Ben Nevis via Carn Mor Dearg, Scotland - September 2015

That's Fort William in the fog down in the valley.

Instead of kicking back and taking it easy after finishing off the West Highland Way in Scotland last year I backed up the day after finishing with an attempt on the UK's highest mountain Ben Nevis. Now I was always going to be looking for an interesting route to the top and after talking to the manager of our accommodation at the Lime Tree Inn who happened to also be a mountain guide I came away with a plan and a mud map, I was going to attempt the climb from the North Face Car Park via Carn Mor Dearg, therefore making my walk into a big circuit, always a bonus. Now the plan involved an early start, but I'm not a good early starter so when I woke up in Fort William and looked out the window and couldn't even make out Loch Linnhe through the fog around 50 metres from my window, I quickly decided that the best course of action was to head back to bed. A couple of hours later after a bit of a sleep in and a leisurely breakfast I finally jumped into a taxi and drove through the still foggy morning out to the North Face Car Park.

The first section today required a bit of detective work to stay on the correct route.

Now I had a bit of an issue this morning, apart from my mud map I didn't actually have a map for the first section of my climb. So after saying goodbye to my taxi driver I set off up the wide track through the pine trees, the fog hanging low adding a slightly foreboding atmosphere. Initially there were quite a few tracks to negotiate and it took a bit of detective work to keep me heading in the right direction, luckily I knew that I'd pass above the CIC Hut and the hut name sometimes featured on the signposts at the track junctions, so I just kept heading up through the pine forest, heading towards the hut at any junction I came across. After a bit of detective work I broke out of the pine plantation, below me Fort William was still blanketed in fog and at the same time the tops above were also shrouded in low cloud, I was now walking in a sweet spot above the fog but below the cloud.

I've just broken out of the pine plantation..and the fog.

Continuing onwards and upwards the topography started to match up with my mud map, I was now following the gushing Coire Leis up a wide valley, the cliffs hemming the head of the valley in still shrouded in cloud. I was now looking for a lone tree which would mark the spot where I had to leave the track in the valley and head up the steep grassy slopes towards Carn Mor Dearg, finding a likely looking tree I veered to the east and struck out up the grassy boggy ground. Now I'd be embellishing it a bit if I said that there was no sign of any other hill walkers having been this way, but there was only an intermittent pad up the steep grassy slopes. I had a stroke of good luck climbing up here, my slow pace seemed to match the rate at which the cloud was slowly lifting so even though I couldn't see the tops I could see far enough ahead to tell that I was climbing the highest ground.

Following the track up beside Coire Leis towards CIC Hut, I was looking for a lone tree that would mark my spot to start climbing the grassy slopes on the left of the valley.

That's Fort William in the distance and the small Coire Leis flowing through the valley.

The cloud teased me all day.

The North Face of Ben Nevis, this is the best photo that I got.

Looking across Coire Leis to LochanMeall An T-Suide in the hanging valley on the other side, my descent down the Tourist Track would pass close to the lake later in the day.

Topping out eventually on what was was the ridge leading to the summit of Carn Mor Dearg, I now followed a series of knolls along the high ridge, the cloud lifting enough to give me views into the deep valleys below and at the same time I generally had a bit of a view of the next knoll on the acute ridge, the rocky knolls meant that it was kind of like following giant cairns through the mist. After plenty of false alarms I arrived at the rocky summit of Carn Mor Dearg, a couple of other climbers as well as the view of the fearsome cliffs of the Carn Mor Dearg Arete confirming that this was actually the summit. Sitting for awhile on the tiny summit of Carn Mor Dearg I had a bite to eat while I willed the cloud to lift as the next ridge top section along the arete is renowned as being some of the finest walking in Scotland.

The series of rocky knolls was a bit like following giant cairns along the ridge.

That's the 1221 metre Aonach Mor capped by cloud on the other side of the valley.

The feral walker has made it to Carn Mor Dearg, yeah the shorts and shirt are the Australian way to tempt the sun out, its a shame it didn't work today though.

Well as you've probably guessed by my photos, the cloud never did lift and my traverse of the Carn Mor Dearg Arete was done in the view stealing mist. The arete was still a great bit of walking, I could see enough to know that this wasn't the place for carelessness, the knife edge even requiring a couple of easy scrambles, the scratch marks on the rock from crampons reminding me that people had been here before, and in a lot less hospitable conditions than I had today. Now if I could see I would be waxing lyrical about the stunning views of the huge cliffs on the north face of Ben Nevis, but like me on the day you'll just have to use your imagination. While the arete is very narrow in parts, there is a bypass pad that drops very steeply down the east side of the ridge to miss the dodgiest bits of the walk if you are a little nervous of heights. Maybe it was the cloud obscuring the view down but I didn't find the ridge top to bad really, it was definitely quicker and more enjoyable than heading up and down on the rough bypass pads.

