Originally Posted by jarrod248

He's old and ginger, forget about him.

Wedge is cuddly!

Originally Posted by postman_twit

Wedge is cuddly!

I feel ill. No decent talent between you.

The Ben has a long history of people getting carted off dead that underestimated it, and that's the same for all the major "tourist" Scottish hills.

The rules for the Ben are no different that those for any other Scottish hill in winter.

1 Have a map and compass and know how to use them, go wrong on the Ben in bad weather and you can end up in deep shit. I have personally been involved in a lot of call outs on the Ben, and a lot of the fatalities were down to poor navigation, especially coming off, you don't want to wander into Antler gully.

2. All of you have ice axes and know how to brake with one if you start an unplanned decent on hard snow/ice.

3 Dress for the conditions and carry emergency gear, including torches and whistles.

4 Don't have mixed footwear in the party, if one of you has crampons you should all have crampons.

5 Leave a route plan with someone.

Hope you all have a great day, but if the conditions on the day are what you consider to be beyond your capabilities go to the pub, the Ben will still be there tomorrow.

Wee snippet, we brought Bonnington off the Ben

Originally Posted by kilo42

The Ben has a long history of people getting carted off dead that underestimated it, and that's the same for all the major "tourist" Scottish hills.

The rules for the Ben are no different that those for any other Scottish hill in winter.

Wee snippet, we brought Bonnington off the Ben

Thanks Kilo. I shall include that in the brief! Points taken. Keep up the good work, good on you all.
"Mountain awareness!"

Pretty much everything has already been said but a little bit more specific info for this time of year is that once you approach the summit after the zig zag ascent from the lake there is the bit that results in the majority of deaths on the Ben. There is a crescent shaped ridgeline with what can be some of the most impressive views looking down a valley. The problem arises in winter where the top of this valley fills with snow to form a cornice, person steps out onto the cornice to take a picture or take what appears to be the shortest route across to the summit, cornice collapses, horrible death ensues. This point can be seen facing north at the last kink in the path before the summit on this map of the route Ben Nevis by the Mountain Track - Route Map

Last time I was up, April two years ago, it was mistier than a misty thing, and ended up standing on the cornice! That was nearly a short step to a large fall. So I would recommend keeping away from it.

Originally Posted by johnboyzzz

Last time I was up April two years ago, it was mistier than a misty thing, and ended up standing on the cornice! That was nearly a short step to a large fall. So I would recommend keeping away from it.

Who's April?

Last time I went up was a couple years back as part of doing the 3 peaks, it was July and pretty warm low down. Good place to pick up kit as people were stashing their jackets etc under rocks to pick up on the way down. Unfortunately for them (if they made the top) there was still snow up and it was a little nippy.

If you dont fancy full crampons could take a look at YAK-TRAKS or MicroSpikes. They should fit over most shoes/boots and can carry them no problems, quite popular with mountain runners in winter. The kind of thing you could use in general snow/ice weather as well. Look a bit silly walking to the pub in crampons... well unless you intend on popping out for a pint with Sir Ranulph!

Funnily enough my Dad and I got given some Yak Trak type things for Christmas and I am trying to test them. Seem a good idea just don't know if they fill up with ice etc too quickly. But yes they could be useful. It would appear that we'll go end of March. So snow may not be such an issue.

Originally Posted by Mr_Deputy

Funnily enough my Dad and I got given some Yak Trak type things for Christmas and I am trying to test them. Seem a good idea just don't know if they fill up with ice etc too quickly. But yes they could be useful. It would appear that we'll go end of March. So snow may not be such an issue.

Fail to prepare......