Top House.....

Well this is where I spent last night.... nice and cosy actually despite the 'horror' stories form the walkers yesterday about how cold it was on the summit...

just over 3 and half hours walking got me on top , pretty slow by comparison to some of the guys form yesterday but they were carrying nothing, I had a bag with gear for 2nights 3 days, including all food and fuel..

I got up to the summit and found no one else around what a relief... the evidence was there though of how busy it gets up here ... I had to empty a full size bag of rubbish out of the summit shelter to make it habitable. guess my bags gonna be heavier going down tomorrow..


The shelter is a great asset for climbers topping out on a route late in the day in the winter, offering the potential to get out of the weather to dekit and get ready for the descent, often the most tricky part of the day especially if the weather gets bad.. or as an emergency refuge to spend the night.

The hut is only about 8feet by 10feet inside, but with walls insulated with a few inches of polystyrene foam its actually pretty comfortable especially once you get a few guys huddled up in there... or in my case get a candle going after taking the chill of the air with the stove while cooking...

I only had an old 3 season down sleeping bag but never felt the cold.


I woke at around 5 and the only sound that could be heard was the slow melting of the patch of snow behind the shelter