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After an excellent day in the Cairngorms, it was off to Ft. William, a hotel, and some take away. I slept in a bit, as I was sore from the previous day. But with the trusty Vitamin I and some strectching, I was ready to go for the days objective, Ben Nevis via the CMD route. I went up the tourist track until the fork and headed north. Looking over Lochan Meall an t Suidhe:
Coming around the corner and looking at CMD and the flank of Ben Nevis:
What I could see of the North Face from near the Rescue Hut:
Looking back the way I came (left of pic):
Up into the clag:
Thought of a cool name for a walker & climber friendly pub, The Clag & Scree:
The summit of CMD is just visible in the middle right:
CMD Summit cairn:
A really cool walk given the conditions:
Just got better:
Occasionally the clag would lift and give views to the south:
North:
West:
And back to the East and CMD:
During my crossing of the Arete, the winds were very steady and strong. As I got closer to Nevis, they really picked up, to the point where you could really feel the push and become unbalanced when taking a step. By then the track was mostly on the South side. After reaching Ben Nevis proper, the winds died off a bit, but it was cold. The summit was really socked in, and about the only views I had was of all the litter on the top:
Looking down a Coulior, thinking about skiing. But I'd want to know what's down below before I'd ever commit to such an aggressive line:
I did get to cross some snow along the tourist track on the way down:
The return route along the zig-zags had some great views as well:
Returned back to Ft. William and met up with my friends, dinner, and then sleep. The next day would be an off-one, relaxing with the scenic drive to Maillaig and the ferry to Skye.