UKC

Hi,

Has anyway done the Ben Hope circuit? Aparently, you can scramble up the North Ridge? Is it a graded scramble, or just one of these steep grassy things?

I've done things like the devils ridge, faicall ridge & Lancet edge. How would it compare to these???

Cheersy,

Stuart

In reply to stuartgmilton:

The north ridge is a bouldery scrabble at most, which leads to a rocky step, with a very exposed scramble above the west face, or a slightly messy gully about 30m left of it. I opted for the gully. Leads easily to the summit then, & an easy romp down the normal south ridge route. Much better than up & down the south ridge

In reply to stuartgmilton:

My last time on B.Hope was an attempt on the N ridge, but it had a heavy plastering of rubbishy spring snow (early April), more than I expected, and after poking around a bit I chickened out of both the rock step and the gully. Dropped down into the NE corrie instead, itself a nightmare of wallowing and floundering through a boulderfield choked with soft snow, and round on to the gentle E shoulder. 6 hours to climb Ben Hope - must be some sort of lamentable record.

Which is a roundabout way of saying, sorry, can't help you.

In reply to Mike C:

Hey Mike, How stable is the gully? And how long is it?

Cheers

In reply to stuartgmilton:

Only about 30 ft or so IIRC, some loose stuff in it, but not too bad. More scrappy than scary from what I remember.

In reply to Mike C:

Cheers Mike

In reply to streapadair: Had virtually the same experience but we sacked it off and headed back down! Just wet, loose, slushy snow so pretty unpleasant for any attempt at the either the gully or the rock step. Don't really remember much scrambling up to that point, maybe a scrabble over a boulder or two. I went up the S ridge a few years later with good views on a snowy November day.