Its half term, ice is around by the bucket load which means Ben Nevis is seeing allot of action from visiting climbers. Our plan was to climb somewhere a little quieter and I fancied some challenging mixed climbing, Lost Valley Buttress certainly fit the bill so this morning Duncan and I made a steady walk through driving rain holding high hopes of plummeting temperatures. It was my first visit to this quiet area of Glencoe, a 2 hour walk guaranteeing one of our desired routes being free. We chose Directosaur (VI,7) which is one of the longer routes on the crag, it produced three superb pitches of involved technical climbing on amazing hooks, solid turf and icy grooves. I got the long first pitch which was amazing, Duncan then got involved in a strenuous second pitch before I ran it out up secure icy ramps and grooves – what a superb day out!

Duncan appearing after the crux

The strenuous 2nd pitch

What a pitch!

Approaching the second belay

Happy days!