The west face of Ben Hope from the Moine path. 9am, 06/04/00
North ridge of Ben Hope. 10.30am, 06/04/00 ~ . . . which I chickened out of, on the grounds of excessive spring snow - neither the prow of the ridge nor the easy variant which takes that gap in the lower crag looked at all inviting. Instead, I dropped down into the boulder-strewn Coir' a Ghallaidh, where the deep snow made for awful laborious progress, escaping as soon as possible, up steep frozen turf, on to the eastern shoulder and so to the summit. In all, it had taken me just on 6 hours from leaving the road, which may well be some sort of lamentable record for the ascent of Ben Hope.
