Orion Direct

It was either a pre dawn start or a casual start.  Fortunately I had the option and opted for a 7am meet time with Al (thats the casual start).  The plan was to climb the uber classic Orion Direct (V,5) on Ben Nevis which we did after a little humming and hawing.  I very very very rarely climb ice routes below other people because I don't want to be whacked in the face with ice.  But we agreed that we would have a nice slow day following the crowds up the route.  With 3 teams ahead of us we weren't going anywhere fast but amazingly didn't get hit by any substantial blocks of ice.   It was a great route to do, really pleased we had a chilled out day, it did go on for a while though....

Al cold because he was waiting on a belay for a while

Take what you can

Ace exit groove!

The mighty Tower Ridge

Its great to see the mountains alive with climbers.  So many routes being climbed with about 50% of all the climbers on either Point 5 Gully or Orion Direct.  Slav route had an ascent, Blair, Ian and Nona climbed Astronomy  teams on Hadrian's, Zero, Minus 2 Gully and various other amazing routes.  What a winter were having!