LEDGE ROUTE

Scrambling fun in the rain on Ledge Route

It was a day of constant rain, wind and low cloud on Ben Nevis, a bit of a shock to the system and ruining my Alpine sun tan! Mary, Joe and Bob wanted a day on The Ben but not a plod up the Pony Path so we headed for the north face and as the SW winds were quite strong this morning I decided to take them onto Ledge Route which is well sheltered from the SW's. We stood and had elevenses in the dripping rain outside the CIC Hut, another shock to the system, so used to sunny terraces and open doors with refreshments at Alpine Refuges! We were soon in the Ciste Corrie and onto Ledge Route, the only folk we saw were a couple of other folk just behind us who had enough climbing gear to scale the North wall of The Eiger! No exaggeration! My team moved well and we were on the top by lunch time. It was relatively quiet on the summit of The Ben but we passed quite a few folk heading up late afternoon and the lower we got down the Pony Path the more ridiculous the attire! With an average age of 60 my guys did well with a total time of less than 8 hours up and down today. Mid week looks like more sunny and summer like weather!