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My second ascent of Ben Nevis.
We had 4 days camping in Glen Nevis, and were hoping for
a good day to climb Ben Nevis by the CMD (Carn Mor Dearg)
arete. The first 3 days were cloudy, so we woke on the 4th
morning wondering whether this would be it. Unfortunately,
the cloud was sitting at about 600m. However, the other 3 in
the party had never been up the Ben, so we decidied to go
for it anyway.
The path from the Youth Hostel was well built (much
improved since my previous ascent), and so we made staedy
progress, reaching Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe at 12 noon after
less than 2 hours walking. This was the moment of truth -
the parting of the ways. the cloud had lifted slightly to
about 750m, but still looked pretty permanent, so we
abandoned all hope of the CMD route and continued up the
tourist path, reaching the summit (along with 100s of
others) at 2.15pm (4 hours walking).
The summit is a pretty depressing place - strewn with
ruined buildings, scrap metal and other detritus. In fact,
without peering over the cliff edges, you would hardly know
you were on top of a mountain at all. Suddenly, the cloud
lifted (and with it, our spirits). The views opened up on
all sides, and the magnificence of the position at the top
of 2000ft cliffs, suddenly became apparent.
After a quick consultation, Anne and Timo elected to
return down the tourist track, while Iain and I decided to
descend along the arete. A steep scramble down boulders led
to the start of the arete, then one of the most entertaining
hours yet in the Scottish hills. We kept as close as
possible to the top of the ridge all the way, which involved
some superb boulder-hopping with steep drops on either side
(but especially to the north into Coire Leis).
Unfortunately, my camera film ran out, so I couldn't record
the fun (but see below). We continued along the arete, then
up to the summit of Carn Mor Dearg. A few 100 metres
further, the surpricsingly exposed summit of the Munro top
Carn Mor Meadhonach proved to be a good view point.
Now the fun was over! A horrible steep descent on scree
and steep grass down into the valley below. Frequent stops
to admire the cliffs of Ben Nevis, now high above us, made
it just bearable - is it any pleasanter as a means of
ascent? Once across the stream, we followed a rough path
which led back round the join the tourist route near Lochan
Meall an t-Suidhe. A rapid descent was then possible; the
only obstacle to progress being slow and footsore tourists
struggling back downhill!
A superb day, despite the lack of early promise.
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