Early summer rapid access to the ridge

In early summer rapid access to the ridge above the buttress may sometimes be gained by descending from the top of Shipowner Ridge into the Therma Basin and crossing easy snow below the North Face of the buttress to a point where an all snow route leads back to the ridge. This route, on the sunny face, is soon cut by schrunds as the season progresses. This is also a good descent route early season. A rappel can be made from the flat spot at 2470m. Times for the North West Ridge vary greatly; a rapid return climb time would be 8 hours. The average is 11–12 hours and slow parties have been observed doing overtime up to 18 hours!