Toyohashi Alpine Club
Ben Nevis: Tower Ridge on the North Face
Party: Iain Williams and Darren DeRidder
Report by: Darren DeRidder

When planning to head over to Europe for another climbing adventure with Iain , Ben Nevis was on my wish list, if I had time in the UK. I flew to London. Iain got us up to Scotland where we turned up at the Glen Nevis golf course around 10:30 am Saturday morning after an early start from Glasgow.

Setting off on an upward track through the golf course we headed for the mouth of the col that reached the North Face of “the Ben”. Iain had mentioned a “soggy” approach but I wasn’t quite prepared for the muck and mire that sucked at my boots, threatening to pull them right off, when we reached the green grassy meadows above.

It had been a very wet summer and the previous night it had been raining heavily. As we climbed however, the ever-growing North Face of the Ben changed from a glistening wall of wet, dark stone to a more approachable grey and brown system of ridges and gullies.

To start the route we avoided the wet, steep headwall leading to the crest of Tower Ridge and the two parties who were moving very slowly on it. Instead we went right around behind the ridge and started up it from the foot of Observatory Gully, joining the main route at a damp chimney. At the top of this chimney, a vertical corner crack led to easier ground on the ridge crest. It was quite wet so taking the rope we got on belay and I led it without trouble to a comfortable ledge. Not knowing what to expect, I had placed several pieces of gear, but Iain was soon up and we put away the rope and began to scramble.

The route went over easy ground for quite a while, with just enough intermittent exposure to keep it interesting. As we moved up the steepness of the ridge increased. A major feature of this route is a “tunnel” which is a rather steep chimney between two solid rock walls with a large chockstone above. We climbed up the chimney and out from under the chockstone. I was definitely switched into “climbing mode” here as the moves were slightly technical though the holds big and solid. The wet rock required extra care, and I had to squeeze my pack past the chockstone as I came through the top of the “tunnel”.

Approaching Ben Nevis I had been comforted by its seemingly small size. I was sure we could do it even if we moved slowly. Now up on the higher parts of the ridge I felt the space under my boots as I pulled up over a steep block that leaned away from the ridge. Before too long we were facing one last steep section before the “notch”, a cleft in the ridge that requires you to gingerly downclimb a very steep rock step for about 3 meters and then immediately bridge across and ascend the other side on steep rock, which puts you above a very big drop.

The final ridge to the summit looked as steep as anything else we'’d climbed so far that day, but Iain claimed it was simple and sure enough, good holds and ledges soon brought us right to the top. I was immensely pleased. We sauntered over to the highest point on the rounded summit (the highest in the UK, in fact), climbing gear clinking on our harnesses, aware that we stood out among the hordes of tourist hikers who, minutes before, had been yelling at us from their wide, well-tended trail.

We were very fortunate with the weather. It was a beautiful sunny day with bright billowing clouds that had the wonderful effect of adding a sense of space and distance to the sky. The patchwork of light and shadow played on the broad sweeping valleys, green meadows and rock summits below us. The clouds echoed the turbulent geography below, stretching off to the sea and the Isle of Skye in the distance. The rain had cleared the air and the views were wide and clear. It was Scotland, just like I’d imagined only more. I was standing on top of it all, and it felt very good to be there.