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it was milesy,s idea, he wanted to do a mountain route and suggested observatory ridge on ben nevis. so with good weather forcast for saturday the idea was floated at our ( lomond mountaineering club) wednesday cragging and pub night. the take up was good, at an early breakfast in manse barn ( our club hut in onich ) there was harry, eva, richard, danny, milesy, derek and myself. we left the north face car park at 8 15am, its a very steep start through the woods to the upper car park, but then the views open up as we follow the path up the allt a mhuilinn.
- the views open up
is was a beautiful morning with the sun shining on the north face, we pass castle ridge and head up toward the cic hut. tower ridge is in view and so too our target of the day observatory ridge.
- tower ridge and in the centre going upward, observatory ridge
we pass the cic hut and there are climbers starting up the douglas boulder of tower ridge.
- climbers on douglas boulder
there is a team already started and another about to start, so we gear up and group up, im climbing with harry and eva, richard is with danny and milesy is with derek. we are first ready and harry leads the first pitch followed by eva and myself. its busy, as somebody leaves a stance its immedietly taken by the next team.
- harry starts up
- me belaying harry with milesy and his helmet cam
- eva starts up
with us all on the ridge there was good banter even with the teams in front, there was loads of people on tower ridge and a steady stream of ant like people on carn mor dearg heading for the arete. richard and danny were catching us up,
- danny, milesy and derek
- richard giving it the thumbs up
we pitched the first 3 pitches, it seemed to ease of a bit, we had a quick bite to eat, harry roped up with eva and i
just soloed in front of harry, the views all round were fab,
- me at lunch stop
- tower ridge with tower gap in centre
as we got higher up the ridge sharpens up and becomes a little more defined,
- harry coming up
- harry bringing up eva
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with harry and eva on a short rope i climbed up and met richard and danny
- harry bringing up eva
- me at top
we walked ta short distance to the summit cairn and had another bite to eat, ive never seen the summit so busy. all the while the rescue was still taking place on the tower. the views from the summit were breathtaking.
- summit vista
so all that was left was the decsent, that long decsent to the north face car park. as we went down we met a girl who had turned her ankle, she said she was ok, then past another guy who was struggling, 10 minutes later we saw the helicopter above again, these guys had a really busy day. me and richard headed back to the hut, we sat on the beach with a well deserved refreshment. harry and eva then arrived and eventually danny, milesey aand derek. so ended a fab day of climbing, good idea milesy.