Carn Mor Dearg and Ben Nevis, 7th April 2012

I put the call out to the troops a couple of weeks back to see who fancied a trip up to Fort William for Carn Mor Dearg and Ben Nevis. This is a trip I've been trying to do since April 2010 when I completed my last Mamore, but I've had to put it off due to weather and light (it's a long one so it needs a long day - October - March are out).

I woke up at 5:30 on Saturday morning and headed off to pick up Wilco and Steg. Steg was first for a pick-up at 6:20 but a faff was in order as he tried to get his makeup off from 2.8 Hours Later. We headed for Wilco and then Steg realised he'd forgotten his waterproof jacket, so we had to pick that up.....

Anyway, we were on the M8 by 6:45 and hoofed it along a fairly quiet A82 for breakfast rolls at the Green Welly.

We pressed on and made it to Glen Nevis for 9:20. The rain had subsided and the air was clear, but it was still cloudy. We headed up the tourist track which was heaving with all sorts of folk; groups of foreign tourists, 3 peakers, and a classic fella in trainers, jeans and a Morrisons bag with a bottle of fizzy juice in it.

We made the halfway Lochan about 10:45 and broke away from the main crowd. We got our first taste of the North Face, which really is stunning, but at a price; we had to drop 200m, to then climb about 600m again as we ascended Carn Dearg Meadhonach. 

Steg, Chris and the North Face

Around that time, the weather started to turn. It was misty and there was a lot of smirry rain showers.

We made it to the summit of Carn Mor Dearg at 2:20pm. It was wet and very windy. The final whisky favour, from Scott and Lynne's Wedding was ceremoniously tanned and we headed for what is probably the most magnificent ridge in Scotland, except today, it was the greyest and mistiest ridge in Scotland.

We started the scramble in some gusts but the holds were big and easy and there were great footholds too. There was a fair bit of snow about, but nothing icy at this point.

The Carn Mor Dearg Arete

At a couple of points we had to take great care. In the wet, flat rocks became slippy and there was a danger of falling 50m on each side.

After an hour or so of exhilarating enjoyment, we reached the bottom of the Arete, and had to climb a final 200m to the summit of Ben Nevis.

The end of the Arete, looking into Coire Leis

Once we were on the summit at 5:15, we saw a few people milling about. We took heed of the warnings in the books and took a bearing towards the standard path. We met up with it, but out of the mists we saw the edge that we could have walked out on if we'd been walking blind. Navigation saves the day once again.

It was a long trudge down the path and we only lost the cloud about 300m above sea level. We made it back to the car eventually, at 7:20 then headed for Fort Bill for a Haggis Supper, and then down the road for a hot path.