Central Gully - Trident

Peter and Dan below the direct Central Gully variation which is not complete, so we did the traverse then up to the in-situ belay

Jagged Globe - Winter Mountaineering

Today was another day of reasonably good weather so I was able to go to Ben Nevis with Peter and Dan and we headed up Central Gully on the Trident Buttresses. I had a quick climb up here last week, but I had never worked on the route, so didn't realise how many pitches it would be! Yesterday was the first grade II for the team (Ledge Route) and today was the first day with 2 axes, 2 ropes and grade III, so a bit of a learning curve then - so lucky I chose a short route! Luckily they're both machines and I couldn't get them tired, even by running them up the route. Peter is training for the 'Tough Mudder' - so I think I'll break before he does!

On our way down the red burn, I got a bit bored of the crampons so we opted for the bum slide. It started off hard but there was a little fresh snow from today which softened it a little, and it got slushier the lower we got. I only thought of videoing it at the end unfortunately - and this was when I encountered the couple of holes!

The in-situ belay on the left, with the slab still in good condition on the right

Peter

Dan

The very last pitch

At last at the top

From the top of Tident - looking over to the Number 4 cairn on the RHS with the Ciste crag in the centre

A bit of a slide on 6th March 2013 from Max Hunter on Vimeo.