Ben Nevis North Face Survey

Our botanical and geological survey of the North Face of Ben Nevis started properly this week. It's been a truly inspiring and exciting five days!

The North Face Survey is a three year project led by the Nevis Landscape
Partnership, sponsored by Mammut, in collaboration with Midland Valley
Exploration and funded by the National Lottery Heritage, Scottish Natural Heritage
and The Highland Council.

The aims and objectives of the project are as follows:
 Access and survey unrecorded and unexplored areas
 Increase data and knowledge of rare arctic-alpine species
 Increase geological data and knowledge
 Strengthen relations and knowledge transfer between geologists, ecologists
and mountaineering communities.
 Inspire the public and increase awareness and appreciation of mountain
environments and some of the issues they face such as climate change

On Monday, Donald, Andy and myself headed up to the Castle area to have a look at South Castle Gully. We traversed into the gully from higher up to avoid the chockstone and proceeded to ascend the gully. In summer conditions, this really isn't to be recommended with large perched blocks balancing on scree and a fairly steep bit of climbing with rock akin to climbing on soggy Weetabix! Still, it was a really useful day and we did come across some of our target species of plants. Finding out parts of the mountain where we could take our botany and geology experts to have a closer was part of our aim but it was also important for us to rule out places that were just too difficult or dangerous to get to.

Looking down South Castle Gully

Some Arctic Mousear

Donald exploring some of the ledges leading out from the gully

On Tuesday, Scott and I were out with geology expert Roddy to explore part of the Coire Leis area. We headed up towards the traverse into North East Buttress and Roddy took some measurements of faults and contacts between the volcanic Breccia, the Inner Granite and the Andesitic lavas. Part of the aims of the geological aspect of the survey was to look at the current theory of how Ben Nevis was formed. According to Roddy there are quite a lot of discrepancies about Ben Nevis being a Caldera subsidence (or a collapsed volcanic plug) and some of this weeks findings may well result in a new geological model as to how the Ben was formed! There was a fault line running along the Little Brenva face that Roddy was keen to locate but in thick mist and rain, we really couldn't see much. We headed up by the old abseil posts onto the end of the CMD arete but had to call it a day when visibility reduced further. We made a note of this location and it was put down as  a place to visit on a day of better weather.

Dave MacLeod and Roddy

The BBC team from Landward were up filming on Wednesday so we started the day taking them up Ledge Route before heading along to the Comb.
The other teams had been busy on Tuesday rigging two long abseils down the Tower Face of the Comb and along the Don't Die of Ignorance line and we now had a chance to take our experts down the 200m abseil to explore! After an exposed little traverse along the narrow ridge, Mike and I took our Botany expert Ian down the line which eventually finished in Comb Gully. As we approached the vegetated patch on Hesperides Ledge, we spotted some promising indicator species of plants. Seeing Ian's enthusiasm as we arrived on this botanical treasure trove was really inspiring and we found previously unrecorded populations of Tufted, Highland and Alpine Saxifrage. Meanwhile, Al's team had also found some large populations of Highland and Tufted Saxifrage in the No. 5 gully area! After all the great finds we think calling the day 'Big Wednesday' was justified!

Mike chatting to the team

Paul Diffley filming the team on the crux of Ledge Route

Approaching the abseil lines of the narrow arete of the Comb

Extreme Botanist Ian abseiling down the Comb!

Mike exploring Hesperides Ledge

The rare Highland Saxifrage

Ian like a kid on Christmas morning on Hesperides Ledge!

Some Alpine Speedwell

A Fair bit of snow in the Left Hand Gulch (photo by M. Pescod)

On Thursday, I was out with Mike and Roddy, our Geology expert. One of the team had spotted an interesting looking wall on the right side of Ledge Route and our aim was to get Roddy to it to have a closer look. Roddy's knowledge of the geology of the Ben was outstanding. On our way up Ledge Route, he pointed out a large part of the route that he reckoned was so geologically unstable, that it could fall down at any time! Eeek! Upon arriving at the small wall of rock, Mike lowered Roddy down to take some readings and we then roped up to explore some of the smaller areas of rock below. Roddy was even able to show me some crystals in the Andesite which could show which way the lavas were flowing- amazing!

Roddy using the Field Move App to capture some faults

In the afternoon, I was lowered into No.3 gully with Ian and again, we spotted some more Highland Saxifrage. This was another damp and loose part of the Ben to explore, which was in keeping with the rest of the locations we've visited this week! We ended the day getting to see some of the team make the spectacular abseil down the No.3 Gully Buttress area.

A wet No. 3 Gully- a great place for ducks!

Spot the two climbers about to start the scary abseil down No.3. Gully Buttress!

Easter Island Head shaped rock!

With bodies feeling a bit tired, and a LOT of kit to take back down from the hut, Friday was a slightly shorter day.Al, Andy and myself headed up the Ledge Route commute to strip the 200m of ropes from No.3 Gully buttress. Al abseiled down first to locate the stuck ropes and found them after abseiling 98m of his 100m rope! I then hauled up 200m of rope before we carried it back down Ledge route. A cup of tea in the CIC hut, some packing and a team picture, and it was time to head down.

