Lost the Place.

Another calm and cool day took Tommy and me to Ben Nevis. It was not quite as cold as I hoped for and the ice climbs are forming but not yet fat in general. So we went to climb Lost the Place on Creag Coire na Ciste. This is a fantastic climb up a natural winter line with lots of very good climbing on it. There is a long left trending groove which has reasonable protection but it was hard to find and hard to place. The next pitch has a brilliant 3D move and the last pitch, up an intimidating overhanging chimney, was icy and solid. This climb deserves to be climbed much more often than it is currently, it's brilliant.

There are a few French climbers enjoying good climbing on Ben Nevis at the moment and a few other teams. Green Gully, Tower Ridge, NE Buttress, Thomson's Route and several other routes were done. There is good ice in the Trident Buttresses and Mega Route X is not far off being fat enough to climb.

The snow appears to be settling down slowly but there are some soft cornices in a few places. We descended Number Four Gully through some droopy cornices. There is a good notch cut through the cornice and steps in the snow beneath. The forecast for the end of the week is looking good. Make sure you get out climbing if you can.