Little Ben here summarising what was a fantastic weekend on Ben Nevis.

The North Face of Ben Nevis is an exciting and wild place, and all too often the weather reflects that. I’ve been coming on this trip most years since 2016 and in all that time we’ve always had pretty fierce weather for at least part of the weekend. 19-21st April 2024 however, the conditions were perfect. Glorious sunshine, no wind, warm temperatures to soften the snow pack but not too warm to create instability. For the 20 of us who ascended on the CIC hut we took total advantage of the sliding available.

Everyone present was an excellent skier but we varied on Ben Nevis and Scottish steeps experience. What was a real joy for me was seeing how organically the more experienced club members encouraged and informed the Ben debutants. We made sure to work on our group size dynamics (something that had got out of hand in previous years!), and respected the ever present risks of rock/ice fall on the Ben. But with due caution taken, we then had what for many of us was the best skiing all season. Given such a claim, I thought it right to give everyone a say on the weekend.

Here’s a selection of our highlights:

Max B – Amazing six course dinner on Saturday night.

 

Alasdair – Party laps of gully #4 – the soft Spring snow was a perfect introduction for members who were new to the trip

Snowboarding down Tower gully – this was a first for me

Seeing more experienced members pushing themselves and getting more comfortable with the intimidating terrain

Dan – Feeling absolutely terrified followed by complete oneness with myself, my body, skis, and the snow in the space of a few minutes.

Ross – My favorite was the “gully number 4 jump park”. Especially for me as I found the cornice pretty intimidating the first time (and down climbed) but did manage to do it and the conditions were perfect for learning.

Sam – Great fun with friends with a really positive and encouraging vibe to the weekend, and skiing Tower gully. The highlight of a great season for me!

Chris – Good to see everyone helping each other out, both on the hill and in the kitchen. Great company and fantastic weather.

Connie – It was the craziest Scottish skiing I’ve ever done! My first time skiing on the Ben, my first gully, first time dropping off a cornice, I’ll never forget it and I’m super grateful for everyone’s knowledge and support while I was shit scared at the top haha xxx

And then later, washing away (some of) the day’s sweat in freezing cold water!

Max F –  Amazing weekend, first time on the Ben under Chris’ friendly guidance up Observatory and Number 4 separated by lunch and coffee in the sun at the hut.

Next day a cheeky second lap of 4 and a swim on the way down. Highlights were new lines, good vibes, swims both days, epic sunset and 18 course dinner!!!

Al B –  🤩

Elliot – Highlight of the weekend was definitely seeing IBSC members littered around the Ben like little ant colonies whilst sipping a lunchtime brew at the cic hut

Fi – After getting up and down observatory gully in the morning, our midday stop at the CIC hut allowed time to take it all in. The ambience of this imposing mountain, sun glistening off the rocks and snow. Sipping a crispy coffee with shades on, whilst excitedly spotting our team meandering down number Five gully whilst another began to appear in number Three. And a square of chocolate to top it all off. Now ready to get ourselves in the midst – number Four to be precise.

Xav – Fiery sun on the hills

Faerie pools for many dips

We gave some tourists a rush of adrenaline they didn’t expect

Tim – Switching from crampons to skis in my cave was fun, as was shredding no. 4

Katie & Rob – ‘Sitting up on the Ledge Route we got a great view of fellow club members below in Gully Number 5. It was so still we could hear every word and excited squeak echoing around the north face. We had the place to ourselves apart from this little guy who had beat us to it earlier that day. Nevis Marmott??’

Collectively IBSC skied, Gully no 5, no 4 – many times!, part of no 3, part of no 2 and Tower Gully top to bottom. What a weekend, what a trip, what a crew – Thankyou!