It's been another week of strong wind, plenty of fresh snow fall and rapidly fluctuating temperatures on Ben Nevis. Today though was a very nice dry, calm day; a wonderful respite from the wind and rain/snow. December was the wettest ever recorded in Scotland apparently.
There is a lot of snow on Ben Nevis and some of it avalanched quite dramatically last night. Huge trails of debris were left under Observatory Gully and Number Five Gully this morning. Thankfully in the cooler conditions by daybreak the snow was more stable by the time Andreas and I went round to climb Tower Ridge. As we got higher we could see the very impressive crown wall from the avalanche in Observatory Gully. It started in Tower Gully and went under Gardyloo Buttress, Observatory Buttress and all the way down the gully. The slopes under Point Five Gully and Orion Face did not release though.
Right from the start Tower Ridge is buried in snow. I was so glad there was a team in front that made great progress breaking a deep trail on the best line. There were a couple of other teams in Coire na Ciste - Ken climbed Green Gully and Rich climbed Number Three Gully Buttress. The snow is spooky and the ice soft so don't count on getting very many meaningful ice screws in. The crags are well rimed up and the cracks are quite choked with ice.
The snow from the Great Tower to the top has not thawed out much at all. There is little ice in it and it was just a bit crusty, not very useful at all. Not much ice has been forming high up as a result. However the ice in Point Five Gully, Hadrians Wall and Smiths Route had a blue tinge to it so there is hope that it is turning into good quality ice. If this snow ever settles down we might get to climb it some time. More storms for a couple of days to come though.
Mike Pescod
Abacus Mountain Guides
http://www.abacusmountaineering.com/currentconditions.html
more pictures here -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/abacusmountaineering/sets/72157639402002235/ 
