Following several weeks of cold and snowy weather in Scotland, with the best conditions in years, we managed to time our February trip perfectly – at the end of the week of the big thaw.
Not to be daunted, we planned a day on the hill and were awake by 5am.
Eventually we got back to sleep again, and got up just after 7. My original (pre-thaw) plan had been to take a look at the Inglis Clark Ridge on Creise, a fine grade III. Since this was now completely devoid of snow, Rob, Carmen and I headed instead for Sron na Creise, a grade 3 scramble up the north ridge. 
Despite occasional light drizzle, the rock was clean and the friction excellent, with nice exposure in places. And we were sheltered from the strong southerly winds until we eventually reached the summit ridge, where strong gusts occasionally threatened to blow us over.
After a brief detour to Clach Leathad (the south summit), we descended east towards Meall a' Bhuiridh, our 2nd Munro of the day. The start of the descent looked fairly desperate, as we appeared to be stepping off the edge of a cornice, but it was actually quite easy, especially in retrospect. 
From the summit, a long series of standing glissades (ski-ing in walking boots) took us down through the (closed) ski area and back to the car.
Inspired by an awful weather forecast, the next day we'd already booked in at the Ice Factor indoor ice-climbing wall. Great fun it was too, so much so that most of us booked in for another session in the afternoon.
The next day dawned wet and horrible again, but Rob, Dave D, Will, Carmen and I decided to stop off for a walk anyway, and by the time we parked at Ardlui (by Loch Lomond) it was dry, with even occasional glimpses of the sun. Ben Vorlich was a bit of a slog (OK, a lot of a slog), but the bum-slide descent made up for it.
Some more photos here.
Tags: chili sauce, cock-a-doodle-doo, drizzle, thaw
I see you have gone over to Team Magenta
http://climbing.me.uk/GlenEtive0209/slides/P2210082.html
🙂
'Suits you sir'!
how'd he do that!