Point Five Gully

Matthew Leggett drove up for the day, and today happened to have fantastic weather with very slight winds, low temperatures and fantastic visibilty. We had to do something good . . So we settled on 'Point Five Gully' V,5 ****.

An early start took us to the drive to the North Face car park - we never made it. The track was fully iced up so we left the car part way. We saw dawn on the way in, but still we weren't early enough - the first photo shows a team already on the first pitch - gutted, but on the up side they had left a track for us to follow - silver lining..

The second photo shows the first pitch, with the first party moving on to the second pitch. For some reason there was an abolokov 5m from the start.

The next photo shows a climber on Hadrian's Wall Direct. The ice looks good at the moment.

The next photo is looking down pitch 2 of Point 5, the chimney pitch. There are 2 fixed belays at the end of this pitch - I advise you take the upper, next to 'Rogue'.

The last photo shows Matt leading off on 'The Rogue Pitch'. At the end of his good performance on this pitch, he ruined it all by getting his tongue completely stuck on his axe - a story he'll be telling his wife Sam later tonight..

A great day on the Ben - a terrific climb. The ice on the route was 'fat' and of generally very good quality, sometimes brittle, but often squeaky. On the upper section, after 'Rogue' there was a lot of loose snow but a track through it has now been made.

We also saw teams on Hadrian's Wall Direct, Tower Ridge, Glover's and Green.