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 ...

Tower Scoop

Today (Tuesday) I was working for Jagged Globe alongside Ed Chard on their Snow and Ice Climbing Course. We went to take a look at the Ben. When we got to the CIC hut, the wind was much stronger than we had expected and the gusts were quite powerful. We could see quite a lot of snow moving about and building in some areas. We decided to go into Observatory Gully, with a view to doing Tower Scoop (III**). We found the snow to be patched with windslab, but as we gained height the patches coalesced, but with careful route choice a safe route was possible close to the Scoop. The snow here was a tricky again, so we pitched up to the rock, and enjoyed 2 pitches on the Scoop. Topping out the neve was solid. The wind at this point was regularly gusting, and the snow into Tower Gully looked dubious so we decided to go down Observatory Gully instead. This was only a short ice climb but a great day out.

The video is poor quality but gives an idea that the ice is building. Point 5 looks terrific..

A quick look around Observatory Gully on the way to Tower Scoop from Max Hunter on Vimeo.