Boomer's Requiem and Vanishing Gully

Place to ourselves

Rich on the first pitch of Boomer's

This Easter weekend I am working for Abacus Mountain Guides.  Today Rich and I headed into Ben Nevis to seek out some grade V action.  I was quite surprised to see how few folk were ahead of us.  We observed that there was nobody in the Boomer's/Compression area so we bolted of the path and headed up for Boomer's Requiem (V,5).  On arrival to the route there wasn't a soul in sight, we had the place to ourselves...perfect! Everything was perfect, the ice, the climbing, the belays, the gear, the company, the weather, the situation, the temperature!  The crux pitch was brilliant and very steep!  We loved it!  So good to do another Nevis classic that I have never done.  Ice climbing on the Ben is the best!  On the top we saw chains of walkers on the tourist route enjoying the great weather and condition's so we decided not to go and summit but instead we went for another route.  We descended Number 4 gully after watching a parapentist/parachute person fly over our heads and we traversed into Vanishing Gully (V,5).  This was still in great condition and ace fun to climb.  Well hooked and stepped but still felt steep!  A couple of abseils saw us back to the bags and walking out with massive smiles on our faces!  A great day!  Cant wait for more action tomorrow!!

Spot the air born person

Rich on Vanishing Gully

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