Ice is Nice!

Yesterday Geoff an i headed up the Ben again. An early morning start had us up the the CIC hut in good time and having heard reports of good ice we headed up to Garadh Gully (II), a nice grade II snow gully late season but early season it holds 2 lovely grade III ice pitches.
On the way up for some added interest we decided to solo the burn which runs down from Corie na Ciste. This is mostly a very easy angled ice slope but has a nice steepening just before the top to keep you on your toes (or points!) The ice here was very hard and brittle. A few axe swings caused fractures a good meter or so long and there was lots of dinner plating!

Me at the top of the Corie Burn

After this we headed over to the gully where another team was already making their way up the first pitch. The ice here was much softer with some water running down it which made for some more secure feeling climbing. I lead up the 1st pitch which Geoff quickly followed and the we decided to escape via a nice exposed traverse as neither of us were feeling on top form

The team ahead on the 1st pitch

My quickdraw froze solid!

Another short but excellent day out climbing in some of the best weather i've seen in a long time!

Photos courtesy of Geoff as i forgot my camera!