The White Line, Ledge Route & Gorm Gully

I was out on the final day of an Introduction to Winter Climbing Course, for Moran Mountain today.  Sele, Gavin and I decided to head back to Meall Gorm, and as luck would have it, the road was opened, allowing us to park opposite Gorm Gully.  It wasn’t quite the quick approach I had hoped for due to the large quantities of soft graupel leading up to the gully.  That said, it was quick enough!  Gavin and Sele led the route by themselves, with me offering coaching along the way.  I also ploughed a trough through the soft graupel for them to follow!

The final pitch gave the best climbing of the day, with a well protected steeper pitch with a mixture of ice and frozen vegetation.  We then traversed 200m across to descend an easy diagonal gully close by.  It’s been a great week in the NW Highlands, with generally great conditions and routes in condition that often aren’t.  As ever, we hardly saw another soul up there all week.  Not too sure why, as when it’s as good as it has been, it’s a magical place!

Chris, Mike and John climbed The White Line on Ben Nevis for day 4 of their Advanced Winter Climbing Course.  The snow is slowly but surely consolidating, and the ice up high is looking brilliant!  It’s looking like a stunning weekend of winter climbing ahead!

Finally, Jonny was out, with Mick, Brian and Conal.  They were after an interesting route up Ben Nevis, and so made an ascent of Ledge Route, and with time on their side, made the most of the conditions, by continuing around the CMD, giving a fantastic mountaineering day out.