My orange jacket standing out like a sore thumb on Andromeda (photo credit James Rigby - thanks James!)

This winter has been rather other worldly. Unseasonably warm and dry conditions have been the norm, which has made getting the usual run of winter ticks somewhat more challenging.

Thankfully this weekend just gone a bit of luck with the forecast fortuitously timed with climbing plans conjured in Autumn of last year.

After an overnight dusting and dominance of a freezing northly gale James and I found the Lochain looking "lean" but with potential at least. It was James first ever winter foray so going easy probably should have been the order of the day, but a pedigree of climbing hard trad and ultra running meant I wasn't too worried about taking him to the deep end - certainly as far as northern cories climbing is concerned. 

The route we opted for was Andromeda (IV), a grove and corner line that breaks off from Milky Way and heads directly up through steep ground to join Central Crack Route. 

The start was awkward. The usual snow clad ledges and groves were replaced with icy rock, a dust of useless snow and turf frozen so solid even a sharp axe barely made a dent. The highlight was a horizontal crack a full reach past a small overlap made for a textbook torque and was protected by a rusty peg complete with frozen tat. What more could you ask for from a first pitch.

After some more textbook encounters - this time of the faffing and hot aches variety - we were ready to tackle the main corner line of Andromeda. The line is actually a series of three corners, with the one of the left being the true line, an option just right being supposedly slightly harder and then another corner way to the right, which looked a grade easier than the other two options. As we stood there being buffeted by the wind and snow, there was certainly a strong urge to take the easiest of the options - que climber on Milky Way who announces that the left corner is worth the effort and the true line. That settled it. Off we went up the left corner. 

It had torques, it had burl, and most importantly it had copious opportunities for full body wedging. Were I to do it again, I'd probably leave the bag at the base as it definitely made some of the chimneying sections harder than they needed to be. 

The last pitch was an easy romp up past the cornice. Unfortunately the weather the next few days wasn't up to climbing, but it was still great to have a catch up with James.