UKC

Hi folks,

Just wondered how conditions are on the Ben after the warm day today? Is it possible to access the higher buttresses or is it still swimming in snow higher up? Assuming some of the ice- vanishing, .5 etc has been ok to climb today?

Thanks folks

In reply to rich.manterfield:

was up there today. did observatory buttress. conditions were pretty good. snow at little sugary/rotten down low but the higher you go the better it gets! not familiar enough with the hill to tell you what routes looked best. plenty of folk out on various bits though. descended no.4 gully. snow pack reasonably consolidated. post holey half a foot kinda thing.

hope this helps

In reply to rich.manterfield:

This might help - http://abacusmountainguides.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/ben-nevis-conditions-sum...

Mike

In reply to rich.manterfield:

Exceptional conditions. Very busy up there today. Some climbs that I noticed been climbed today were:

Nordwand
The Moat
Harrison's Climb Direct
Waterfall Gully
Gemini
The Bewilderbeast
Shield Direct
Route II
The Curtain
Mega Route X
Green Gully
Glovers Chimney
Vanishing Gully
Tower Ridge
Hadrians Direct
Point 5
Zero
NE Buttress

Plus loads more I'm sure!

In reply to rich.manterfield:

We climbed the brilliant Nordwand today, which is both under-graded and underrated!

http://www.applemountaineering.co.uk/2015/02/07/iv3-no-chance-nordwand-ben-...

In reply to KA:

The direct is better

In reply to Rick Graham:
Having now read the SMC Guidebook, that's actually what we climbed.

In reply to KA:

Direct start to Nordwand or Nordwand Direct? Completely independent routes.

In reply to Dave Rudkin:
We did Hadrians today with two other teams. Excellent conditions and very sociable apart from the odd ice bomb!

In reply to Dave Rudkin:

Add Smiths and Comb Gully too Dave. We were on Tower Ridge lots of happy climbers yesterday! Some pics of the Ben in general: http://alanhalewood.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/what-weekend-ben-nevis-delivers....

In reply to AlH:

Italian right hand can also be added. Very good.

In reply to rich.manterfield:
Here some photos of Hadrian's and Point Five.
http://graniteandice.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/hadrians-wall-direct-v5.html

In reply to rich.manterfield:

I climbed Boomer's Requiem, which was in great condition, and The Curtain today, which whilst in good condition, clearly has been affected a bit by the current thaw.
http://www.applemountaineering.co.uk/2015/02/08/6-star-day-boomers-requiem-...

In reply to Rick Graham:


There's so many different ways it gets a bit confusing! Which way is Nordwand Direct Start?

In reply to mike barnard:

I will try to explain tomorrow.

Need to look at the definitive SMC Ben guide.

Both copies normally in the house have been home for the weekend.

In reply to KA:

Hi Ken, if you were the first team on the face, then I'm pretty sure you did Nordwand itself (multiple wee icefalls going left). You were the only team to get the line right!

In reply to mike barnard:
It's all a bit confusing, even in the SMC Ben Nevis Guide. The climbing was definitely at least IV,5 throughout. We did notice a couple of teams veering towards the upper snowfields of The Moat on our descent. Were you one of those teams?

In reply to KA:

I was, though we had more or less intended to do the Direct (but then got side tracked). Did you see where the direct route finishes up? The guide mentions an icy ramp which I presume is a different feature to the wee ramp near the top of the Moat? The top groove above felt like III despite it being a grade II! Grades eh...

In reply to KA:
Without looking at the guide , off the top of my head.

Nordwand goes diagonally left. Its direct start is one or two pitches long starting to its left.

Nordwand Direct starts at the same place as Nordwand but climbs straight up

Edit 22.27 for 300 metres with a right trending ramp to finish

In reply to Rick Graham:

That's the impression I got. The interesting thing is the fine and much more obvious groove (than the Direct Start) just to the right is not mentioned at all. I think some folk do it thinking it's Nordwand Direct, which arguably it should be.

In reply to mike barnard:


I think it is if I understand you correctly.

Maybe I should be a bit more adventurous with route names

In reply to Rick Graham:

Thanks Rick - I didn't look at the FA details!

Is the finishing right-trending ramp different to that of The Moat?

In reply to mike barnard:
TBH this face is more perplexing than the Exit cracks.

The 2002 SMC Ben Nevis guide diagrams for this particular face are a bit vague to me ( sorry Simon ) , ideally a photo topo may show the lines more clearly but not all perhaps are visible from one viewpoint.

