On a fine and sunny Sunday morning Andrea, Simon, Chris, Peter, Pete, Clare, Paula (trip report) and Chrissy set out on a hastily arranged trip to climb Ben Nevis in the Richmond Ranges, led by Andrea.
After an exhilarating drive over rough roads and through a couple of fords we got to the road below the official start and deemed it too rough and steep for our vehicles.
From there it was onward and upward. Some steep climbing followed, through newly planted pines and up a rocky route onto the ridge. The weather had started cool but sunny and we were met with strong cold wind gusts as we traversed the ridge below Ben Nevis.
The first snow was on the final ascent and we got to the trig point in about 2.30 hours. We walked on a little for lunch but it was very windy and cold so some of us dropped back back down off the ridgeline to eat in a more sheltered place
On the descent the temperature went up and extra layers came off as we headed down quickly back to the cars.
Overall walking time was 4hrs 10 minutes with 1606 metres of climbing. It was a great spontaneous day, thanks Andrea for arranging it at such short notice.