Meat in the Sandwich

Craig and Mark followed the sunshine on Saturday, seeking a new route but one which has been much admired from a distance.  It's been a few years since Corrie an Lochan was visited, maybe 7, 8, 9 even 10 years since Craig and Bill climbed RH Y Gully??, and it's a very pleasant walk in if a little rough in places over the boulders.

Craig takes up the story...

Savage Slit was on our minds and I recall seeing it that winter thinking it looked such an awesome line...not necessarily in winter at that time for me!!  Things have changed a little since then, tho the walk in pretty much was as I recalled...lovely

The approaching cliffs look very enticing and SS is well over the right, so we headed past the beautiful lochans, with the great slab coming into view in all its avalanche threatening horror; smooth and perfectly angled - it even released a bit of snow as we made our way to the cliff!

Great Slab in the corrie - Scotland's most renowned avalanche site?

Past the lochan, it's a nice steep pull up a gravely path to the base, where we came upon a pair on P1 who had been completely invisible to us on the walking...a surprise but we had a nice chat and a leisurely prep as they cleared the first stance.

It's intimidatingly steep from below and understandably demands respect; Mark took P1 whilst I watched & belayed attentively.  The book suggests a 10m first pitch followed by a 20m second; this seemed counter-intuitive (even in winter I don't see the benefit but what do I know) so he linked 1 &  2 together, as the first pair had, and struck off up the inviting rock and 'slit'.

The view up P1, as Mark actually abs off the top after we finished

The view down from P1

P1 is a lovely opening pitch with nice bridging and generally stays out the Slit.  The rock is super grippy granite with plenty amenable hand holds and an abundance of foot placements.  The attention it receives in winter is obvious with the wear on the rock from crampons and picks on numerous key placement edges in much evidence.

The only thing about the stance on P1 is the low head height which hardly helps Mark or I as we kept banging our heads on the overhead rock!!  A slick change over and I was off up P2 with a meaty start onto a small platform after about 10 feet, providing a nice photo opportunity;

Craig's feet  heading off up P2

P2 is a lovely pitch, which kept me in the Slit for much of the time and a lovely place it is too.  The hand holds are there when you want them and the narrow constriction in the slit offers nice if narrow bridging and chimneying, and even a little lay backing. The pitch terminates on a nice spacious ledge serving at least three climbs and obviously well set up as an abseil station.

Mark approaching the abseil stances on P2

The book suggests the final pitch is of limited enjoyment and so it proved with an easy scramble interjected with a pull over an overhang.  We got to the top and abb'ed straight back down to the abseil stance proper and used the plethora of heavy duty in situ tat and krab to get back down where we met Allan and Morag who were up for a split shift climb from the Lodge.  As we chatted and checked out, they headed off for a fun day.  The walk out was fast and sunny...

Every pic with an iPhone 7 - what a camera!

...and we got back to the car in a sweat!  It's a long drive and an average walk in to the Gorms from Glasgow but today was worth it.  What lovely climb!  Reasonable on the grade and a stunning location with a quick abseil back to the bags...what's not to like.

We scoped the climb and thought of winter; it's a V6 and a serious proposition for us...but maybe worth the effort to try.  

Definite Type 1 Fun today.