Number 3 Gully Buttress

Today I was working with a pair from QUB Mountaineering Club who are over from Ireland. Over the last couple of days Coreen and Yo have been doing some winter skills and some grade II climbing. Today they wanted to have a swing around with 2 axes. So today we headed for Ben Nevis as there were lots of options for us to have a look at. We headed into Creag coire na Ciste to see what options we had. There were many teams out today but we opted for Number 3 Gully Buttress (my first ever winter route, back in 2006). This route has some patches of ice and some great mixed terrain which allowed the guys to have an taster of the different styles of climbing. We weren't the only ones on the route, a couple of other teams were making an ascent which made it a nice sociable day. Kenny was working with Gordon and climbed Two Step Corner. Other teams were on Green and Comb Gully and I think a team went up Thompson's. Castle ridge and Ledge route also saw ascents and were reported to be in good condition but a little windy.