Philippe writes:
"After a few years travelling to the Glencoe and sleeping rough, I decided to treat my wife, Clare, with decent accommodation. I couldn't resist the desire to stay in the most famous pub/Hotel in the Glencoe: Clachaig Inn.

It not only has a choice of good beer, loads of whiskey but this is the place where all the climbers meet up at the end of the day. We arrived just on time to sample some of the greatest beer and certainly some whiskey - (however, my advice is to avoid the local one - it is lethal).

As a result of our evening's hospitality extravagance we couldn't face an early start and walk up to the Ben Nevis as initially planned. Instead, we opted for Stob Coire Nan Lochan as it was only minutes down the road from the Clachaig Inn and probably the same approach in term of time.

It was a beautiful day. Clear sky and to our big surprise a lot of stags just minutes away form the car park. Clare couldn't resist to compete with them and her spanking new carbon brasher pole... dear oh dear, oh dear.!

Anyway, after a good 2 hours approach we finally reached the basin of Stob Coire Nan Lochan and decided to climb SC gully. This is a classic Scottish gully very atmospheric and with 2 steep pitches at the start. Steep enough that the 1st ascensionist avoided that section by climbing the short rib on the left (add photos). Mind, they were using axes to cut step on the ice!!! The Crux (or hardest section) is at the start of the second pitch. A short right traverse onto the gully above gives you some great feeling.. Clare confirmed the difficulty by her increasing level of swearing... (Though I hadn't told her the grade of the climb and she thought it was an easier one.)

The final pitch is a long steepening snow slope with a corniced exit. Under the circumstances of the night before, a job well done by all concerened.

It was a great day out and we even got to enjoy some sunshine at the top, and of course snow showers (what do you expect it is Scotland?).

If you want to experience winter climbing, get in touch with a professional and enroll yourself in a winter climbing course. I highly recommend John White at High Point:

Based in the Lake Disctrict and also a keen brasher user...."

Footnote: You can more photo's of the climb here on our flickr pages.