Beautiful sunshine again today with a reasonable frost so it was time to find out if there is ice to climb in the gullies. John, Craig and I went for Crowberry Gully which was certainly going to be full of snow but what kind of snow was still in question. When the sunshine is so warm on the walk in it's always a bit strange thinking you're going ice climbing. It was a good day to go for the Crowberry Gully / Agag's Groove combination.

The gully is certainly very full of snow and most of it is quite straight forward. Unfortunately the snow has still not turned to ice higher up and the climbing is quite delicate and insecure. This led to the comment of the day "Mike, do you have to wear a special harness .... to fit your balls in!" Ballsy leads with no protection are still the order of the winter!

Good news from Ben Nevis. Lots of big ice climbs were climbed today including Minus One Gully, Minus Two Gully, Minus Three Gully, Left Hand Route, various lines on Orion Face and Observatory Buttress. Cornice collapse is a serious hazard at the moment with the hot sunshine on the cornices all day long. Several avalanches have been triggered by collapsing cornices - don't be caught underneath one when it falls off! Another good day tomorrow before it goes a bit soggy at the end of the week.