Scott, Dave and Ian making their way across the Plateau

A massive thank you to all the funders and sponsors for allowing this project to happen-Mammut, Midland Valley Exploration,the National Lottery Heritage, Scottish Natural Heritage
and The Highland Council.
Also, a huge thank you to the other Mountaineering Instructors I was working with this week for all the tips, knowledge and good humour that made even the wettest and most loose parts of the Ben fun to be on!
Finally thanks to our experts who taught us all so much and who took being dangled down some pretty wet and loose places, all in their stride.
I'm looking forward to next year already.

Ben Nevis North Face Survey- training week

This week saw the start of a really exciting project on the North Face of Ben Nevis.

Rather than try and explain it in too much detail, here area few snippets from the Press Release which summarise the project very well:

“The iconic cliffs of the north face of Ben Nevis are internationally renowned for their geology and impressive mountaineering heritage. These cliffs also offer one of the few opportunities in the British Isles to search for arctic-alpine species in locations still unexplored by scientists....

Ben Nevis is a key site in Britain for mountain plants – designations include Site of Special Scientific Interest, European Special Area of Conservation and most recently it was added to the international series of Important Plant Areas by Plantlife International. More than 30 nationally rare and scarce species have been found in the mountain range, of which about a dozen are known from Ben Nevis itself. However, much of the spectacular North Face of the mountain, world famous to climbers, remains unsurveyed by botanists because of the difficult terrain presented by the extensive crags.”

The project, which is being led by the Nevis Landscape Partnership, is supported by Heritage Lottery Fund ,Scottish Natural Heritage , The Highland Council, Midland Valley Exploration and equipment manufacturer Mammut.

Last week saw the start of the training phase of the project. We had a day at the Lochaber MRT base going over some of the techniques used to access some of the more remote parts of the Ben using some industrial type high ropes techniques. We the had a really interesting talk from the Botany experts about some of the rare plants we would be hoping to find as well. Jenny, a Geologist from the company Midland Valley also showed us some of the 3D mapping techniques that were going to be used as well as how to use the App on our Smart phones to record both botany and geology data.

Day 2 saw us out on the hill. First up was carrying some of the heavy loads into the CIC hut. There certainly was a lot of kit to take in but many hands make light work and we surprisingly managed most of it in our first trip. Our team headed under Carn Dearg Buttress towards Waterfall gully and with some great tuition from Botanist Ian, were able to start identifying some of the target species of plant. We also got to grips with using the Field Clin App  from Midland Valley.

Botanist Ian

With a better forecast on day 3, our group headed towards Ledge Route and the No.5 gully area. I teamed up with Mike and Ian and we headed up the rib between Moonlight Gully and No.5 gully, eventually heading into the massive bowl at the top of No.5 gully. Using a more Alpine approach saw us covering quite a bit of ground which was a great opportunity for us to record some of our target species of plant. We headed along the plateau to No.4 gully to look at some of the very rare species of Saxifrages present there. A fantastic day getting to explore some obscure parts of the Ben in Summer!

Alpine Speedwell

Drooping Saxifrage

Dwarf Cud weed

Highland Saxifrage

Mountain Speedwell

No. 4 Gully

On Friday, it was time for the climbers to have some fun so to get everyone used to long abseils we rigged some lines down Route 1 on Carn Dearg Buttress. Working with Donald, Al, Scott and Mike was great as their decades of collective experience was evident allowing all of the MIA trainees to learn a lot. We all got a chance to abseil first before escorting the experts down. The first few metres were a bit nerve racking, especially with piles of loose blocks balanced like jenga towers needing to be avoided. After that though, things just felt like a big abseil and we got to enjoy being in the sensational place that is the North Face of the Ben!

Donald and Geologist Roddy about to start the abseil

Plenty of anchors!

Tomorrow starts the Survey proper and with a fair few good finds of both botanical and geological information already, I can't wait to see what's hiding on the Ben!

Summer Update

Last week was a busy week of work for me. I had a smashing trip up the Ben with Aiden, Pete and Mark. We opted to head off road for a bit and wandered over to the top of No. 4 Gully and onto the summit around the corrie rim. Some great views too for most of the day!

Next was a day out with the Denton family, Mum Jane and her sons Matt and Ollie. A great team performance in some pretty wet weather got us to the summit and we all arrived back down for some hot chocolate with smiles on our faces!

I spent my day off in Dunkeld with Alison looking at multi-pitch climbing and the next steps towards leading on traditional climbs. We climbed a very vegetated Consolation Corner (V.Diff), Kestrel Crack (S) and Cuticle Crack (S).

Alison practising gear placement of Cuticle Crack

I had a super speedy trip up and down the Ben with Rob next. We were less than 5 hours on the hill which meant we had a chance to chat about Ben Nevis in Winter in the Ben Nevis Inn afterwards, for which Rob is super keen to return for!

A superb couple of days followed with Janet from Canada. Janet has done a fair bit of hiking and was keen to see Ben Nevis' best side so we took a trip around the Carn Mor Dearg Arete. Despite a rather wet start, things improved as we reached Carn Mor Dearg and the views juts kept improving all day!

We opted for a change of scenery and an easier day for our second day so we headed up Buachaille Etive Beag in Glencoe. An early-ish start saw us avoiding the heavy rain and even getting a few views amongst the swirling mist!