Ben Nevis - Gemini (VI/6)

Beautiful 3-star route on Ben Nevis. Pitch 1 and 3 are always on thin ice and seldom formed. It is a very complete route with a strong alpine character, ending on the summit plateau of Ben Nevis.

L#1| 4 |50m |Starting in a slighty overhanging corner. After this, continue up the groove and make a belay on a block on your right. L#2| 2+/3 |60m |Take an easier ramp to a large detached flake. L#3| 4 |25m| Climb down a couple of meters to a steep wall with a thin ice “smear”. climb this. In situ belay with fixed nuts. L#4| || Big traverse over a ledge. Mixed climbing with little gear. End in a bottleneck at the end where a shallow gully moves back up again. (a second “twin gully” is to the left of this, hence the name Gemini, I guess) Make a belay in the bottleneck (good chockstone to do so). L#5| |40m |Climb the shallow gully and move right for 15m afterwards. Belay on rock or ice. L#6| || Climb icy slabs to reach easier ground that brings you to the big spur on which Gemini is situated. L#6’| 4+/5| 40m| Variant/direct finish. When exiting the shallow gully of pitch 5, also move right but not so far. There is a large wall. If this is iced-up it makes for an excellent ending! Scottish cauliflowers! L#7| | 200m| move up towards the spur on which Gemini is situated and move up to the summit plateau. Easy ground Scottish II.

Route is graded VI/6 according to the Scottish Winter quotation. It’s hard to translate this into ice or mixed grades. This route, however does translate well into the given quotation because it is mainly ice climbing.