The Ridges
Ridges define mountaineering in many ways. They often present eye catching lines to the summit that demand an extensive skill set and ability to deal with the added exposure and commitment they so often present. The big ridges on the Ben present some of the best winter mountaineering challenges in the UK, so naturally they had caught our eye. Indeed, Tower ridge had caught Deakin’s eye many years ago when he was a slip of a lad. Not that he behaves much differently now mind and after we’d despatched Castle Ridge III** 275m the day before, we had to get on Tower (centre of image: E. Deakin).
We even added a sit start to The Douglas Boulder. This boulder clearly demanded a sit start and it makes it much easier to put your crampons on. The lower section of the ridge went smoothly and we even had time to sit down for a picnic, maybe there is something good about these sit starts after all...
Being fine Alpinists, we thought it was best to regain our fine form and enjoyed despatching the Little Tower before pressing on to the Great Tower above. Things start to get a bit more proper up there and the view down Observatory gully from the Eastern traverse gets the mountaineering juices flowing nicely. (Me flashing the Eastern Traverse. Image: E. Deakin)
Above this was covered in a fairly unhelpful crud, all bread and butter kind of stuff for mountaineers though, best washed down with a cup of tea though. Deakin seemed a bit disappointed that we couldn’t stop for a cup of tea (Yorkshire of course) on top of the Great Tower, so he just had to settle for a moment in the sunshine.
Tower gap is a bit like a missing tooth really and adds a bit of spice to the route, especially when the summit plateau (and a decent brew) are so tantalisingly close...
Needless to say we were soon across and hoaring up (no rude jokes please) on the summit plateau. Being good chaps, we waited for the rest of the team before summiting in sunshine! Good eggs the lot of them! (Image E. Deakin)
It turns out Dizzy G had taken fast and light quite seriously and dispensed of one of his crampons near the top of the route, which seemed a tad extreme, but he is that kind of athlete. He is also the kind of athlete that is very partial to a good bum slide descent (aren’t we all) and Coire Leis provided fine sport for ourselves and some people on planks that looked quite cumbersome. All in all it was a good outing with some jolly fine chaps and downright time for a proper brew in the CIC! (Image E. Deakin)