2nd April 2014 - Ben Nevis with Outward Bound

Negotiating the Red Burn, still a little tricky

The Half-Way Lochan, the teams camp spot

Looking toward Meall an-t and Loch Linnhe & Loch Eil

Martin leading the group over a snow patch

Luke James Partridge leading his clients towards MacLeans Steep

Looking towards Mull and Lismore down Loch Linnhe

Glorious conditions with scattered cloud

A view from the way back down. Is there anywhere I'd rather have been? Probably not...

Today I was up on Ben Nevis helping to guide a group of Outward Bound students from Harrogate. The team had camped at the half-way lochan with their instructor, Martin, and I was to meet them there at 9am. Having completely mis-timed the ferry (still adjusting to the ferry element of my commute) I was running a bit late, and set off from Achintee at 8:15, 45 minutes to get there seemed pretty tight (I'm not a hill runner either, so moving THAT fast isn't usually on my agenda. Chastising myself throughout the climb up, I slowly began to realise that it was going to be a glorious day. To my amazement, I got to the meeting point just shy of the Red Burn pretty much bang on time, which with a full winter pack and heavy winter boots was good going for me!

I met the group, and chatted to Martin about the plan before setting off, managing the group over the remaining snow at the Red Burn. The going was pretty steady, with some struggling more than others, but working effectively and caringly as a team. At Corner 4 we donned crampons and after a little lesson in crampon management, we set off. We left the path just after corner 5, and made our own route to the stone circle. The views were stunning in between blasts of cloud, and things only got better as we got higher. After plenty of co-ercing and encouragement for one or two of the students we managed to make the summit, where we had lunch, took some photos and relaxed a bit.

We made super fast progress heading back down, keeping the crampons on and blasting down as far as we could on the snow - the kids loved it! With such a spectacular and dramatic view in front of us the whole way down, who wouldn't want to have been on a mountain today??

Martin and his enthused team left me to go pack up their tents, and I made a swift descent of the bottom half of the mountain. Glad to be down, but equally glad to have had such a great opportunity to share a brilliant mountain day with Martin and his group of young adults - well done guys. You didn't just climb Ben Nevis, you climbed Ben Nevis IN WINTER!