Fun On The Ben

A really busy Point 5 Gully on the RHS and Orion and Minus Faces

I got up a little late, a great start, and even worse - I turned the computer on! So by the time I got away from that, it was 10am when I left my van in the North Face Car Park. I had a plan to do Tower Ridge, knowing that it would be in great condition. By the time I could see Orion Face and the Minus face I couldn't believe how busy it was - many many dots slowly moving their way up the face, probably half of them wearing belay jackets. I met Craig and Anna, who were heading up Observatory Gully looking for ice. He told me a few of the details of the fatality on the Ben the day before - my condolences to all family and friends.

Teams on Minus One Gully (pitch 1) and Astronomy (2 belayed on buttress)

You can see the teams on Minus One, Astronomy and the Orion Face

I got to the Douglas Boulder Gap and found the Chimney in great condition, and much more icy than I had expected, I was expecting to be hooking on rock, not ice! 10 mins later I passed a couple having fun on the route. They were atop the little tower, which was again climbed using icy hooks rather than rock - and so was the theme for the climb, ice and more ice. I've never found the route to be so iced up, at this point I wondered how the later cruxes would go.

Trident Buttresses. I looked at the routes to decide what to do later. I used this photo to help navigate myself through the terrain of Central Gully on South Trident Buttress

The icy Douglas Gap Chimney

The Eastern Traverse - a thin path has developed, which has a downclimb half way along, to the second half, which again is a narrow path

Zac Poulton taking photos. Here you can see the downclimb on the Eastern Traverse

Me on the Eastern Traverse - Thank you to Zac Poulton for the photo (www.mountainzblog.blogspot.co.uk)

I met Zac at the start of the Eastern Traverse with Jude. The traverse was stepped, narrow and exciting - brilliant. The tunnel round the corner was full and so I climbed up and over to the final steep pitch to get to the top of the Great Tower. This steep pitch was the crux of my day. The normal rock hooks were iced up, so it was a matter of finding a few good ice hooks you could trust - a few pulls and it was done. I caught up with the French team at the gap. I don't know what they were shouting, but it sounded quite exciting! Once they had passed through, it was my turn. I knew how I was expecting to climb the gap, but the iced rock and verglas in places changed my ideas. The normal rock hooks were chocked with neve, which made them feel even better, then I found the iced corner on the RHS with ice hooks all the way up - so I climbed the gap on the RHS for the first time - brilliant.

Craig McDonald and Anna high in Observatory Gully heading for Tower Gully

French team of 3 crossing the gap from Max Hunter on Vimeo.

Looking down Tower Gap - can't quite see the team of 3 on Glover's Chimney

The Gap from Max Hunter on Vimeo.

Lookin back at the Great Tower waiting for Zac to pop up

Zac Poulton running to the top of the Great Tower from Max Hunter on Vimeo.

Zac and Jude having lunch on the Great Tower before the Tower Gap crossing. Here is the team high on Glover's Chimney, the leader now making his way up to the peg belay.

I decided to go down a very easy Number 4 to the Trident Buttresses and look for Central Gully. I was my first time on this route, so I had to find it etc, but it seemed pretty straight forward. I got to the ice column which was incomplete, so I by-passed it on the left to find the belay (ab station) in the photo. The next slabs looked interesting, but the cruddy neve was deep enough over the slabs to feel secure - and so to the top.A great route.

The in-situ belay half way up Central Gully

Looking up at the route from the in-situ belay. The slabs look thinly iced

After a brilliant day - I was able to walk down a well stepped Ledge Route. Do days on the Ben get better than this? Discuss on UKC.

Ledge route is stepped so made for an easy walk down

Ledge Route. The Ben In Amazing Condition

A thin Curtain

Jagged Globe - Winter Mountaineering

Today I was with Steve and Julia, who wanted a quality mountaineering grade II on Ben Nevis, so that had to be Ledge Route. On our way there we could see that teams had started early for many high mountain routes, especially on Orion Face, all the harder gully lines and Tower Ridge etc. In fact, there seemed to be teams everywhere! The Curtain was still being climbed, although the first few metres look thin.

Busy Orion Face and Minus Face

Julia and Steve at the Jenga blocks

There were quite a few teams on Ledge Route including a couple of teams utilising the popular Death Roping techniques, one of which attempted to cross my rope - we had a few words... After that we seemed to have the route to ourselves. Steve had wanted to do Ledge Route for years so he was particularly happy. Julia seems to be happy all the time and has not been phased by anything this week.

Happy on Ledge Route

On the way to the summit

Climbing teams were popping onto the plateau from climbs all over the north face - the hills were full of happy people today.

The summit wasn't too busy

A busy Tower Ridge

Climbers moving through the Tower Gap

Can't get enough of this ...

Ridge Of The Douglas Boulder

Tim on the ridge

Jagged Globe - Snow and Ice Climbing

Today I was with Tim for a day of climbing. He's traininig at the moment for a trip to Denali shortly - so he needed to carry a heavy bag for weight training - so he wanted to carry the rope and most of the rack - hardship for me! I didn't want a difficult day of trail breaking through deep snow, so we headed for the old favourite of SW Ridge of the Douglas Boulder. Tony H was with his team shorty behind me. Sam and Andy were over on Fawlty Towers having fun so it turned out to be a really sociable day.

Tim sitting on the rock

Tony's team is shortly behind

Sam over on Fawlty Towers

Coire na Ciste

Orion Face and Observatory Ridge

Today a couple of teams climbed Vanishing Gully, Tower Ridge,  the Curtain and Ledge Route.

Skills Around The Boulder

Orion Face, Ob Ridge, Point area

Abacus Mountaineering - Winter Climbing

On Guy's second day of his weekend he wanted to learn some of the basics, so we headed up to the Douglas Boulder and Observatory Ridge snow slopes. We had a long session on slipping, sliding, stopping a slip, and stopping a slide before we moved on to the East Ridge up to the Douglas gap. There we went through the nuts and bolts of abseiling. We moved on to Observatory Gully to look at snow anchors and some of the theory of how to stay safe in and around snow.

At this altitude (up to 900m) the snow was heavy with rain, soft and sticky. This made trail breaking difficult, but the snow was good for solid snow anchors. Moving up the East Gully was secure but a little heavy going. A team had climbed the West Gully. There were many climbing teams bailing left, right and centre today, but Mike Pescod climbed one of the CIC ice falls with Waterfall Gully, and Richard and Tony and Mark climbed a new VI,5 near Green Gully.

Guy learning the ropes - or actually arresting, with a great backdrop

Guy on his way out of East Gully

Guy getting to grips with body belaying

Guy trying various abseil techniques off a bollard