Scottish Winter Conditions, Ben Nevis - The Ledge Route & No4 Gully - 15th March 2015.

How early do you have to get up to get to the Ben for this kind of weather?
0315, that's how early, but it was well worth it. Stunning alpine like conditions all day. The North Face car park was very busy, as was the Ben. We had thought about No 2 Gully, or even Reaburns Easy Route, but then decided The Ledge Route may not keep it's alpine character as long as the gullies would hold their snow, so The Ledge it was.
Always a brilliant at that grade (II) with stunning views across the North Face of Ben Nevis. It was still a bit chilly in the wind at the top, but we thought, well we're here now, we may aswell visit the summit. We passed a handy snow bollard at the top of No 4 Gully on the way up which we reckoned could be useful later. As it was, on our return, we saw a guide and her client abseiling off it, so we promptly followed.
The gully seemed to get steeper lower down after the turn and a little down climbing was needed. After that it was an atmospheric walk past the well hidden (by snow) lochans and down to the CIC Hut.
The coire was echoing with various calls from different teams climbing almost everywhere (except the major gullies which had massive cornices).      

No 5 Gully.

Ian and Willy on the first ramp.

Willy high up on The Ledge Route.

Snow arete up to Carn Dearg. 

Heading up to the summit of the Ben.

The Ledge Route as seen from the summit.  

Spot the climbers in Tower Gap. 

Climber about to top out.

Our trusty snow bollard.

Off the edge of No 4 Gully.

A very easy abseil really. 

Me and Willy below the huge (thankfully very frozen) cornices in No 4 Gully. 

Descending Coire na Ciste. 

The Douglas Boulder and lower section of Tower Ridge. 

Scottish Winter Conditions - The Runnel, Coire an t-Sneachda - 8th March 2015.

Most of the main gully lines seem intact; The top of Jacobs Ladder has a very small rock section (seen from above), Aladdin's Mirror and Couloir looked ok, the Tridents looked ok (we did The Runnel, the last chimney section is ok but was breaking up a bit on the right side). Crotched looked ok and we saw a team head into Spiral but couldn't see it's condition. Couldn't see condition of things further right? We shared the route with Rob and Sam and had a sociable day with a great mix of weather conditions to give the full Scottish winter experience!           

Scottish Winter Conditions - Chockstone Gully & Great Gully - The Cobbler, 7th February 2015.

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Scottish Winter Conditions - The Cobbler (Ben Arthur), Chockstone Gully, 18th January 2015.

Wishful thinking, a complicated forecast and difficult snow conditions led us to decide to try for Chockstone Gully on the north side of the North Peak of The Cobbler. We had hoped it was north facing enough to be blasted by the wind, but when we finally got to see it from below, it wasn't looking too promising as it was getting cross loaded. However, i was an enjoyable wander up though the heavy snow. Even with teams in front, the strong winds were transporting snow around, quickly filling in a lot of the trail.         

Atmospheric, stunning and very windy! 

The south side of The Cobbler. Some teams turned back from some routes on this side due to dodgy snow conditions. Those heading for the buttresses, ploughed on!    

The main buttress of The North [Peak, split by Great Gully. Chockstone Gully is around to the right and a little lower down, not really visible in this picture. 

Jimmy and Ian taking a break.
After gearing up and debating the conditions and whether to even bother looking at the gully, we decided it just wasn't worth it. So we had a wander through the boulders in the hope of finding some safer, broken ground to venture up on. However the snow was suspect in a lot of places higher up, regardless of the aspect, so we called it a day and had some lunch! 

Willy and myself sheltering from the wind.  

A very quick. crude test, showed how loose some of the snow was. 

Willy and jon posing.

The afternoon became a sociable walk back in the winter sun. 

Back to the car and a beer, sorry shandy now, in the pub!

Scottish Winter Conditions - Twin Ribs, Coire an t-Sneachda, 4th January 2015.

Myself, Jon and Willy had a great day on Twin Ribs with me making it much harder than I had planned with some mixed moves that were well over our level! Luckily it was well protected, and after some grunting and swearing we all got over the hard bit!
Bad weather coming in for next weekend which should bring some badly needed snow. Jacobs Ladder was ber at the top, but most of the Tridents looked thin but complete. Fiacaill Couloir was snow free at the chockstone.  

Spindrift in the corrie.

Moving onto easier ground on Twin Ribs.

Willy and Jon happy to be on easier ground.

Easier ground up to the notch in the Fiacaill Ridge. 

Climbers near the top of the Fiacaill Couloir.