The Occasional Photojournalist...: Finally Some Pictures and Less Text

Dave MacLeod on his new line Jane's Weep, VIII 8(I'd say!) on Aonach Dubh, Glen Coe. Photograph by Steven Gordon

The A82 tried it's best to stop me getting out and shooting some pics but a few rants and some nifty sliding in the snow got me to Glen Coe two hours late. I'd arranged to meet up with Dave MacLeod and Blair Fyffe, who had spotted some new ice lines on the east side of Aonach Dubh. I'd set off at a leisurely 8:00am thinking to myself that one of the greatest pleasures in life is heading the opposite way than the rush hour traffic. When one is headed into the mountains for a day's work as opposed to an office, the perils of the work seem to disappear. Just as my smugness was reaching an irritating level, I ran into one of the worst traffic jams in history. The A82 was closed again, this time by an over-turned lorry, cargo spilled over the road as well as a genourous quantity of diesel. Strathclyde's finest were busy trying to make it worse by sending lorries down side streets and diverting cars going in the opposite direction back into the jam. An hour and a half later I finally abandoned, heading back into Glasgow watching the last cold forecast of the week slip by, thinking that the Mr.MacLeod would be laughing on fat ice while I couldn't make it more than 5 miles out of town. A ridiculous diversion, a dodgy snowy road and 2 hrs late, I was heading up the path for Stob Coire Nan Lochan in Glen Coe. An hour uphill, bit of a sweat and I found Blair disappearing up the last stretch of a beautiful line of thin ice with a mixed start. By the time I was set up Dave was onto the middle line, the one photographed above. A sketchy mixed start, onto an ice dribble, then a push for better ice but slightly overhanging. I'll update the grades and names of the routes, but for now enough of my rambling and here are the pics.