Jumat, 19 Juni 2015

Tower Ridge

Sunset - view from my window last night. It's almost the longest day of the year.
Jon and Dan Curwin wanted to climb Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis this year. John has mountaineered across much of the world, but Dan has never climbed outside before, so John thought this would be a great outdoor introduction. They booked to make the summer classic climb in April, but with the late winter season this booking was re-scheduled for June. They had a mid week long walk in the Lake District in the middle of last week, during which they both got soaked. Luckily here in Scotland we have had some brilliant weather recently, which included Monday for our climb. The forecast said possible wintry showers on the higher hills, and summit temperatures of 1 degree, so we went prepared, but I ended up wearing sunglasses and suncream rather than gore-tex and fleece.

Looks like a stunning day on the rock
I started wearing sunglasses at about 8am driving through Fort William. The day started warm and got better! We made our way up to CIC for an ice cool drink, and went around to find the East Gully of the Douglas Boulder, to access the Douglas Chimney to start the ridge. Dan showed a few nerves at the exposure, but his indoor climbing paid off and he cruised up the chimney, and stepped onto the ridge in the sun.

Dan and John making a start on the ridge after the Douglas Gap Chimney
We had the ridge all to ourselves, with people only visible on the CMD arete in the distance.

Dan and John loving every minute of it?
Dan almost loved every minute of it. Dan had a couple of nervy moments during the day, but always found the climbing easy.

Dan in the shade, John in the sun. As we got higher we got hotter. Nobody else was on the ridge!

Dan Curwin starting the Eastern Traverse
Dan and John after the Tower Gap
At the top of the mountain we celebrated with photos, and Dan has completed his first outdoor climb, and at last John had done Tower Ridge. John has an impressive Alpine and International climbing logbook, but had yet to tick some Scottish classics. We all made it back to Fort William in time for a good meal. Hopefully they'll be back to enjoy the classic rock that Scotland has to offer.

Email me max@maxhunter.co.uk to book your mountaineering or climbing adenture.

Me, John and Dan

Tidak ada komentar:

Posting Komentar