Heading out on to the Carn Mor Dearg Arete.

It was generally easier to stay on the very top.

The Carn Mor Dearg Arete gets a little narrow in places and a little scrambly in others.

Less than an hour from the summit of Carn Mor Dearg broad scree covered slopes materialized out of the mist, this signalled the start of my final climb to the summit of Ben Nevis. As the route zig-zagged its way up the scree it past a few residual drifts of snow sitting in the north facing gullies, the sound of people excitedly talking started to float through on the breeze. As the whaleback ridge levelled out all that I had to do was to follow the sound of the voices before suddenly the crowds materialized out of the mist, along with the summit trig. It was slightly surreal to be standing on the highest point in the UK all of a sudden surrounded by probably 100 of my newest friends, after my mornings climb on which I'd only seen a handful of people since leaving the car park. From what I could see the rocky top of Ben Nevis consists of the afore mentioned trig point as well as basic shelter and some old ruins, all being crawled over by other walkers in the mist. Finding myself a quiet rock out of the wind and a little away from the crowds I pulled on some warm clothes and sat down and had something to eat while taking in the scene around me, now I'm getting old and grumpy and I normally don't particularly like sharing the summits with hundreds of excited punters, but you know what? On Ben Nevis it wasn't that bad, the excitement that the walkers showed when reaching the summit must of been contagious as I found myself sharing there sense of achievement, and where I was initially a little disappointed that I wasn't going to get a view I could see that for most of the walkers that was irrelevant, they were just happy to have made it to the summit. 

The traverse of the arete finishes when you arrive at this cairn, now all I had to do was climb up that broad scree slope and I'd be on Ben Nevis.

The was a little residual snow left in some of the north facing gullies.

Me and my new mates on the summit of Ben Nevis.

After a bit of a break on top the cold eventually forced my hand a little and I decided that I'd better start heading down. Now I wasn't heading back down via Carn Mor Dearg, instead I was taking the route 99% of the climbers on the summit had used, the Tourist Track. Now the name the Tourist Track is a little condescending I reckon as while the track is easy to follow and benched, it's still a very steep and unrelenting way up and down the 1344 metre mountain, and considering that it more or less starts from sea level its a tough climb. Leaving the summit area my first job was to find it on the broad open rocky tops, the huge North Face cliffs being only a few metres away in the mist this still was a place that deserved respect even with all the other walkers up there. After passing a spot called the tourist chute I was soon on the path and starting what seemed like a never ending series of switchbacks off the mountain.

Somewhat ominously this chute on the North Face cliffs is called the Tourist Chute, I'll leave you to guess why.

The cloud had obviously dropped while I'd been on top of Ben Nevis as I descended a long way down the mountain before I started to come out of the mist. Eventually Lochan Meall An T-Suidhe started to materialize out of the mist deep in the valley below me, somewhat incongruously the lake surface glinting in the late afternoon sun. After passing below a nice waterfall high up on Red Burn I soon arrived into the shallow valley that is home to the lochan, this is the only real section of the Tourist Track that levels out for a bit and I was glad to give my knees a bit of a rest. 

Dropping down the Tourist Track through the mist.

Lochan Meall An T-Suidhe is starting to come into view through the mist.

The Tourist Track is a well engineered track, the West Highland Way is visible climbing up the other side of Glen Nevis through the trees.

A waterfall high up on Red Burn took my mind of the unrelenting descent for a couple of minutes.

Leaving the shallow valley the Tourist Track once again continues its steep descent to the bottom of the mountain, first beside the cascading Red Burn before finally making its descent into Glen Nevis, arriving at the bottom at the Ben Nevis Inn, a very civilized way to finish of a great walk really. Only trouble was I still had a few kilometres to go, crossing the River Nevis on the large swing bridge I picked up the last section of the West Highland Way, I'd only finished the WHW yesterday so at least the route was still fresh in my mind. Once on familiar ground it was just a matter of walking the quiet roads and then foot paths into Fort William, arriving back at our room at the Lime Tree Inn at around 6 pm on what had been another great days walking in Scotland.

The cascading Red Burn is down to the left.

Glenn Nevis.

The Dirt.

I walked 28 kilometres and climbed 1810 metres today over the course of 8 hours although I was pretty match fit at the time having just finished ten days walking on the West Highland Way. This is a hard walk that requires a little easy scrambling and a fair bit of navigation. In really bad weather the navigation and scrambling would be very hard indeed. Like I mentioned I used a mud map from my accommodation in Fort William, at the same time I had notes and a map out of the Trailblazer book Scottish Highlands - The Hill Walking Guide, I was also using my GPS although the maps were of little use but it was handy for distance and altitude. This walk is written up on second last day of my WHW Crazy Guy Journal if you want to read more waffle.

The Ben Nevis Inn signalled the finish of my big descent, I still had to walk back to Fort William in the distance though.

The River Nevis.