was under the axe and crampons anyway.
Italian hitch for speed and smoothness and self-belay to ice axe was the routine throughout. For what it's worth, my single 55cm axe has a 120 sling larks-footed through the head and a knot level with the spike. I make a slider out of gaffer-tape to close it on the wrist. Most of the time on a grade II the end of the sling is krabbed to my belay loop.
Jenny & Luke Warm with his cool nethers bringing up the Paramo-panted rear.
Italian hitch for speed and smoothness and self-belay to ice axe was the routine throughout. For what it's worth, my single 55cm axe has a 120 sling larks-footed through the head and a knot level with the spike. I make a slider out of gaffer-tape to close it on the wrist. Most of the time on a grade II the end of the sling is krabbed to my belay loop.
Jenny & Luke Warm with his cool nethers bringing up the Paramo-panted rear.
Dreich portrait but the wind was pretty beast.
50m of vis on the summit so had to do 2 bearings and a dog-leg to avoid the crags that flanked us. Remained on the compass all the way to the gondola and were well chuffed to finally get our lunch on the ride down (about 17:00).
