Good Friday

Some times following the masses is the right thing to do. After a week of good reports from the Ben (Nevis) and high pressure I headed out with Kenny to see what was there. There was more snow than I had expected, however most of the routes weren't in great nick and the likes of Tower Ridge and Observatory looked more like rock climbs. Up high there was a decent amount of ice and we resigned ourselves to queuing on Good Friday (III). Tower Scoop was busy and we took a direct line over a couple of ice bulges up to the start of Indicator Wall. A bit of a calf burner on superb neve and more entertaining than traversing all the way in from Gardyloo. We then traversed into the gully of Good Friday and found only one other party on it. The gully lead to the base of stepped ice fall on the right. It felt longer than it looked and was superbly protected by ice-screws and I set up a screw belay after about 40m with the last of them. Two futher icy pitches at a fairly easy angle lead to the sun and a top out on to the plateau. The views were fantastic. After lingering on the summit we down-climbed No. 4 Gully whilst a Royal Navy helicopter was busy rescuing a walker who had ventured up Gardyloo Gully without axes. We definetly need some more snow to bring moer of the routes back into condition.

Time: 7Hs