The most famous snow/ice climb in the world? This classic Scottish gully on the north face of Ben Nevis is the benchmark against which grading systems for snow and ice climbs all over the world are referenced to. At 325 metres in length the climb starts from around about 1050m.

A perfect April day saw Phil and I head off at 4am to find ourselves almost alone on the Ben barring a couple of other parties taking advantage of the late season. Sub zero temperatures at the start of the day gave much cause for optimism and certainly the approach slopes to the base of the gully were well bonded. The first two pitches were great but as we gained height it seemed as though we were caught in a temperature inversion as the crags started to shed their icy coating down on us. Half way up the crux third pitch Phil was thwarted by an unusually difficult and narrower than normal (this was his fourth time up Point 5)overhanging corner. We chose to bail out and abseil back down......

It turned out we weren't alone in bailing out that day.... another party on a grade VII found similar difficulties to us and also elected to bail out so we were in good company!

The great thing about mountains is that they're still there the next year. And it was still a day I'll always remember. cheers Phil!