Jet Stream: In the rain.

When I picked Davy up at 6:30 this morning it was snowing heavily, by the time we reached Aonach Mor and had walked to the top ski lift it was raining heavily. After a few cornice dilemmas we dropped down to the climbers col to traverse across a fairly slabby slope. The fresh windblown snow was sitting on top of the hard neve underneath. Saturated by the rain, it wasn’t the healthiest looking slope. Anyway we ended up opting for Jet Stream, which was in very good nick with fat chewy ice, thanks to the rising temps. I thought it was a top class route and well worth the 3*. The steeper second pitch was probably the best bit of ice climbing I have done in Scotland.

Davy on the first chimney pitch.

Once at the belay I could see Davy would have some cornice capers to pull through a now dripping monster, which he did as calm as you like. The snow was now completely sodden and should be stonking if we get a freeze.

Cornice Capers.

As a bonus we were able to bum slide virtually the entire lift of the unused Warrens tow, to get us back to the warmth of the café pretty quickly. A really good day on the hill despite the foul weather.