Such a fantastic induction into the CIC hut & climbing on the Ben last weekend.....WOW!
Walked in Fri in blistering sunshine.....and spotted some ice falls close to the hut, so once we'd bagsied a bunk we were of to try one of these out....we looked on in awe at the massive icefall graded at 6/7? but decide to have a bash on the icefall to it's right. the ice was brittle, dinner plated & braking away in chunks! but the ice srews went in lovely. Day 2 after a bit of self doubt ( to me ben nevis seemed to be such a big step up in the big mountain climbing scale of things.... ), i decided to continue with the ladies from the LSCC tramping through deep power snow to do Ledge route......and wow i am sure glad i did, in such excellent conditions we were surounded by the sublime ampitheatre of Ben Nevis in her prime encrusted with jewel like snow bending under it's own weight into beautiful waves..........it felt like the alps on a splendid day. roped up the first couple of pitches then soloed the rest of the route....what a dream! topped out and walked to the summit... to be met by jeans, t.shirt & trainer wearing guys.....in winter! Day 3 went for North gully where we were met by a tricky ice pitch at the bottom (grade 3!) & then descended number 4 gully.
i was sure i'd wake up from these dream conditions....or is climbing on Ben Nevis always like this ?!!!!!!!
These are just some of my pics...but most are bigger than 2MB.