Tower Ridge

August 26th, 2010 • Rock Climbing • Dougie

Sometimes there’s nothing for it: down tools and head for the hills.

I’ve wanted to take in Tower Ridge on the Ben for years now, and it finally occurred to me just to go and do it. An old mate, Andy Yuill was up for it and since he just finished his masters he actually had the time too. We met at the King’s house on tuesday night about ten minutes after the bar shut (poor planning) and minced for a while taking photos of the Buachaille while we polished off a couple of bottles of Deuchars that Andy had brought.

After a remarkably poor night’s sleep (top tip: don’t forget your sleeping bag) and breakfast at Morrison’s in Fort Bill we started the slog up to the CIC and the Douglas Boulder. The weather was pretty good but the rock still wet and slimy enough in places that soloing the VDiff direct route up the boulder in hiking boots and rucksacks had a little more spice than we’d signed up for…. It all went well though and the rope stayed in the bag, thanks in part to Andy’s technique of chucking a sling tied to your harness over any tiny nubbin that showed itself. I’m fairly sure that if you have to hold it in place it’s psychological protection at best, but it kept us happy enough at the time to carry on.

Once you get off the Douglas Boulder and onto Tower Ridge the ground gets much easier. With the rock at an easier angle and significantly drier we could put a lot more time into enjoying our position and less into bowel and bladder control. The weather towed with us from time to time but it was just playing, testing our resolve rather than teaching us a lesson. And it’d wouldn’t be a day out on the Ben without getting rained on at least a little, would it?

It was surprisingly quiet up there yesterday. We met two groups on the route: one couple gearing up at the bottom that never did seem to top out on the Douglas Boulder, and two lads on their third big ridge of the day and a bit of a mission. We could see a group of three on the North East Buttress from time to time and the occasional tourist poked their head over the skyline as we neared the top. It can’t be often that you get the north face of Nevis almost to yourself, and that combined with the lurking weather made the day all the better.

A fine route, finished with a wee dram on the summit and a spectacular sunset on the way down. You can’t really ask for much more. Except maybe a sleeping bag.

Tags: Ben nevis, climbing, Nevis, Rock Climbing, scrambling

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