Castle & Ledge on the Ben

A dry & sunny Castle Ridge

The crux corner on Castle Ridge

The huge bergschrund in No 5 Gully

Busy day on Ledge Route

A team on a thin looking Curtain (IV 5)

The crowds heading in to the jaws of No 5 Gully & the start of Ledge Route

The smile say's it all!

The technical crux of Ledge Route (II)

Happy in their work!

Digging emergency shelters in Red Burn

Just another day in the office...

Ledge Route

Examining the avalanche debris in No 5 Gully

Climbing steep snow to the ridge

The crux step down on Ledge Route

Staring in the the depths of No 4 Gully

The descent in to No 4 Gully through a large cornice

The end of a stunning day on Ben Nevis

Prepping for Everest

This week I'm working for Adventure Peaks, helping to put the final touches to Heather & Andrew's preparations for their Everest expedition in the spring. We headed up Ledge Route on the Ben to work on their footwork and efficiency over broken ground - key skills for the rocky North Ridge on summit day.




The Ben was looking in good condition although a number of the harder ice routes are still looking very thin. There were teams on Tower Ridge, Green Gully and Number 3 Gully Buttress
Andy Turner & Dave MacLeod were successful on Minus Three Gully as part of the Jimmy Marshal Project for the Fort William Mountain Festival.

Traffic Jam on Ledge Route

Yesterday for the final day of the Adventure Peaks Mountaineering course we joined the masses on Ledge Route in glorious conditions. We quickly got ahead of a couple of larger groups and made good time to the plateau moving together alpine style.

Number 4 gully contained some patches of soft windslab but these were easily avoided and once through the narrows we made good time back down to the van.

It was a pleasure to meet Erik Weihenmayer on the way down. The first and only blind person to summit Mt Everest and also to complete the 7 Summits. He'd just made an ascent of Point 5 Gully and the CIC Cascade over the previous couple of days