A Schooling in Thrutching: Gutless, Ben Nevis

Trident Buttresses and Carn Dearg this morning

Following a few days of heavy snow it was going to be interesting to see what condition Ben Nevis was in, or whether we could even get up there.  Today I was working for Abacus Mountaineering, Mike was out with Phil and I was out with Dominic.  Phil and Dominic were already good friends and climbing partners, and with their aims being quite similar, we decided to head up as a four to the Douglas Boulder, with Mike and Phil planning to climb 'Jack Knife V,6' and Dominic and I to climb 'Gutless IV,5'.

Dominic just pulling over the difficulties of pitch 1

Fortunately, there is a trench all the way up to the CIC Hut, so progress, whilst slower than usual was reasonable.  On arriving at the CIC Hut, we could see numerous teams heading up for 'Vanishing Gully V,5', probably spurred by Richard Bentley's ascent of it yesterday, and one team retreating from Observatory Gully.  They went on to climb a barely in condition 'Curtain IV,4'.  As we started on the route, snow was still falling, but the higher we climbed, the better the weather became.  The crux pitch of Gutless is a wide chimney, requiring a whole host of climbing techniques, from backing and footing to body camming, and is quite sustained.  It felt harder than the given grade, and Dominic did well to thrutch his way up it! The route also deserves at least one star, if not two as the climbing on it is of good quality. We joined onto the SW Ridge just behind Mike and Phil, who had also enjoyed their route, and as we descended the Douglas Boulder, we were treated to spectacular views of Coire Na Ciste to our right and Orion Face to our left.  An enjoyable day for all today.

Stunning views of Orion Face this afternoon...

... and of Coire Na Ciste

A busy Vanishing Gully

Temperatures rose throughout the day, and the freezing level at it's highest was at about 900m, with ice peeling away from the lower buttresses.  However, a frost tonight should mean that the higher routes will be in fantastic condition, the ones not buried at any rate.  Getting to them will still be problematic, but there are a number of trenches around the mountain.  We did see a team high on Observatory Buttress at around 3:30pm, good effort on their part!