Church Door Buttress..

Ruth Taylor, Toby Keep and I decided to head up to Coire Nam Beith and Church Door Buttress in particular.

As we made the steady ascent into the corrie, plenty of ice was visible on the West Face of Aonach Dubh. 'The Screen', 'Elliot's Downfall' (not touching down yet) and 'No.6 Gully' still have plenty of ice, although closer inspection will be required to see if they are climbable.

On Stob Coire Nam Beith there is also plenty of ice and routes such as 'Deep Cut Chimney' IV,4 and ''North West Gully' look in good shape. There were a few instructional parties, including those with Chris Walker and Adam Hughes, making good use of this icy buttress.

We opted for 'West Chimney' IV,6 which involved some subterranean antics in a small rift, before climbing a couple of pleasant grooves to the top. Due to helpful ice and neve, it's probably no more than IV,4 at the moment..