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North Face car park was almost full when I got there at 9ish, then on the path to the CIC hut I met Andy from the Lakes MRT who was going to have a look at some routes on the Ben. By the time we got to the CIC hut he decided to go for Ledge Route too, which was handy for me since I've never done any routes on the north face before and having a mountain rescue team member for company is a wee bit reassuring.
At the CIC hut the view left is Tower Ridge.
Straight ahead there's the Comb and Number 2 Gully top leftish (my plan B) and Moonlight Gully Buttress at the far right.
Looking right it's Moonlight Gully Buttress again with Carn Dearg Buttress on its right. Number 5 Gully runs between these 2 buttresses and is the start of Ledge Route. It's also an avalanche blackspot and there was debris below it.
Approaching Number 5 Gully, team ahead getting roped up for Ledge Route.
Started up the gully, the route soon branches off to the right along a ledge.
On the right branch, team behind are in Number 5 Gully.
Then turn left and straight up on a narrow gully.
At the top of the Gully Andy heard a Sea King (on possibly its last callout), we could see a group below Tower Ridge who had released a flare. The helicopter came in and winched a casualty out, later found out he'd been on Italian Climb (snowy gully above the helicopter) and broke his ankle.
Turned right at the top of the narrow gully and followed another snow ledge which leads to the ridge.
Start of the ridge, there were a couple ahead of us who were roped up & moving together.
They offered to let us past but Andy recommended staying behind at the narrow part of the ridge as the rope between them could be dangerous for us.
This is looking down to the Gangway, a narrow ridge with a steep drop on the left (on the right from above) then a downclimb. This looked pretty scary in photos I'd seen but there's actually a gully on the right as you go up (ie not much drop) and the downclimb was easy in today's conditions.
Passed the 2 others where the ridge widened, there's someone on the last ridge to the summit higher up.
More pics of the ridge, great route in excellent condition and fantastic weather
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Final snowy ridge to the top.
Great views at the top, the approaching climber warned of a crevasse above Number 5 Gully.
Wasn't sure what to do next, had thought about descending Number 4 gully. Wandered round & had a look at the gully tops.
Great conditions today.
Looking back to Ledge Route.
Climbers doing the harder stuff, plenty of ice still on the Ben.
Ledge route close up, can just about make out the steps in the snow showing the route.
Summit.
Decided to head back via the arete.
Mamores.
On the arete.
Dropped camera in the snow so got some interesting snowflake lens effects
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North Face of the Ben, Carn Dearg Buttress on the right.
Been doing some easy winter climbs this year, doesn't get much better than this
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