New Route in Stob Coire nan Lochain

Andy and I headed to Glen Coe last week to attempt a long-standing mixed objective. Unfortunately, the crag had caught the sun and Plans A, B and C all featured far too much bare rock. We traversed across to the Twisting Gully area to have a look at Simon Yearsley and Malcolm Bass's new route Twisted. But higher up, we spotted a couple of obvious lines which weren't in the guidebook. Time for a bit of an adventure!

A gorgeous morning in Glen Coe

 

We opted for a steep corner rising from the ramp of Moonshadow.  This gave about about 30m of good, steep, independent climbing, plus of course a pleasant start up Twisting Gully Right Hand and the start of the Moonshadow ramp. It was probably VI,7 - quite sustained Tech 7, but never quite touching Tech 8 and not long enough to justify more than VI overall. Asking around, it seems this is indeed a new route, so we decided to call it Moonshine. It's definitely worth a star or two, and would make a good option when the lower buttresses are stripped.

Me half-way up the steep corner