Ben Nevis

Okay, so here we go, day 5 of our course. They all want something a little steeper to finish their Intro course - and obviously another summit - so we headed for Ben Nevis... Actually I haven't been to the summit so far this winter, so it's all about me getting to the summit..! Here is a view of Douglas Boulder and the start of Tower Ridge - not much on it - is Spring here ! Zac Poulton climbed Tower Ridge yesterday and said it was okay. He was on NE buttress today.

Alex, Ed and I took the gang up into No. 3 Gully. From the left is Graham, Ben and Guillermo (from Peru.. Is the Ben better than the Cordillera Blanca? Discuss!), then Alex, Jamie and James..

Hold on... Is Alex overtaking me!! Above is Ed and his crew about to top out. ..

Somehow I got there first! Here is Alex bringing up Jamie first..

Where are we? How do we get to the top? It's all about getting to the summit...

Mike about to do some nav..

Alex with Graham on a bearing to the summit..

Oh and the rest of the team, with Craig at the front...

We met a team that had climbed Zero gully and said it was definitely not in condition. We met another team that had climbed Tower Scoop (in condition) but then headed for Gardyloo Gully (not in good condition), which is currently a solid grade III (the tunnel is blocked - so the route goes out right on poor cruddy ice. The climber said it was run out for this pitch at III - with aesthetic screws). The most important thing - we had 2 looong bum slides down the burn - awesome......

Tomorrow I'm working on a climb which is definitely not in winter condition!! :(