D-Gully Buttress

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The grade of this route depends on the variation taken at the crux - happily I found the Diff. variation!  That I found myself on this route instead of Curved Ridge shows that the hill can be confusing when there is accumulated snow, despite my having been on that part of the hill several times before.  I had been intending to do Curved Ridge and got lost in Crowberry Basin, just above the Waterslide.  By the time I realised I was on the wrong route I felt unable to descend and pick up the correct one.  However the route was very clearly marked on the rock (part of the confusion) indicating it took a fair amount of traffic.  I pressed on without too many problem, though it did cross my mind that I was mad to be alone in that situation without even a hard hat.  All of a sudden the crux move appeared - a pull up onto sloping (the wrong way) handholds.  A little looking around revealed an easier route to the left up a short corner.  I carried on up to find a narrow arete joining then end of this route to Curved Ridge.  This meant more pleasure scrambling up to Crowberry Tower to admire the view, and then onto the actual summit.  As I sat there a couple of chaps armed with ropes and climbing gear appeared.  Together we marvelled at the amount of snow on the Glencoe ski area - some of the pylons for the top tows were almost completely buried despite it being late May.

At last it was time to descend.  As I reached the top of Corrie na Tulaich I felt nervous.  It was filled with snow and the top section appeared very steep.  I took out my ice axe and slowly let myself over the lip.  After descending for a little while I suddenly found myself sliding down the slope at a great rate of knots.  All the various ice axe braking sessions I have attended came into play and without thinking I found myself looking at the axe in the snow just in front of my face.  However, it was also slicing through the snow, which was soft corn snow - made of large ice crystals.  I decided that the axe on it's own wasn't going to arrest my fall, so I used my feet - one is taught to get them well out of the way, but in this situation I felt that needs must.  As the slope eased slightly I finally stopped.  Since I hadn't thought to put on gloves my hands had been badly abraded and were bleeding, so I cut out a platform to park my rucksack and dressed them as best I could.  I waited for the two men following to catch me up, and we walked back down to my car.  I have them a lift back to their tent in Glen Etive, and the next day took my hands to the doctors where they were properly dressed.  Later I realised that I had also slightly damaged a knee.

Since then I have looked up the Corrie from Altnafeadh on the A82. That view makes the headwall appear vertical (it was probably about 70°), and that view left me feeling well and truly shaken.  In retrospect I realised the importance of learning how to use an ice axe, and also of carrying and using one.  I've never told this story to my mother!

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