Today the 5 day climbing course started to a very poor weather forecast - wind, wind, wind. The strongest I've worked in this season. After briefing the group we headed off to the Ben to find out how the low level ice was looking. After a much bigger battle than normal we did manage to get to the CIC gulch ice. On the way up there was often white out conditions, but luckily the feet seemed to know the way. We managed to find a spot of shelter from the storm and had a cup of tea - very British. The Gulch turned out to be a great spot for bouldering, a couple of excellent short mixed climbs and a few steeper ice lines. I even managed a 2 pitch line to look at belay construction and an abseil retreat - sometimes without being able to see who was standing next to me! Well done Jim and John for being such keen winter climbers, and enjoying the suffering.
The waterfall did still have water visibly moving in 2 places, but in most of the gulch there was solid thick ice, which did turn out to be a little brittle, but generally excellent for climbing. The snow was accumulating fast and there was a huge amount of graupel building (on the floor and on my face!).
A team managed to climb the Curtain, and managed to walk down Number 5 Gully today (despite the prone slopes above them!).
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| A bit of ice bouldering to start off with |
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| Jim is back for another Snow and Ice course |
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| I think this is John coming up the pitch first |
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| Jim loves mixed climbing in particular, so here he was enjoying a steep rocky pitch |
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| Occasionally when the sqauls abated, we were able to see each other. Here is John sporting his wintery brows |
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| Jim had a great day |
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| This is the one occasion I got a view up into Coire na Ciste |
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