We did it! Together with Bruce Cameron, Mike Durran and Geoff Carss, we have just completed a winter ascent of Ben Nevis to raise money for Bristol based charity Life Cycle. See the photos! Click on 'Read More' below for the full story of the day.
I help with their “Two’s Company” project - cycling on tandems with visually impaired adults and children. It’s a great way for everyone to get out and about and it gives access to cycling for people with difficulties such as blindness, downs syndrome, autism and early dementia.
To keep the tandems going we need money – this year funding is scarce, so please sponsor our Ben Nevis climb and help us keep the wheels going round!
Andy Osborn
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Thursday 3rd March : One week to go now before we travel up to Scotland! Crampons and Ice Axes have been sharpened and ready to hit the ice. We will be climbing on Fri 11th or Sat 12 depending on the weather. Wish us all luck!
Thurs 10th March 4.50 - Just about to start the journey to Scotland. Weather forecast looks pretty appalling at the moment for the mountains, lots of snow and gale force winds, lets hope it improves a bit. Next update will probably be after we return, so fingers crossed !
Thursday 10th Mar 6.00pm
Made it to Fort William in show showers and gale force winds. Weather looks better tomorrow, so will set off for Ben Nevis first thing. Just moderate gales tomorrow.
Monday 14th March 9am
Well we did it! The forecast for the day was snow, with gale force winds easing in the afternoon, so we left late, around 9am, and set off in the rain. This had turned to snow by the time we stopped to eat at the half way point. Hitting the zig-zags there was lots of soft heavy snow, and the conditions started to deterioate, until by corner 6 we had a complete whiteout, with almost no visibility. With crampons on, we navigated with compass, pace counting and GPS up onto the plateau. where the snow was punctuated with patches of glass-like ice. Finally the summit triangulation pillar appeared out of the whiteout, great relief all round! We stopped for a brief snack, it was minus 6 degrees with 20mph winds, making a wind chill of about minus 16c, and believe me it felt like it! Coming off the plateau, the clouds lifted and we saw the magnificent view over Loch Linnhe and the surrounding peaks. Managed to glissade down to corner 2, almost half way down, before finally getting down to the bottom at 6.20pm. Only one other group made it to the top that day, so we were very pleased.
Many many thanks to all those who sponsored us, its hugely appreciated.
