Lagangarbh Buttress, Glencoe 5th May 2008

Lorna and myself went up to Glencoe today, with an idea to do something on the "Buchaille". See map.

Sitting on the bench at the car park at Lagangarbh, we studied the Cicerone guidebook and decided on Lagangarbh Buttress, graded 2/3 (the buttress is the central one in the pic).

The lower sections are mainly big sloping slabs, separated by grassy terraces. Although not that easy to follow from the guide book, as everything looks the same, with a bit of careful route finding you will eventually get to the top!

Looking down from one of the terraces onto Lagangarbh.

Easier ground appears nearer the top, with just a straightforward walk to the summit shelter at 1022m on Buchaille Etive Mor (Stob Dearg). It is very tempting to walk on the snow at the tops of the gullies, but in ordinary boots a slip on the soft snow could be disastrous, so we stuck to solid ground!

Today we got a rare view of Ben Nevis 1344m, and Carn Mor Dearg 1223m , with it's arete linking the two.

The route back, down through Coire na Tulaich, although straightforward, still had soft snow to negotiate and having an ice axe gave me some security on the traverse across to better ground. Others, including Lorna, who didn't carry an axe had to make do with shortened walking poles or hands for stability!