Ben a Chaorainn is a fairly unremarkable mountain from the west but its east side is home to some high corries and fine ridges. Bryn, T and myself decided that with a high avalanche risk an ascent of the east ridge would be a good option. A tactical slow approach through deep snow allowed us to be overtaken and relieved of trail breaking duties!. Once on the ridge we enjoyed good weather and interesting scrambling right to the summit of the mountain. I would definitely recommend this as a fine mountaineering day out.
Yesterday I got up really early and drove over to Fort William to meet Bryn for a day on The Ben. It was forecast to be a beautiful day and as we made the long walk in the early morning cloud disappeared to reveal blue sky. We headed for the Douglas Boulder and climbed a short route called Faulty Towers that went at about grade 3. Conditions were a little thin and some of the ice was rotten after the recent thaw. We had a relaxed lunch then abseiled off into Douglas Gully. We really wanted to get on a route were we could enjoy the sunshine so a traverse across Coire na Ciste lead us on to ledge route. This is another great mountaineering route that takes you all the way to the plateau with sustained interest. The route was in great nick and we quickly soloed up into the sunshine. On the summit plateau we stopped to soak up the sun for awhile before making the long descent back to the valley. When you get days like this Scotland is a very special place - often though you have to put up with bad weather and many frustrating days to get a really good one... it was worth the wait!
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