A lot of fresh snow fell over night all over the highlands with a strong southerly wind. We stayed in the Southern Highlands and walked into Beinn an Dothaidh east corrie. We had a few hours of clear sky in the middle of the day (below - mountains south of Glen Etive, plastered in snow) however most of it was claggy. Lots of snow has accumulated on North and West facing slopes. There was about 1 foot of fresh snow on a hard base, making it very easy to slide. We avoided big areas of deep snow and found the crag and tried to climb Menage a Trois V,6. After battling up the first pitch (right), trying to find frozen turf which was buried under powder, came the second steep wall to enter a groove. I dabbled with the second pitch, getting about 5 metres off the ledge when my axe came out unexpectedly. A slow motion fall, but good landing and a second attempt but thwarted by too much soft snow hiding the rock hooks and turf. We abseiled off and retired graciously!
I think you call it a whipper when you go that far.
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