Nordwand, Ben Nevis: Under-rated and under-graded!

Day 4 of our CIC Hut Week and Mark and myself took our teams to the opposite end of the mountain and climbed the brilliant Nordwand, which takes a long and direct line up the steep North Wall of The Castle. The first pitch is partially buried with the sheer volume of snow, but there is a bit of a bergshrund which required a bit of care not to disappear down! Thereafter, it was tricky to find the best line of ice on the first pitch, as it's covered by a thick layer of snow, but thereafter, the steep sections of ice, of which there are many, were excellent, with good ice for both axes and screws.

It's amazing that this high quality route, which is very accessible and on the most prominent of crags, sees amazingly little action when in condition. We continued up to the summit of Carn Dearg, before descending a very snowy Ledge Route.