Gwilym's Adventure Blog

Finally back out after a few days of admin hiding from Storm Ciara. 2 super friendly Snow Buntings on the way into the CIC hut stopped to say hello and then we joined a large number of others heading for The Douglas Boulder. It was a googles day with the cold wind and snow blowing around. On arrival we managed to nip around a couple of pairs about to start on the South West Ridge and got ahead of them and made our way to the top. A bit blowy at times but the route was in good condition with gear when needed. A couple of thought provoking moves interspersed with easy ground and then it was a quick abseil back into West Gully And then the wind really hit us as we down climbed and very quickly made our way back to the CIC hut and then back to car and down the track by 14:30. Always good to get in, do a route and get out with some daylight left.

Today, Will, Cameron and I walked into Ben Nevis with an open mind to see what was in. We headed high to Coire Na Ciste and spotted that South Gully looked good. Will and I swung leads over 3 pitches with Cameron following until we got stopped by the monster cornice. A couple of (long) abseils back and we were walking out. A fair amount of snow fell during the day and this was sitting on the old pack meaning careful route choice as we walked back down the approach apron. Sadly from the CIC hut down it was rain and by the time we reached the car we were very wet.

On day 1 of a west coast based Winter Climbing Skills course. We did (rather optimistically) have a look at the north face of Ben Nevis and discuss avalanche awareness and making sensible mountain decisions, before beating a hasty retreat to The Ice Factor for a couple of hours ice coaching (in the relative warm and dry).