Point Five, Ben Nevis - 21st April

Another trip to Ben Nevis with Point Five as our aim. On other occasions whe Point Five has been the planned route, the weather and the great quantities of spindrift flying down the gully has meant that other routes have been a better place to be. Not on Monday though! The snow had settled a lot since I was there last Wednesday and whilst it was windy on the walk in, the climb itself was actually quite sheltered.
I lead the first pitch on nice ice into which the picks of the aces just sunk in soundly. Ron had the second chimney pitch and when I came to climb it, I enjoyed the easy movement up the steep ice with bridging out to either side making it all feel very much in balance. The third or Rogue pitch was also Ron's lead up the ramp of ice which steepened at the top. Again the ice was just perfect.
Above that I lead one long pitch over little icy pitches and long snowy ramps then we moved together with a variety of different runners between us for the long snow slopes above to the cornice.
We ended the day by climbing down No 4 Gully and, once back above the CIC Hut, we watched a skier ski down No 3 Gully - very impressive!