Crowberry gully ... the weather was kind enough, and yesterday's snow had added to the conditions.
It takes the line direct to the summit left of the buttress.
We parked in the car park just off the road and walked over the heather, through the stream, and up the lower gully.
On meeting the snow we took the first pitch unroped to save time, but need not have bothered.
At the top of the first pitch, we were met by an avalanche of debris .. there were at least two parties above and they all seemed to be having difficulties .. nothing subtle about their approach.
I took the delicate junction pitch .. very little ice left by the prior groups, but delicate front pointing on rock and pulling on ice axes jammed into cracks, and we were over into more of the snw gully.
Dave took the cave pitch. As we waited for the wreckers in front to destroy this step as well, a solo climber charged up from below ... we let him through, as he was climbing fast and graciously with hardly any effort .. complete contrast to the others. It turned out to be Joe Brown who was scouting for a tv program. Our brief conversation a memory for both of us, and additionally the delicate poise of a master.
From here the difficulties were over and we just had a straight forward pull to the summit.
The other parties had all disappeared .. probably a good thing otherwise I would have made a sarcastic comment about vandalism of routes.
We had a good opportunity to bask in what was a great route and we had grabbed it in good condition.
From here we took the easy option of the normal descent route, especially as time was getting on.
The descent was a fantastic 1500m bum slide, and very quickly we were back at the car.
The tales in the bar were very exaggerated that night added to Bryon and Alan completing Curved ridge
