There is still plenty of ice high up the Ben. My mate and I did Tower Scoop today, followed by Smith's Route (icicle variation). We descended Tower Gully.
Both routes were fat and with good ice. The air was crisp, great visibility, there were patches of sunshine, the approach was quick due to hard neve in the gullies. In short, conditions better than those that I have seen on most winter days. But where are the climbers? We felt as if we were the only people with ice axes on the entire mountain.
Hadrian's Wall Direct is still in, Good Friday Climb looked good, Indicator Wall probably as well, and most other routes high up. So don't put your axes in storage yet.
If you happen to find my jacket in Observatory Gully, it would be great if you could contact me. I was so elated after leading the crux pitch of Smith's route, and at the same time so cold that I dropped it (stupid me). And I could not find it any more when I went down, despite searching everywhere. It's a reversible Berghaus jacket, light blue and green, and it was stashed in its bag (hence it probably slid down right to the bottom of the gully or fell into some crack).
Thanks,
Florian
