The Comb is named after the horizontal, knife-edge crest joining the top of the buttress to the mountain. It's fantastically exposed and a bit mossy and loose as well so it is quite a memorable trip. Today we took a BBC team (Paul Diffley, Dougie Vipond and Rich Parker) along the crest to the top of the buttress for some filming and interviews for Landward.
Once the BBC crew had finished, Ian, Dave and I went down the line we rigged past Hesperides Ledge and into Comb Gully. This was a great place to be looking for plants as it turned out. Ian found Highland Saxifrage, Alpine Saxifrage and Tufted Saxifrage as well plenty of Alpine Speedwell, Sibaldia and Mouse Ears. The saxifrages are a very significant find. Before today they were only recorded in Number Four Gully and no records of Alpine Saxifrage existed on Ben Nevis apart from the one we found last week.
Ian was made up with his finds today and Roddy (geologist from Midland Valley) found some very important geological sites on the front face of The Comb near Don't Die of Ignorance. It is great playing a part in these discoveries and being able to make it all possible with the access we can provide. We're all learning so much from each other and have a great time too. The is a really cool project!
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