23-01-16, Ben Nevis - Winter Mountaineering

Top of Number 3 Gully.

 The thaw has continued. As to be expected the snow line has risen and is heavily saturated at all levels, ice has melted, buttresses are very black. Rich and I walked up to Coire na Ciste on Ben Nevis up Number 3 Gully. We passed some unclimbable drippy ice on The Curtain, there had been some avalanches near Garadh Gully, Number 2 Gully and under Trident buttress. A team looking to head up Green Gully! Several teams climbing Number 3 Gully Buttress and a team un successful on an out of condition Thompson's Route. It was dry and breezy, but warm.

Avalanche debris Trident Buttress.

West side of Tower Ridge.

Ciste, looking black, Central and South Gully looking thin.

Number 3 Gully Buttress.