It all started at midnight, at the pub at the end of the road - where I was waiting for Fras to pick me up. For once, our days-off and the forecast came at the right time (21-4-06) and we were hoping to catch the last of the winter on the Ben and do a big route - in Green Gully.
Later, I was marvelling and getting spooked at the herd of deer going over Rannoch Moor, when Fras woke and poured us both a coffee. It was 4am and we were making good time. We reached the North face car park around 5am and started the chew of the walk-in, reassuring each other that despite the mild temperature it would be way colder up top! At sunrise we got a good view of the North face and boy was it impressive; lit in perfect pink, cornices and all. Walking further we became aware of no-one else being about despite the good forecast - damn.
We stopped in the bowl of the coire and surveyed our intended route, whilst listening to the mini-avalanches going off close by. The cornice on green gully was bigger than a big thing and morale was dampened some what. We sat and had some snap, marvelling at the beautiful day unfolding in front of us. "Fancy Tower Ridge?" said Fras. We had only done grade 3's in the lakes before this and I was well aware of the seriousness of the route. - "Aye" I said.
The bottom half was a dream and we were just ambling away happy with the terrain and pleased about the lighter nights! We noticed a party were in the Green Gully area but didn't pay any more attention to this at the time.
Having retrieved a crampon that fell off just before the eastern traverse (panic!) we noticed the same party going across Point Five and absolutely flying! "They're either head-the-balls or really skilled" was the quote at the time. With one eye on the clock and another on the drop, heart pounding we did the traverse and ended up at the gap with light diminishing. I was given the gear (no use what so ever!) and poked along the gangplank, very weary and not at all fancying the gap! It wasn't half as difficult as I had imagined but still was nervy as the light faded and it seemed an eternity till Fras got to me. Rope off and a blast to the top was the order of the day and the relief when the angle abated was incredible.
On the walk out we watched the very last glimmers of light go from the loch before the hard work started and around 10pm that night we were back at the car and battered but ecstatic as is often the case in winter. After walking into Banks Street Lodge like John Wayne and having one measly can of warm stout I was dead to the the world!
I've climbed lots more routes since then, but none as memorable as that day - perfect.
The team in Point Five was Simon Richardson and Brian Davison doing the first traverse of the North face - and boy did that look impressive.
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