1st February 2014 - Ben Nevis in poor conditions

Stunning views this morning down the Glen towards Stob Ban

The low level of snow made everything very pretty. The wind made things a little different...

Things began to deteriorate from the Half way Lochan on-wards

Goggles on and a mix of spin drift and fresh snow met us on the upper half of the mountain

Avalanche debris and a wall of wind slab (complete with cornice) at the Red Burn

On the retreat: Our knee deep footprints were covered over in less than 20 minutes...

It has been a while since I updated this blog unfortunately, but I have been pretty busy working at Outward Bound and Kilbowie, as well as plenty of guiding in the months leading up to Christmas. Since then, it's been pretty quiet. Which is no bad thing considering the horrific weather and snow pack conditions we have been experiencing.

Today, however, I was out making an attempt on the Ben with a strong team from Leeds. They drove up yesterday having planned this trip well in advance, so were pretty keen to get up there and claim their prize. However, conditions were pretty horrendous, with High Risk avalanche warnings on the SAIS forecast from West to North East slopes above 750m - precisely on our path up the zig-zags. Add to this high winds (increasing through the day) and a rising temperature and it was definitely a day for gut feeling judgements and correct decisions.

We made excellent time up from Achintee, moving fast and enjoying the stunning views of the winter wonderland that had appeared over night. As we got round to Windy Corner, however, the winds started picking up and along by Halfway Lochan we decided to goggle up. Conditions were really starting to look grim, visibility was deteriorating and the wind was increasing rapidly but we decided to go and have a gander up to the Red Burn. We crossed some worryingly unstable patches of snow on the footpath, and had a wee look at the snow pack to see what was going on. As we approached the Red Burn visibility was almost zero, and I was alarmed to see what appeared to be some serious avalanche debris in the gully. Suddenly the cloud cleared and a wall of windslab topped with a rather large cornice loomed out of the cloud. I had a quick look at it but decided it was too unstable to risk climbing up or skirting round, and so we decided to head back down, defeated by the mountain. Our footprints (often knee deep and in places thigh deep) from twenty minutes previous were now completely covered over, an indication of how much snow was falling or being deposited in the area at that time.

On the way down we met some other teams heading up, some well equipped some not so well equipped but for the most part some good decisions were made by the people who were out in the area.

All in all it was a great day out regardless of how far we got, it was good craic and the lads seemed to enjoy their day - hopefully they can make it up again this winter for a more successful attempt! Thanks guys.

Today I was working for the Highland Mountain Company.

28th November 2012 - An Epic Day on Tower Ridge, Ben Nevis

Approaching our target as the day breaks

NE Buttress, Observatory Ridge and Tower Ridge

Davie Scott, Kev Shields, Dave Anderson and Craig McDonald. Not smiling for long.

Approaching East Gully

Ascending to the Douglas Gap

The Gully taking us onto the Ridge proper

Try and spot Kev and Dave amid the jumbled rocks below the Little Tower

Preparing for what turned out to be one of the trickier ascents under the conditions

Dave and Kev negotiate the Eastern Traverse, while Davie looks on

Davie makes light work of the massively banked out Eastern Traverse

The Cave, filling nicely. Its more like swimming uphill through porridge than climbing!

The light fails as we reach Tower Gap. Dave crosses and makes tentative progress

Finally darkness consumes us, and the headtorches come out

Cold, tired, relieved and thrilled at the top. It's a long walk back down though....

On the tourist track in pitch darkness. A very different place to the summer track so many people know...

A few months ago, Davie Scott and I had a chat about our personal tick lists for this winter season. The past two seasons I have consumed my time preparing for my Winter ML Assessment, and now that this is done and dusted I am keen to do more winter climbing again!! The outcome of the conversation was that my absolute top-of-the-list target was Tower Ridge. Coming in at a cool IV, 3 *** I didnt have particularly high hopes of getting on it personally.

Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon, and Davie and I are again discussing what we want to get on with this good weather, and he mentions that him and a few others are going to attempt Tower Ridge the following day, and invites me along. After considering for all of 20 seconds, it was on. Needless to say, I was pretty nervous and certainly didnt want to hold the other guys up, but certainly didn't want to miss this opportunity!

And so it was that at 6 am on a freezing November morning, I met up with Davie, Kev Shields and Dave Anderson and headed on up towards the North Face. Under the cover of darkness we made quick progress, morale was high and the banter was flowing. We came across a few others hoping to make good ascents in the fine weather, and day was beginning to break as we reached the CIC hut. We didn't hang around long, but got moving up towards East Gully on the approach to the Douglas Gap. We harnessed and helmetted up, and after inspecting the snow pack on a few occasions we made quick progress up into the Gap. Dave and Davie made nice solo ascents of the chimney, and I got 3/4 of the way up before losing my cool and getting a rope dropped down - better safe than dead, but annoyingly as the rope popped into view I discovered an excellent foothold I completely and utterly missed! Kev came up quickly behind, and we were all content to be on the ridge proper!

We moved on over easy ground with poor, deep snow until we reached the Little Tower, where Dave and Davie again put up some excellent leads directly up the Tower, with Kev and I following on. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to lead this pitch, although in hindsight the gear was excellent when it was found. Again we were able to make quick progress after this tricky section, overcoming easier obstacles and enjoying the absolutely stunning panoramic views all around.

Finally we reached the base of the Great Tower, where we had to face the first of two traditional cruxes - the Eastern Traverse. It was seriously banked out, and the snow was falling away under our feet. Every step was a lottery. Dave and Davie laced the line with good gear, and the next thing we knew we were swimming up through the Cave, with barely inches to spare as we squeezed through the other side! From here Dave put up a stunning lead onto the top of the Tower just as the light was fading. I don't think any of us really realised just how arduous the ridge had been under the given conditions, but we pressed on into the darkness regardless and negotiated the second crux - Tower Gap. Climbing tentatively along this metre wide ridge, dropping your weight onto snow covered ledges with only some tat for support is certainly not for the faint hearted. Leaning across the gap and trying to climb up the other side seemed almost ludicrous at the time: but we did it. The screams and yells of exasperation from another team on NE Buttress certainly didn't boost confidence though! It was headtorch central as we moved up the final slopes and steps to the exit chimney, the only part of the whole day which provided secure feeling axe placements. And then that was it, we were on the summit, elated. Cold, wet, tired but elated. We shook hands, smiles all round as we snapped a few finishing photos and grabbed a quick bite to eat before making our way swiftly to the tourist track and back to the car park over the bog. It was here that I stuffed my expensive gloves down my jacket - the last time I ever saw them :( When I unclasped my waist belt they must have dropped out - I jogged up early the next morning to find them but they were gone! Absolutely gutted! Best gloves I ever had, and now the theme of many a good joke!

So there we have it. My first winter route of the 12/13 season was on top of my tick list. It was in horrific condition, with no frozen turf, soft sugary snow, no consolidation whatsoever and not a drop of ice to aid our ascent. But it was done. So can I therefore rest on my laurels, glad to have achieved my number one target? Can I buggery - the next outting is already in the pipe line!!!

Thanks lads for a trully memorable ascent - certainly my most challenging to date and one that will take a long time to forget!