Comb Gully, Ben Nevis

Ken: Another brilliant day on Ben Nevis today. With the sun shining this morning, Ben Nevis felt very alpine. Hazel and I retraced our steps back into Coire na Ciste, but then veered off towards No. 2 Gully. This part of the mountain was quite quiet, with only a couple of teams on the White Line and a team on Glover’s Chimney, and so with a clear run ahead, we decided to climb the classic Comb Gully.

The ice in Comb Gully was excellent, with good first time axe placements and good screws where needed. The ice was noticeably better than Thompson’s Route. Hazel did well, particularly on the crux pitch, which is fairly sustained, and requires good technique.

Plenty of teams on Tower Ridge today, and amazingly, we saw a team who managed to sneak their way up The Curtain. They weren’t overly enthused by the quality of the ice they encountered, particularly as it was catching the sun from quite early on! There’s also plenty of enticing looking ice on Goodeve’s Buttress and Raeburn’s Wall which has seen very little action this winter.

Iain was also out today, with Abigail and Tom. They were climbing around the Ruth area on the West Face of Aonach Mor, looking at various belays and different types of protection.