Afterthought Arete With Gurkhas
Posted by Max Hunter on 18th July, 2014
Coire an t-Sneachda
Coire an Lochain
Last Monday I joined the staff team (Matt and Dusty) at ATC Scotland, to support their final phase of their 2 week climbing course. There had already been a lot of drop outs from the original course line up, due to injuries, but there were still 6 students on the Monday. I was with the 2 Gurkhas for the day, and so with this fit and strong team, we headed off for Afterthought Arete on Stag Rocks, hoping to beat the rain forecast for early afternoon.
We quickly headed up the Fiacaill Coire an t-Sneachda (I was hoping to come back and do Savage Slit the next day – so I wanted a look at the approach to check it was snow free). Later in Coire Domhain we found the large patch of snow, so we had the obvious session of sliding and photos, before getting on and down to the base of Afterthought Arete (Moderate ***). There was a team ahead of us, but they were near the top by now (clearly wanting to avoid the rain). We had a quick climb, because the clouds were gathering. The rain properly broke during the last pitch, so it was all hands to the pump to get waterproofs on at the top, for a chilled walk out – and back to the cafe for just after 3pm. This was a rare day this summer of needing a drying room at the end of the day.
Somebody on Afterthought Arete
A big patch of snow in Coire Domhain
A very fine arete
This is when the rain started to spit
Close to the top – just before the heavy rain