Back on the Ben

My alarm goes off at 5am... ugh...what?... oh I'm going climbing.... snooze....nine minutes later..after the count of three, I will leap out of the warm cocoon of my bed into my ice box room and dress as quickly as humanly possible, drink my tea whilst mentally running through a gear check. 6am, my house mate Sam and I are out the door heading for Ben Nevis. During out hour drive across to the west, the rain gets heavier and the cloud gets lower. Not very inspiring. In fact getting out of the car once we arrive in the North Face car park is only marginally easier than getting out of bed. Waterproofs straight on and a slog up in the mankyness to try Zero Gully. Unfortunately, after an eternity, we arrived near foot of Zero which is basically a waterfall; and not the nicely frozen kind. We headed further round and up to have a look at Good Friday climb, optimistically thinking that 100m or so height gain might be all that was needed for there to be some ice. Wrong again, everything is melting! In the end we went for Tower Scoop which was still in good condition. Two pitches of fun ice. Just as we finished the route and beat a hasty retreat the sun came out giving stunning views of the crags and Lochaber. So all in all not a bad day, no pain no gain!