Waterfall Gully & Ledge Route, Ben Nevis

Ken: Today was my second and final day with Wesley, and with tired legs from yesterday, we thought we would have a slightly shorter day than yesterday. As it turned out, we ended up climbing a similar length, but just started a little lower on the mountain.

We found ourselves at the foot of Waterfall Gully, a route that neither of us had climbed before. The first pitch was good, if a little damp, and with curiosity getting the better of us, we found ourselves heading further up the gully, in amongst some of the finest rock architecture on Ben Nevis. Part the way up, we were distracted by a fine looking pitch of steeper ice on the left, that we took in, before returning back into the gully, and continuing up to the huge cul-de-sac at the head of the gully. From here, a thin, but climbable slab out to the right brought us onto the upper ridge, from where a couple of rope lengths brought us onto Ledge Route.

Amazingly, no one had been up Ledge Route by that point today, so we broke trail up the upper ridge and onto Carn Dearg. We picked up the stream bed which runs parallel to the Red Burn, which gave us a quick and easy descent to Halfway Lochan. What Waterfall Gully lacks in technical climbing, it more than makes up for in its journey through amazing scenery.

A busy day on the mountain, with teams on Zero Gully, Hadrian’s Wall, Observatory Buttress, Indicator Wall, Tower Ridge, The White Line, Comb Gully and Green Gully (and many others I’m sure).