On Saturday I was working for Atlas Mountaineering, guiding Kelly and Lauren on a very wet and wintry Ben Nevis. Conditions on the day were very varied with heavy rain and hail/snow showers and visibility varying from beautiful views over Loch Linnie and the surrounding area to complete whiteout and less than 4m visibility at times. With the exception of the Redburn path junction, the mountain is free of snow until half way up zig zag number 4. We stopped here in some pretty high winds and dawned crampons and ski goggles and were soon on the off again. At the top of the zig zags a strange phenomenon occurred, although there were 20+ people around, they only seemed to move when I moved, stopped when I stopped, staying a pace or two behind my group, all very strange indeed. Despite this Michael Jackson Thriller style precession following us, we continued to the summit and enjoyed a our lunch within the shelter there. A quick descent enabled us to thaw out and even treated us to some beautiful views of Glen Nevis. A good, but very challenging day was had by all. Yesterday I was working for Adventure Nevis, guiding Rachel and Jonathan on the Ben track. Rachel and Jonathan had climbed Snowdon 2 days prior and Scafell Pike the day before. With the weather being more consistently poor and windier than the previous day and they guys feeling a bit tired after previous adventures, we decided to call it a day at the Redburn path junction. We returned back down the Ben track to the Ben Nevis Inn for hot chocolate and coffee whilst going over some basic map and navigational skills. With both of them vowing to return and climb this beautiful mountain in better weather, I have no doubt they will achieve this summit in the near future!
There is a lack of photographs on this blog entry because the weather was well and truly minging.
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