THE GREAT SLAB, COIRE AN LOCHAIN

Tom & Cameron enjoying the coire

Fab cramponing again

Solitude in the Snow

Looking up to the cliffs

Front pointing

Plenty of fun snow

This guy loves this spot

The Couloir 

Murkey

Down

More steep please

Friends Tom & Cameron out with me this weekend on a 2 day winter course. As always Tarmachan Mountaineering offers bespoke and tailored courses. The guys already have some basic winter experience.  Today we built on this and did a good deal of steep ground in Coire an Lochain.  We started off with some step cutting then donned the crampons and did a nice circuit of the 'Tour de Grandes Slab', the big granite feature in the middle of Coire an Lochain.  The snow around here was fabulous . A bit softer and slightly less intimidating than recent days but still required respect, it's a long way down to boulders! After lunch we traversed out on good solid snow ledges to the plateau.  All day we were well sheltered in the coire. On the plateau it was only around 35mph winds, much less than forecasted. We finished off the day with some fun sliding on the big patches on Cairn Lochan's Western flanks. Apart from a couple of skills groups we saw no one else all day. A Cure and friendly Mountain Hare was settled in the boulders about 6ft from us as we chatted noisily!  He's found his spot and he wasn't going to be disturbed! Brilliant . Top day out and good banter.