East Spur of Carn Dearg Meadhonach

I can't believe I forgot my camera today! Glorious weather and sensational views too. Oh well.

This route faces east and so was a candidate for a safe mountaineering day out at around Scottish grade I/II for Hanne, Rob and Steve. The only problem was going to be getting there as it's a long way up the Allt Daim between the Carn Deargs and Aonach Mor. Access is usually from the gondola station then dropping down into the valley from the west. Later I did see some tracks coming in from that direction but there was no way it was on our itinerary, as those west facing slopes are loaded with snow and there is evidence of avalanche activity.

We journeyed in from the north face car park at Torlundy, following the well broken trail which we left once past the forestry. Then cutting across to the west, taking turns at snowplough duty through knee deep snow, skirting the nose of Carn Beag Dearg and peering round the corner at the east facing slopes before us. We decided that we could hop between the abundant islands of safety to reach our route. Lots of rock and exposed ground are in evidence as well as hard scoured snow fields, however we still had to dog-leg around large patches of somewhat unstable slab cross loaded onto the slope.
The spur itself is straight forward, with moderate exposure and very enjoyable. We arrived on to the plateau just as some cloud came in and we lost visibility. Navigating off to the north we could feel the rise in temperature and where the snow on the way up had been dry and fluffy was now saturated with moisture in the same places.
Well done to the guys for today, which in these conditions was quite hard work.