Thanks to Nigel Hooker (Aspire Mountaineering) for the photo of Tony on Central Gully R-Hand, Creag Coire na Ciste on Wednesday



Hello,

I'm going to be in town from March 6-14th solo and was wondering if I could convince you, or a capable climber you know, to climb with me. I'm an ice climber/University student from the States and lead/solo IV 3-5, capable of following harder routes.I'm flat broke, but I'm willing to belay for anyone who can show me around or even willing to work it off while I'm in town.
Please pass this along or email me back if you could find even a half-day to show me around.

Cheers,
Brian Aitken
baitken@eden.rutgers.edu



Yesterday I did Garadh Gully, which is complete with plenty of good ice and a rather large Bergschrund for the unwary lurking beneath the first pitch. It has been the scene of some interesting crevasse rescues recently! Conditions are good but damp high on Ben Nevis and the weather is mild. The ice is hanging in very well and there is plenty to go for above about 1000 metres.



Hi Alan,

Since you've so kindly included some photos of the Cairngorms we thought we'd send you a few photos taken on Ben Nevis 21st Feb for your conditions report.

Anyway the promise of blue skies and lowering temperatures had us driving over from Aviemore to Ben Nevis at 4:00 am on Thursday!

On the walk up through the mud (BTW the path has deteriorated badly since our last visit in 2006) from the North Face carpark it started to drizzle and by the time we had passed the CIC hut it was snowing. The lower half of Observatory gully was thin but frozen solid. Zero gully, Orion and Hadrian's were all non existent however Point Five was there and looked almost banked out and fat at the chimney pitch. Tower Scoop was ok though Tower Ridge it's self was bare on it's lower half. We couldn't see Smith's or Gardyloo but from the voices it appeared to be busy on the upper gully with English, French, Spanish, Italians and Eastern European voices bellowing out from the gloom! Loads of folk on Good Friday but after the first pair of polite young lads on Indicator Wall moved off and decided to do Good Friday we had the climb to ourselves....!! We had a great day on Fi's variation of Indicator Wall (left-hand to right-hand variation after she asked for directions and I told her to follow the good thick ice. It was good thick ice but it was also the steepest....!) Anyway great climbing on more or less bomber 1st time placements and ice screw protection wherever you wanted it. The blue skies and sunshine did in fact arrive at the summit cornice. On descent we took a few photos of Coire na Ciste which had good hard snow down to the little lochan. Green Gully and Two-Step corner looked good too.

A great day on the Ben.....

Kind regards

Ron Walker and Fi Chappell

Thanks to Talisman



The comment above concerning the poor state of the lower path is a constant one. Fortunately, I have been reliably (?) informed by the new (?) landowners, Forestry Commission Scotland, that a new path will be built this year and certainly in time for next winter. On a similar note, I would gladly support upgrading the forestry track which some of us can drive up in order for it to be made a public climbers track (Toll). A big car park at the end would overcome the crowding which can occur at this time of the year. A well landscaped climbers lodge would also be a wise and needed addition at this location in my view.




Hi Alan,

I trust this finds you well. Thought I'd send you a report from the Ben today. A very early approach in what felt like incredibly mild weather saw me heading up Observatory Gully for a fairly leisurely 42 minute ropeless solo of Psychedelic Wall. Due to near-zero visibility, I couldn't see past the first pitch from below which made starting up pretty committing, although the lower slabs were well-coated with ice. As it turned out, the route was in good condition overall and extremely enjoyable with continual interest throughout. A chink of blue sky on the top convinced me to go down to the Little Brenva Face but the visibility deteriorated rapidly and made route-finding impossible. So I moved back round to Observatory Gully for another slog up to Gardyloo Buttress where I soloed Right Edge. Again this was in fine condition with no cornice worries. Dropping down into Coire na Ciste, I found the route I had in mind to be discontinuous, so I headed back to Coire Leis as the clouds had lifted temporarily, and I was able to locate the line of Cresta Direct. A lovely ice pitch to start and the rest of the route simply unfolded as height was gained. A 14 hour day from car to car with 9000 feet of ascent - sometimes you've got to work hard for your climbing!

Hope your slideshow at the Lime Tree was a success, I would have been there but had to dash back to drop off the hire car!

All the best, Patrick Roman