Yesterday on Tower Ridge with one of my daughters and two of her pals. It only rained occasionally but the views were non-existent! The path below the hut is finally being finished to within 200 metres of the hut. In winter, under snow, the old path line will not doubt be followed. The new  line avoids the rocky step 500 metres below the hut, well to the left in ascent, following the original path line prior to climbers making a more direct short-cut.

Today Sally Hyder succeeded in ascending Ben Nevis in a Boma Wheelchair by Molten Rock She had tried last year and the batteries and various components were not up to the task. A year later, with a beefed up and modified version, packing twice as much battery power, the ascent was achieved from the top car park above Torlundy in around five hours. This is probably the first ascent of Ben Nevis by an electric wheel chair. The lumpy and boggy sections did require some assistance and Sally was ably assisted by members of the armed forces and a very strong group of Fire Fighters from Edinburgh, originally from Tollcross Blue Watch. Well done to everyone, a great effort.

Still a little fresh snow hanging around on Ben Nevis yesterday as well as the old winter patches. The cliffs are still damp from the recent rain and we are experiencing showers on and off.

Hi Alan, Robin and I were up on Observatory Ridge yesterday.

Didn’t realise that it was quite a sustained Vdiff, at least for the 1st 6 or 7 pitches.

We had started late (left Linlithgow about 7am) so topped out just after 8pm last night eventually getting back to Linlithgow about 1:30am. A long day!

The crest of the ridge was mostly dry but still pretty damp higher up. I think it would be easier in Winter as there looked like some good damp ground options on the right of the crest. However we stuck to the crest with our rock shoes on and hoped for the sun to keep shining. As you probably know it clouded over quite rapidly late afternoon and we had to finish the top 5 pitches in the murk. The descent on the toursit path was busy as ever with the 3 peak baggers.

Only a couple of weeks now till the sun heads south again then we can look forward to Winter..:-D

Quick question – what grade is Ob. Buttress – that was another option we considered yesterday but it seemed to have a lot of patches of snow left.  (Ed: V.Diff but it meanders about a little)

Ken

Thanks Ken. I find the hardest sections in the winter are low down after a couple of pitches. Higher up it is better to forsake the crest and head left into Zero Gully.

Thanks also to Spike for this picture on Shelter Stone Crag yesterday, where it was ….”Scorching but not too busy above  Loch Avon”…

Shelter Stone Crag yesterday

For the time being the weather has turned dry and sunny and the recent snows have gone away, thankfully!