UKC

I'll keep it brief - is there anywhere at all where you could conceivably camp out overnight during a two-day (winter) ascent of Tower Ridge on The Ben? If you had to stop somewhere roughly halfway, where would it be??

In reply to Rapsling:

I'm unsure if this is a wind up or not......but basically you could bivi in numerous places along it. But the question would have to be why? It is something that is usually done in a day. It is possible to get benighted but that is much more likely to happen carrying camping stuff.

In reply to Rapsling:

It's not the Alps lad. Basically much of the ridge is wider than your mum's backdoors and would present no problem for a bivvy. However if you set off walking from the car park before 10 am I don't see why you would need to.

In reply to Rapsling:

Now I'm not here to throw accusations or call folk out on their abilities. But the fact you're asking about camping out on the route before setting foot on it worries me.

Unless you actually want to deliberately camp/bivvy on it?

In reply to tallpaulselfridge:

Thanks very much for your concern - it's much appreciated.

The plan was always to camp out overnight on the mountain somewhere, possibly near the CIC hut for an early start. It was more a question of whether the Ridge is too exposed and whether there is anywhere that's wide enough (as one commentator kindly put it above, as wide as my mum's back door).

So I guess it's a question of whether to do it in one day, beating the queues by camping at the bottom and starting bang on first light, or whether it's better to wait until queues at the start of the route die down, do the first half after lunch, and the second half the following morning.

No stranger to bivvying in the snow and high winds, if that was your concern. I was just leaning towards staying overnight on the Ridge specifically, to give it more of an alpine feel

In reply to Removed User:
i hope it's just me misunderstanding, but is that really necessary ?

In reply to Rapsling:

Got you now. Tbh its probably just as atmospheric near the back of the hut!

In reply to Rapsling:

if you want to do it, do it. sounds like you know what you know what you're doing and I'm sure you're aware of the risks.

sometimes UKC folk do my nuts in!

In reply to mike123:

say what?

In reply to mike123:

I'm sure it was just meant as a joke. Climbers wouldn't be climbers if they didn't take the mick from time to time...

Hardonicus, thanks for the insight - sounds like there will be room to bivvy there, which is very reassuring. I'll be sure to file a trip report when I get back.

In reply to Rapsling:

North East Buttress would be another good one to bivvy on, from memory there's a few spacious spots which are a) more sheltered than tower ridge and b) you're less likely to have people stomping over you into the wee hours. Make sure you let the mountain rescue know your plan before you go, you wouldn't be the first to have a rescue man swing in from the sky while you're making a brew and settling down for the night.

In reply to Rapsling:

In more seriousness the angle eases of between the top of the little tower and the bottom of the great tower. I'm sure numerous cold spots could be found.

In reply to Rapsling:

I'm sure there are many places for those with the eyes to see them or rather those who've bothered to look. A bivi would be no problem, but a tent could be exciting if it were windy.

In reply to Rapsling:

Regarding earlier starting teams than yourselves:-

If you discover there's the odd team ahead of you, there is normally plenty of places where you can overtake if you wish to. Worrying about teams ahead preventing this would not be a good reason in my book for choosing to doss out spending a very, very uncomfortable night stuck in some bivvi on the Ben whilst you could be sat a pub having pint.

In reply to Rapsling:

Give it the alpine feel, by starting out from the car park at 4am, you'll probably be first on the ridge (unless there are some insomniacs in the CIC), light and fast, job done. If you were in the alps and you had a 1200m ascent, grade III/IV for only short sections.. you wouldn't dream of carrying overnight gear etc. If you know it's within your abilities, just plan it so you get to the base of the climb at very first light and you'll be back in Fort Bill enjoying hot chocs by 4pm. Although Fort Bill is no alpine resort!

In reply to Rapsling:

Sleep in the car at Torlundy, alpine start 3am ish, you can be climbing by 5 and it's saved you the hassle of lugging bivi/camping kit up to the CIC.

In reply to summo:

Took the words out of my mouth! 😃