It was to be a typical Robin day. Just a quick trip up Aonach Mohr. Good we will be taking the gondola then; no we need to walk from Glen Nevis. A lazy walk up the glen then; no we have to go over a bealach, it’s only an extra 3000 feet of ascent but it’s a nice view and saves 10 minutes. So off we set in magnificent scenery. I hadn’t walked up the glen for about 15 years. Robin was right it’s very wild and beautiful. We arrive at the bealach between Carn Mor Dearg and Anoach Mor still feeling quite fresh. The west face was very alpine with arêtes plastered with fresh snow and gullies dripping with blue ice. We had planned on doing West Rib but the adjacent Spare Rib Gully looked inviting. Robin led the first pitch finding a nice icicle thread just at an interesting bulge. I led off on the next which was well iced. It was quite a long pitch so I was glad to use the only item of ice gear we had brought with us, a blunt (ie the pointy bit that makes it work was broken off) wart hog at a steep section but I had to pound it rather hard to get it to go in. There followed a steepish pull with a funny little step up to the left. It was at this point I realised something was not quite right. I moved up again. There really was something wrong. Instead of the usual thwack, thwack of the axes I had a thwack, crunch sound every time I moved up. Investigation revealed that my trusty 35 year old zero hammer had an 18 inch split in the shaft. Ah well it was supposed to be a traditional day! 9mm rope tied round waist, no ice gear, and one axe. It suited the route exactly. Fortunately just as the rope ran out I arrived at a massive flake belay. We wandered up the gully a bit then followed West Rib to the top moving together over some little slabs, awkward at times, glad Robin in the lead, could not hear my crampons skittering about on the rock, but it was quite safe with very good alpine style spikes and the odd runner. We were soon on the summit which was mostly a white out. It was a steep descent back to the bealach and then a relatively easy amble back over to Glen Nevis. A classic day out on a quiet part of the mountain.