Tower Ridge
Posted by Max Hunter on 22nd April, 2014
On the Sunday of the Easter Weekend we yet again had incredible weather in the West Coast of Scotland. This Easter weather will be remembered for a long time. I was lucky enough to be spending the day on Ben Nevis. I met up with Mel and Andy early in the morning and we headed off to climb up Tower Ridge. Ben Nevis is in amazing Alpine conditions at the moment – where there is snow it is still very deep, with an icy surface.
We put our crampons on shortly after leaving Observatory Gully, into the snow of East Gully. The Douglas Gap was completely ‘summer’, but the ridge shortly after was still a narrow snow arete. There was only one other team on the ridge ahead of us, but there were several teams out on Ledge Route and the CMD ridge.
The Eastern Traverse was a relatively easy ‘path’, and the steeper route to the top of the great tower was mostly via dry rock. There is still a snow arete to the Gap, but the gap itself is dry and clear. The route to the top after the gap is via several pitches up icy neve. The last pitch was the steepest, and was the only time I really used 2 axes. A brilliant route as always, but particularly amazing on Sunday!
The bum slide down the red burn was brilliant – so I had it all, Ben Nevis, Tower Ridge, great weather, great condition, great company – does it get any better!
The Eastern Traverse
Still deep snow on the ridge
An Alpine Tower Ridge
The pitch after the Tower Gap
A steep icy last pitch
The last belay in the shade
