Lots of deer about on the walk in

We walked into a very white Ben Nevis this morning with fresh snow well below the CIC hut. My aim this morning was to get Preshant up one of the easy gully’s or possibly traverse West-East Gully of the Douglas Boulder. With so much snow about though we decided to follow Ken and his clients up Ledge Route which definitely posed a safer approach. The route was in super condition, especially with some deep steps all the way up it (nice one Ken’s team!), certainly lots more snow than when it was skied two weeks ago anyway.

Our team(s) heading up toward Ledge Route (photo: Colin Dyer)

Ledge Route in super condition

He is enjoying it – honest!

Great to share the route with Ken and team today

Discovering the wonders of snow bollards

…and understanding the importance of good bucket seats

We all had a bite to eat at the top before parting ways, Ken’s team heading for the summit whilst Preshant and I worked on some winter skills such as bucket seats, buried axes and snow bollards. It snowed on and off all afternoon, heavy at times making for a full winter outing. We were chatting away about what it was like at this time last year, trying to work out whether it was an exceptionally long winter or not. It was certainly still winter in March 2014, lets hope we get a similar summer this year! Today I was working for Lochaber Guides.