Thursday 26 April 2012

WINTERY ON BEN NEVIS

John and Neil were out with me today wanting a day out up Ben Nevis. They booked me last minute after seeing the weather forecast and snow conditions and thought it would be wise to hire someone to guide them up safely. The forecast was for quite a bit of rain/snow and gales on the tops. Reality was only drizzle and snow but more importantly the winds were only around 40mph so the ski goggles stayed in the rucksack today. Nevertheless it was still a good challenging 'winter' experience for the guys and they loved it. There is snow lying on the Pony Track at around 900m and above 1000m it is starting to get quite well banked out, coupled with low cloud it wasn't a place to be 'bumbling up' today. I had to get the map and compass out at the plateau, some folk today didn't really bother to pack there's unfortunately and one guy who had turned back at around 1100m  thought he'd like to 'tag along' with us and start his way back up. Apart from that wee episode on the hill we had a nice quiet ascent and were the first to the top today. This was Neil's first hill walk and he just loved it, and told me he's be back for more. Well done guys.

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