Ledge Route, Ben Nevis

Plans to camp out in North Face car park fell with dreadful weather, so we bunked in the Bank St hostel - not the best place with drunks etc o/s at 2am. However, a 5am rise saw us leaving the NF carpark around 6am ahead of the queues.

We trudged up the path in the dark with no snow until about 500m. The path became indistinguishable and we ended up above the CIC hut entering the main corrie. Once we got our bearings, we saw that the ridges were bare, and gullies were out, (North East Buttress was my objective, but no-one felt it was on - they were right). We wandered up to No 5 gully and saw evidence of the earlier avalanche

The Curtain was pretty bare! 

After a quick strategy chat, we headed for a look at Ledge Route but wondered if the wind would prevent us crossing the ledge, higher up. We set off in windy snowdrift and found ourselves at the start of the higher ledge. Mark took a harder line to the left of the ledge but dislodged a huge bolder which thankfully stuck in the snow beside us. Suitably satisfied the line was for another day, we headed up the ledge proper.

We neared the top in nice conditions but as soon as we hit the plateau, the westerly winds hit us with a vengeance and it was struggle to stay upright. Mark had a route card for nav'ing off points on the Ben and we took a dog leg around the dangers and hit the Red Burn spot on.  We wandered down in the gale to a boulder for some shelter and a well earned sarnie and obligatory tomato soup, thence to the car.

The Red Burn

A great day and my new glove's strategy worked a treat - brilliant industrial rubber gloves courtesy of Mike - they work...just need to buy a jacket to match them now

All in, a great day in the hills, and wall to wall smiles at the end of the day still gave us enough time to visit Nevis Sport for a quick coffee and cake before a mad dash down the road (with two stops for desperately sore cramp for me on the way :( )