Happy birthday to me......

Celebrating a certain age over this weekend I thought it would be a good idea to get out on the hills, so I headed up to Fort William on Thursday afternoon to meet Steve Holmes from Vertical Fever .  After a quick meeting that evening the decision was made to celebrate my birthday on Friday with a ascent of Castle Ridge (Grade 3S) on Ben Nevis before coming back down Ledge Route.  So an early start on Friday saw us heading towards the north face of the Ben.  It didn't take long before we where at the base of Castle Ridge and gearing up. Steve led off and it was a fine ascent up a classic Scottish ridge - and the midges even stayed away.

At the top of the ridge Steve and I had a quick council of war and decided that we should actually summit the Ben and then head down the CT Arete - this was good news for me because I will be leading a party up the arete in August and had never done it.  So Friday turned into a very long, but excellent day on the mountain.

Sunday morning saw us heading into Glencoe to have a crack at North Buttress, Buachaille Etive Mor, which is another Scottish classic at Grade 3S.  This ridge is certainly longer and more sustained but it was another cracker of a day and I felt comfortable and confident throughout the ascent.  Once again, at the top we had a council of war - a ropey walk over scree to get off, or Curved Ridge (Grade 2/3).  No contest, Curved Ridge was always going to win and it gave me some much needed practice and experience at down climbing on scrambles.

So an outstanding weekend to celebrate my birthday.  Massive thanks must go to Steve Homes of Vertical Fever .