Mr. Toombs kindly put in the ground work in organising this year’s CIC hut meet, booking a year in advance to secure enough beds in the Scottish Mountaineering Club hut that is nestled below Ben Nevis’s impressive North Face. Unfortunately, due to a problematic hip, Colin was unable to reap his winter reward and so passed on his place to Kyle.

The plan was set and a mid-afternoon ‘North Face Car Park’ rendezvous was on. After last year’s torrent crossing by moonlight, it was agreed that commute to the hut in the daylight would be best. Conditions looked mixed on the drive over Rannoch Moor as mild temperatures hung in the air. Fortunately the continuation through Glen Coe revealed ice white peaks above 700m, which gave some relief despite the previous week of warm weather that had done nothing for Scottish winter climbing.

Mission accomplished as Andy Howarth and Chris Roberts pulled into the car park five minutes after the first teams arrival and a walk to the CIC hut in the light was on the cards. The pair had been in Scotland for the week prior to the meet, however, reports of Chris sporting a DryRobe and Crocs had done nothing for his hard winter climbing image (less Rab Carrington and more Brette Harrington).

Phil Moore engaged his engine and blasted up the mountain path towards the hut as views of the North Face of the Ben unfolded in front. Excitement and youthful energy did little to offset the ability to continually put one foot in front of the other on the steady trudge. It wasn’t long before heavy bags made for tired shoulders as the CIC hut came into focus, but it was worth it knowing the level of comfort of the stay is defined by the size and weight of the pack on your back (unless you’ve packed the wrong things, of course).

Just before arrival, the beating rotors of the MRT helicopter boomed up the corrie, low and close. Nudging into Observatory gully, it was obviously inbound to pick up a customer that had taken an unplanned detour from the description in the brochure. An ominous start to the trip indeed. It turned out that the uncharted Tower Ridge Direct, was harder than expected. The scoop from the rest of the incident party that were also saying in the hut revealed it was their first day on the mountain and they had clearly opted for the ‘go big or go home in a helicopter’ approach – strange as Dave Rumney wasn’t even around.

Day one promised the best weather, following the drop in high winds and snow overnight. Chris and Andy opted for a tough mixed route high up on Number Three Gully buttress, Gargoyle Wall VI 6. A diet of steak and eggs saw them topping out on hero hooks without drama on an impressive route, followed by a descent of Number 3 gully to finish.

The others decided on height for the best conditions and headed toward Gardyloo Buttress high above Observatory gully. The weather overnight had provided plenty of snow which set the tone for the day, in which legs were in for a work out.

Option one, Tower Scoop III 4… Ice – No. Snow Ice – No. Neve – No. Powder Snow – Plenty… Option Two, Good Friday Climb III 4, same condition. Option Three – Gardyloo Gully III, same condition.

A swim to the summit via Tower Gully would have to do, a real leg burner in deep unconsolidated snow, with a large cornice to escape. Up and over the Ben in low visibility to descend Number 4 Gully and back to the hut for a cup of tea followed.

That evening, another team staying in the hut returned from a full day out on Darth Vader VII 7, dishevelled and worked. Fortunately for them Jedi Phil was in the kitchen and up to his old mind tricks, tempting one of them back from the dark side with ginger cake and lashings of custard – needless to say the young padawan was grateful to be shown the way.

Day two and the meet had agreed to split into two teams of three. Kyle woke early to find Chris asleep on chairs in the kitchen (comfy). It turned out the symphony of snores was just too much for him and he needed a change of scenery. It also transpired that the 5am wake up wasn’t quite the change he needed.

Phil, Ian and Sam opted to tackle Castle Ridge III, but the rain and wind outside clattered the hut windows. That will do it – “get the kettle on Ian, we will wait it out an hour”.  After some more breakfasting and re-gearing up, the Castle Ridge Party set out… only to return again for more tea to let the weather subside further. Finally the waiting was over and from the hut, footsteps of another party were followed (rightly or wrongly) in the direction of the chosen route.

Climbing commenced with some route finding and good pitches to gain the crux, where Phil was deployed to tackle a thrutchy chimney, which was steep and exposed, missing an in-situ peg on the way and leaving Sam and Ian to battle their way up to the belay. A few sections of moving together led to an airy arete to finish and on to the top to view the sunset over Fort William. A hop, skip and a jump back to the hut in a reasonable 2hrs, arriving via headtorch after dark – although Ian had promised the gang it was a mere 10mins to the hut from the half way lochan…

The other side of the day had Andy, Chris and Kyle leaving early in the rain and clag, opting for the full Scottish experience. Gortex worked wonders as a portable sauna come steam room on the approach which passed under the East flank of the Douglas Boulder and up towards the East Douglas gap. Only Ben Nevis could have a 200m rock outcrop described as a ‘boulder’.

Tower Ridge IV 3, gives 800m of elevation and over 1000m of climbing – it also gave an Everest style bottle neck over the best part of 25m where all parties seemed to condense for Tower Gap. A classic route and a good laugh was had throughout the day, although it did feel very ‘European’ at the belay from time to time with some of the shambolic guiding going on…

Whilst wintery enough, it is fair to say that conditions on this year’s trip were less than ideal (and probably a fair summary of this season) however, a good time was had nonetheless. Here’s to better conditions for next year’s trip – and to Colin’s problematic hip being fixed.

Back home and a few days after the trip, Jedi Phil dropped the group a message announcing his lack of vision since visiting the CIC Hut. Strange, as it also turned out Ian had been struggling to read since his visit.. suppose they were glad it was only their glasses they had swapped in the night.

Phil Moore, Kyle Hudson, Ian Hebborn, Andy Howarth, Chris Roberts and Sam Lowe in attendance.