Talk about Garbh Bheinn in this area and most climbers will think of the great Ardgour rock peak despite there being another fine Corbett of that name sitting right above the village and blocking out the light! And that’s where I ran this afternoon after (wisely, from the reports coming in of folk getting stuck left, right and centre) shelving plans to go hill running elsewhere.
Took the ENE ridge (an option I can’t recall taking before) from the Penstock track, with a light covering of soft snow intermittently giving way to crustier slab and deeper driftlets and the bitter wind enough to send me scurrying down Coire an t-Sionnaich without stopping long on top. And here I took the chance to take a good look at the upper reaches of the Allt Coire an t-Sionnaich (scene of January’s true roadside ice episode), noting further climbing potential with two more major icefalls above the ‘cauldron’ and being horrified by the appearance of my right-wall ‘escape’ from this (really not soloing ground at all)! So there might be some long stretches of avoidable easy ground between the good little roadside pitches and the three bigger falls higher up (sitting in the 400/500m area and already more-or-less formed if not yet solidly enough for climbing) but, when it all freezes up, these are going to stretch an interesting little expedition (where else can you start your ice climbing from under the road?) into something rather more substantial with the best bits (thinking rope, screws and partner here!) at the top.
