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TR Tower Gully, Ben Nevis, 10 June
 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead

With a few days spare on a trip to Scotland and a short spell of good weather forecast I was keen to sneak in some midsummer skiing. Tower Gully on Ben Nevis has been on my 'list' for a long time, despite a close call with a double-fracturing cornice about 15 years ago, but it is one of those things I never quite get round to doing - either through being in the Alps in the Spring or not being able to travel back with ski gear...

With everything but skis in the car I gathered a crack team comprising Al Reid - in top form (only 1 days skiing this winter) and local all-round mountain man Jonny Sutherland. A quick visit to an old friend & I was sorted with a pair of slightly short skis, but hey - for spring snow almost anything will do (cheers again for the skis Mike!).

Despite a cloudy start to the day we set off hoping that the forecast would come good...And sure enough as we walked towards the CIC hut the sun finally burnt off the remaining clouds:



Not much snow left in #2 & #3 gullies...



A quick pause at the hut to take in the view and we wandered round to the bottom of Observatory Gully:



There was still a tongue of snow almost to the bottom of the gully, and though thin we were hopeful that it would be continuous all the way up. A quick swap to ski boots and we were off again:



A sneaky dogleg towards the bottom of Point Five gully and 10 yards on rock & grass saw us connect to the upper snow. Good firm conditions under foot made for rapid progress.
Level with the top of Tower Scoop:



Heading towards the light in Tower Gully proper:



Al pushes on towards the cornice:



Culture shock - Ben Nevis summit busy with walkers - needless to say we got some strange looks wandering up there in our ski boots!



Al contemplating the cornice, normally the crux of the descent:



The ski down was fantastic - a small drop to get over the cornice, and then perfect spring snow all the way - a couple of narrow sections that had to be straight-lined near the bottom, but a fantastic place to be skiing, particularly in June!!

Some headcam footage from the descent - full video to follow at a later date:

Tower Gully - Headcam footage from Simon Christy
http://vimeo.com/12506551 (Can't seem to embed??)
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person

Bravo Very Happy

What's the vert? and pitch?
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 Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Nice work.

You made the cornice look easy. Shocked
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You need to Login to know who's really who.

Not sure what is happening on my (iMac) computer : the video comes on for a moment and then the screen goes blank. Happened on something on another web-site too. Very frustrating - I want to see this one.
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Not sure what is happening on my (iMac) computer : the video comes on for a moment and then the screen goes blank. Happened on something on another web-site too. Very frustrating - I want to see this one.
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You'll need to Register first of course.

good work - amazing for June!
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

That cornice looks very scary!

Mike Pow, until you get someone more authoritative:
Looking on my map I suppose the height of the whole gully is about 490 or so metres (1630 ft) over a horizontal of 650m, which I make 37º, though obviously the top half is much steeper and the top 150m must be about 55º? (Or am I misreading my map, it is hard to make out the contours when they are so packed together at the top.)

Beyond the bottom, as it opens out on the right onto the general slope (but still following the cliff face on the left)the slope does continue down more gently about another 80m vertical till you get to the run out down the valley (when that is possible) which would generally take you down nearly another couple of hundred metres of vertical before the usual winter snowline (if the boulders aren't too big to allow it?). But all that can't have had snow on the film, of course.

(still cant get it to play so I'm guessing).


Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Thu 17-06-10 13:41; edited 1 time in total
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!

Gulp - amazing Shocked
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.

Thanks snowball
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great post and fantastic vid
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