Ben Nevis, NE Buttress

A last minute decision this morning, after hearing reports of scoured slopes, meant a late start from the North Face car park - after 830 to be exact. Fortunately Huibert and Bastion are over 6ft and had no problem striding out up the path, while I scurried behind.

We found good neve on the route, with even the snow slopes at the start feeling fine. The mantrap was bare rock and the 40ft corner is more mixed than ice. We topped-out at 230 for lunch on the summit.

People had been walking up the tourist path but we decided to follow the trail down the abseil posts on good snow. There was just a little unstable windslab as the angle eased. Seeing the size of the slides around Red Burn on the SAIS blog I'm pleased I took the described route.

Other teams were on Minus 3, Orion, Point 5 and Vanishing.

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