I met up with Nick and we set off early to have a bash at School House ridge. It leads from behind the school house up onto the Ballachulish horseshoe. The route had been recommended to my by Sam Leary who thought that it went at about grade 2, but that rock fall on it last year might have removed some of the worst difficulty.
The ridge is relatively wide with one or two tricky rock steps. It had been snowing heavily all day, but this just made things more fun. We topped out onto the ridge and nipped up onto the Munro summit before turning round and popping down the North ridge back to Ballachulish. We were off the hill by 2:15pm. So did a very traditional Scottish winter mountaineering thing and went for coffee at a local coffee shop. After a good catch up Nick headed home to Manchester. So I went gear shopping and tried on new winter boots, before hitting the sauna in Fort William.
I met back up with James for dinner in the evening. After some deliberation we decided on having a bash at Golden Oldie the next day.
The ridge is relatively wide with one or two tricky rock steps. It had been snowing heavily all day, but this just made things more fun. We topped out onto the ridge and nipped up onto the Munro summit before turning round and popping down the North ridge back to Ballachulish. We were off the hill by 2:15pm. So did a very traditional Scottish winter mountaineering thing and went for coffee at a local coffee shop. After a good catch up Nick headed home to Manchester. So I went gear shopping and tried on new winter boots, before hitting the sauna in Fort William.
I met back up with James for dinner in the evening. After some deliberation we decided on having a bash at Golden Oldie the next day.
Nick on the tricky step.
School House Ridge.
Me Pulling up through the rock steps (Photo Nick Reed)