Ben Nevis

A windy and snowy start turned into a beautiful and sunny afternoon. The freezing level had dropped considerably and the snow line was well below the CIC hut.

We had aspirations for Observatory Ridge, but with three people ahead of us, and it looking a little lean on snow, we decided against it. Unfortunatly most lines in Observatory Gully require ice and this was lacking, even high up on Indicator Wall. I know Smith's was done last week but it must of been quite scary! We opted for Chimney Groove (IV,6) which took us up onto Tower Ridge and then to the top.

The snow is now well frozen, with just isolated pockets of slabby new snow.

For more photos of Ben Nevis see Sea 2 Summit Flickr site