Great End conditions

Great End conditions

 
Stonking conditions on Great End on saturday. Great neve which was great for picks and monos! All the easy routes (except SE gully which was not in) had good snow cover and some great ice, although it was very brittle and dinner platey in places. Central left hand branch looked a little thin but good, we did middle variation which was good with great neve and a nice little ice pitch near the bottom. Descended Cust's gully which was great neve all the way and has a line of steps. Went up Window gully which is as fat as I have ever seen it, although Wall and Groove finish is still a bit too thin so we finished up Icefall finish (III,4 at the moment). Then descended Branch gully, which has a nice interesting step at the chockstone at the moment. Had a quick solo up 1 pitch gully, which had good ice but was certainly harder than grade II!
 
AD