Ledge Route

Karen & Rhys enjoying the narrow section

Rhys, Karen and I made the walk up to the Ben this morning with no one else in sight.  It was even not raining for a change, but still warm.  As we crossed the river and picked our way up toward Ledge Route II, the debris from what must have been a massive avalanche out of No.5 was impressive.  This at least made the walk up to the route easier as it was pretty firm.  Despite Donald having been up on Monday, there were few tracks after the first slab.  The snow was better than previous days, but it was still hard going in places.  We did make very good time.  Leaving the car at 8:20 and topping out at 11:00 meant we had a relaxed walk back down once we had escaped the white room.

Great Rock scenery

It did snow at around 800m early on, but the temperature must have risen by 11:00 as it was wet on top.  There was a surprising amount of ice about high up, with the rocks plastered in ice and rime.  The Minus face has so much snow on it, that there are no clear features or evidence gullies exist.  Even the Curtain has a complete line with ice on it, along with wet mush.  A good few days of colder temperatures could see things improve massively, but maybe not for the mixed routes where gear is concerned.

Summit team in the white room