Another great day out in the northern highlands! I headed out with Dave to the start of Loch Arkaig to do a walk over Glas Bheinn, Geal Charn and Meall na h-Eilde. Glas Bheinn has a steep east face and is more craggy than indicated on the 1:25 000 map. We headed up the forest trails up Gleann Cia-aig until we could cross over roughly in line with the summit of Glas Bheinn. Just to the left of the highest point a gully cut through a broken buttress and from a distance looked like a easy romp. Getting closer, there seemed to be a steep icy step leading into a fairly well defined gully. The upper slopes of the gully had avalanced previously so the snow was hard packed and although water was still running behind the ice, there was enough to get over the 70 degree section. The gully continued with a few easier angled steps with a mixture of ice and frozen turf, before the final sopes were reached. From my experience about Grade I would be fair under the conditions, and with heavy snow fall could easily bank out. The buttresses to either side could offer up some fun, short routes in the lower grades.
The rest of the day was spent wading through snow around the two Corbetts. The views were some compensation to the hard work, but I certainly haven't felt that tired for a long time.
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