North Gully

Scott Tate

Today working for Jagged Globe I was with Scott Tate. Scott has just completed his Winter Mountaineering course and wanted an extra day to do an additional climb at about grade II. The weather in Scott's week was difficult and he had 2 unsuccessful days at doing a climb, 1 of which was North Gully. I thought we'd go back and complete his unfinished business.

4 Climbers soloed over my rope!

North Gully suddenly seemed to be the most popular climb on the Ben, and as Scott was dismantling the belay, 4 climbers soloed past over the rope!

Scott after the rocky section

The narrows on North Gully has been different every time I've done the climb. Today when I got there, there was fragile ice and neve holding in there. When Scott got there, there was a bare rocky section.


At the end of pitch 3 I had an ice belay, and I sunk the full 22cm of my longest ice screw.

The cornices are still large at the top of North Gully

At the end of the climb, there is an easy exit on the right hand side, to avoid the large cornices.

Scott tackling a steep exit option

The freezing level had risen above the summits, and the snow was soft and thawing, but there is still ice around. Gaz climbed Central Right Hand today.