Monday 24 October 2016

Rimey and spicy on Tower Ridge

Chilly fingers today. After 10 days in holiday and a long weekend at the BMC Coaching Conference + a coaching children workshop (blog to follow) I was out with Diane and Martin again today. They are both pretty confident scramblers but today wanted to combine learning some mountaineering roper work with Tower Ridge. The North face was quiet with one other family group bailing from low on the Ridge and couple of parties on Ledge Route. Every patch of moisture needed treating with care until you figured out whether it was water or ice. We had sunshine but cloud when we topped out and a stiff breeze helped create the rime we found from the Great Tower upwards (large icicles in the tunnel too). There was enough to make pulling onto the Tower and crossing the Gap quite spice. A quick visit to the summit and then we headed across the plateau to catch the last of the sun as we descended Ledge Route to end our day.
I was wearing Rab Sawtooth Pants a thin thermal and the Boreas pullover all day. On the route I tossed on my new Alpha Direct jacket which did a great job in the cold wind and the generous sleeves meant I could use the thumb loops easily- the only reason I wasn't wearing gloves all day long!
 Morning light
 G'day Ben Nevis
 Moon over the Douglas Boulder
 Solo start
 Martin leading the way on the Little Tower
 Diane's turn in front
 Coming round the Great Tower with some rime in evidence
 That looks slippery!
 In the Gap
 Brrr!
 Lotsa rime
 Gardyloo Gully
Summit selfie

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