The best diagram I have at home is in the Kimber/ Cicerone 1994 edition page 114. Will scan you a copy.

I did Nordwand a day or two before Nordwand Direct and my earlier comments (22.07 on Sunday )about the routes do not need modifying.

Now, can anybody explain where American Pie goes?

In reply to Rick Graham:



I agree, a good photo-topo would work wonders for this face and quite a few others on the Ben.


>

That would be great!

In reply to mike barnard: There's a photo-topo in the new (2010) Cicerone/Pescod guide. Page 177.

In reply to rich.manterfield:

Can anyone give me an idea what the mixed climbs high on the Ben are like at the moment? Particularly Number 3 Gully Buttress and around that area.

In reply to rich.manterfield:

Superb conditions in Minus Two Gully today (Weds). We were headed for Point Five but unsurprisingly were beaten to it. "The finest of the Nevis gullies" was the consolation prize. A full range of ice on offer. Thought-provoking descent down NE Buttress by torchlight...!

In reply to rich.manterfield:

We climbed Mega Route X and the rarely climbed The Chute on Ben Nevis yesterday. The first few meters of The Chute were a bit thin but fine to climb and overall both routes were in fantastic condition.

http://www.applemountaineering.co.uk/2015/02/12/mega-route-x-chute-ben-nevi...

In reply to rich.manterfield:

We've been up the last couple of days. Climbed Gemini into Bewildabeast on Wednesday, which was in excellent and I'd think quite easy condition (take a lost arrow or bulldog for the upper mixed corner) and Nordwand with all the good looking "bonus" pitches included. It was getting a bit wet and thin on pitch one but rapidly improved with height. Brilliant route and much more varied and involved than it looks from a distance if you do all the icefalls. Amazing up there right now generally really.

In reply to rich.manterfield:

Brilliant day in the cloud on Zero Gully today, fantastic ice with mostly first time placements all the way. Axes didn't even touch rock! http://www.masterplan-mountaineering.co.uk/2015/02/zero-gully/

In reply to alastairbegley:

another good day on the curtain today, got up early to avoid the queues. The standard route is very hooked out, but the ice is so fat that by taking in some steeper sections it's possible to climb on fat unhooked ice. http://www.masterplan-mountaineering.co.uk/2015/02/curtain/

In reply to rich.manterfield:

Multiple teams on most routes today. We found a bit of peace and quiet on Neptune Gully, one of the most underrated climbs on the mountain.

http://www.applemountaineering.co.uk/2015/02/14/2-new-routes-summit-neptune...

In reply to rich.manterfield:

Climbed Compression Crack yesterday (well the first part anyway) all still relatively good, gets better the higher you go. Snow plod up any gully's is better than a few days ago, but needs to be trodden on early morning while still hard, not so friendly after lunch but makes for easy decent.
On a separate note: never seen so many people on the mountain or so many cars in the NF car park, they were backed up almost all the way to the road, car share if you can people!!

In reply to pass and peak:

Another early start, another day on the ben, another fantastic climb and an even more tired body. Climbed Comb Gully on the Ben today, as per usual at the moment the conditions were fantastic. http://www.masterplan-mountaineering.co.uk/2015/02/comb-gully/

In reply to rich.manterfield:

A note of caution for those reading these reports and assuming the Ben is in stellar nick. The routes that are in are mostly in great nick but it's strangely localised with some routes fat and others completely bare.

In reply to DaveHK:

Yes like Slingsby's Chimney which is very thin (and unprotectable) at the moment. Although having just read the logbook maybe that isn't that unusual. I wish I'd known that before we tried to use it as an approach for NE Buttress on Sat, as by the time we'd had a good go at it and then abbed off, we thought it would be too late to walk round and start on such a long route.

We went up Ledge route and down number 4 instead so we had a pretty good tour of the mountain and it looked like there were a lot of routes in awesome nick.

In reply to alastairbegley:
Sounds almost identical to our experience, down to the slight oops moment soloing the first pitch to the aerated ice (i.e. cruddy) on the top belay! we must have been just behind you : )

In reply to Elsier:


Once, on a multi route soloing day, up to grade V, a short section of Slingsby's Chimney had by far the hardest moves all day.

In reply to rich.manterfield:

Some photos and spiel on a cracking couple of days on the Ben and Aonach Mor including The Curtain, Italian Right Hand, Point Five, Boomer's Requiem and Left Twin: http://www.mistymountainhop.net/2015/02/west-is-best-classic-ice-on-ben-nev...