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 :( )

Mark's Crack - new line on the Cobbler

A very late in the day change of mind saw me, Bill and Mark head for the Cobbler to do MacLay's Crack which Mark and I looked at last year but never got on. The early views were stunning.

It was a wonderful morning but the forecast was to close in with more snow. We swam up to the start ahead of some crowds and were amazed by the quantity of soft unconsolidated snow - indeed the was evidence of a monster avalanche out of the gully heading up towards the peak.

Mark took the lead and swam, literally, up first pitch, and part of the second to belay in a neat little cave (very similar to Vanishing Gully on the Ben). The next pitch looked interesting and Mark steamed up it in no time, with Bill and I following on. This is no doubt a lovely climb in better conditions but was really not very reassuring in what we had. That said, we renamed it Mark's Crack in honour of his lead.

We came down in jig time but I still managed to incur some wrath for a late home for family dinner :( Conditions would have been amazing if the snow was wetter with a freeze but it is very powdery, has at least two layers in the first foot which are avalanche prone - 2" and 4" down and the turf is decidedly warm - not at all frozen. With a little rain and a good freeze the conditions will be stellar but forecast is not promising for a freeze. Ever hopeful my back recovers soon, as it is a proverbial pain in the ass, just a little higher tho!! Lower back pain is a real hinderance when carrying a sack and climbing, even tho Bill and Mark lugged the heavy stuff, but hey ho, that's what friends do. All in a great climb under normal conditions - we just never had them. The approx line - book is not overly helpful - climb in two pitches (not three); first to fork (20m) and follow groove on left to cave belay (another 10m tops - pic of me sitting therein). Continue directly up on corner to left out of cave to steep wall 5m; climb wall direct and follow for 5m then cut back right on ledge to steep groove (5m) and climb direct to poor belay (10m) by very small fir tree :) Climb direct thereafter on easy ground to top (2 pitches in total and ignore poor directions in book!)

As you can see, weather deteriorated!!

...rather than a Night at the Opera

Bill and I chose some night time navigation practice rather than heading for a re-run of the inaugural performance of Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta at Nuovo Regio Ducale Teatro alla Scala, in Milano - night time nav has never had such appeal :) Anyway, we headed for Shantron Hill off the A817 near Faslane and did a bit of pacing, timing and walking on a bearing. We did a lot of contour interpretation and matching bearings to the map and vice a versa too. Mark couldn't make it due to carrying me at the weekend; we missed him terribly and let him know we were enjoying ourselves on some grade two ground;

Other than having fun, it was actually damn cold near the top in a chilly, biting wind, evidenced by ice on the pavement back home. Sadly, it was all gone in the morning as a warm front moved over us. Wednesday's remain nav night, Thursday are Opera and Sunday's are climbing, and biking...in what order is determined by the weather. Sadly, we missed the Opera, which was apparently half decent; the location might catch on :)

Mixed bag in SCNL - and first suicide deer!

Mark and I had our first real alpine start this morning and made SCNL car park in the dark. The usual slog up there left us exhausted - it is a hard walk but today the snow was mushy and breaking under foot up to the thigh at times...it did not bode for great conditions when some young lad walked out saying it was not in.

Undeterred, we slogged on and made the lochans in good time. It was too warm tho and the conditions were not good - snow just pulled through, no ice and no frozen turf.

Without hooking, it was a bit sketchy at times and the work to get to the base of Boomerang Arete damn near killed us old guys :) - in my defence, my back was agony after a recent muscle strain.

However, we got on route and made the best of a bad deal - not great and took a safer variation nearer the top to avoid some dicey conditions.

We moved together a bit and finished off to the summit in a flurry of horrible spindrift - there was loads of it thro the day, blowing soft snow and graupel all around the mountain. There was quite a lot of new snow about, so a good freeze thaw will likely make the routes bomber, as there is enough snow, but continued warm days will rise the avalanche threat probably...I wouldn't be rushing back in the next few days unless we got a great freeze.

All in, a 50-50 day; great to get out, glad we made the effort but pity about the conditions. Plenty teams on Dorsal, one swimming up Central Buttress Ordinary Route and maybe one rope went for SC Gully, but not sure. The walk out just reminded me why SCNL is always a long, hard day (need to get fitter) - guide book out for more on the Bookle! On the drive down the road, we nearly came to an inglorious end when a deer walked out, rather nonchalantly to be sure, in front of the car blissfully unaware of his near impending death...Mark's keen eye to protect his 'hairdresser's car' saved the day and the deer. Suicide deer should wear fluorescent jackets!!!

First Winter Climb - worst hot aches - EVER!

Mark and I ramped up at CR for the first winter climb of the winter and found it in nice nick - plenty winter cold, snow under foot but no ice - a full on mix route today but great. We moved together mostly but pitched the first steep pitch and the pitch up to the open book corner. I had the crappest Mountain Hardware gloves on - going straight back to the shop - burst after 2 wears and waterproof as my £1 watch I got off the looky-looky man in Majorca! Anyway, had the worst hot aches ever after the first pitch as my hands were cold and wet - screaming in pain but they then warmed up for the rest of the day :) Got to the top in a white out and down into the tourist route corrie in dreadful, driving spindrift - great fun...what a great day :) Back to the car with my feeet screaming in anger at my ill fitting new Scarpas - need a new strategy to last the day. All in a fantastic opener to the season - two super-nice pitches to test winter skills and placing gear on front points on rock - always fun. Can hardly believe we saw no-one all day - where was everyone? Plenty of snow in the lee of the wind and the corrie down had bucket loads. Hopefully it all stays and consolidates a bit with the cold and more snow coming. Turf was only beginning to freeze high up where exposed - a real cold snap is needed to turn it into an ice fest for the harder routes. All in - smiles all round and another 5 star day. Bill enjoyed himself too....decorating :( Some pics - first is my favourite.

First pitch

Hot aches

Mark coming up to the open book corner nr the top

Coming up to Crowberry Gap