Mark's Crack - new line on the Cobbler

A very late in the day change of mind saw me, Bill and Mark head for the Cobbler to do MacLay's Crack which Mark and I looked at last year but never got on. The early views were stunning.

It was a wonderful morning but the forecast was to close in with more snow. We swam up to the start ahead of some crowds and were amazed by the quantity of soft unconsolidated snow - indeed the was evidence of a monster avalanche out of the gully heading up towards the peak.

Mark took the lead and swam, literally, up first pitch, and part of the second to belay in a neat little cave (very similar to Vanishing Gully on the Ben). The next pitch looked interesting and Mark steamed up it in no time, with Bill and I following on. This is no doubt a lovely climb in better conditions but was really not very reassuring in what we had. That said, we renamed it Mark's Crack in honour of his lead.

We came down in jig time but I still managed to incur some wrath for a late home for family dinner :( Conditions would have been amazing if the snow was wetter with a freeze but it is very powdery, has at least two layers in the first foot which are avalanche prone - 2" and 4" down and the turf is decidedly warm - not at all frozen. With a little rain and a good freeze the conditions will be stellar but forecast is not promising for a freeze. Ever hopeful my back recovers soon, as it is a proverbial pain in the ass, just a little higher tho!! Lower back pain is a real hinderance when carrying a sack and climbing, even tho Bill and Mark lugged the heavy stuff, but hey ho, that's what friends do. All in a great climb under normal conditions - we just never had them. The approx line - book is not overly helpful - climb in two pitches (not three); first to fork (20m) and follow groove on left to cave belay (another 10m tops - pic of me sitting therein). Continue directly up on corner to left out of cave to steep wall 5m; climb wall direct and follow for 5m then cut back right on ledge to steep groove (5m) and climb direct to poor belay (10m) by very small fir tree :) Climb direct thereafter on easy ground to top (2 pitches in total and ignore poor directions in book!)

As you can see, weather deteriorated!!