First abseil

Two guys climbing, and three waiting at the foot of the long side of the Inn Pinn. The cold led NotRancid to decline, and the wait for two parties was not welcome. Then we found out they were all together. But wait, how does that work. The four lads were expecting the brother of one of them , the guy on the hard end, to get them up - with one rope and two harnesses! When the guy got to the stance I got the guy on the other end of his rope to shout up that it was about to run out. So, once the leader was anchored, he went off, unclipping the gear but leaving it in situ. This was getting weirder. I got geared up with my partner as I could see this wasn't going to work. Sure enough, the leader lowered the second and I was asked to collect the gear. I've led this 3 times before and it seems to be getting harder - perhaps it was the cold and the big boots. Anyway I brought my mate up, anchored him and led on past the other guy. he gave his rope to my partner and I brought him up after. We had a short chat on the stance where I told him his mates were slightly restless about getting their munro. At the top my partner insisted in touching the top of the boulder, and then I found out he had never abseiled before.

This is the moment of truth.

As we headed down to the pub the lads were climbing the short side, using the rope the leader had abbed down. It snowed on us on the way down. We saw them in the pub later - they got their munro, as did my man.