) I decided to join them.We agreed to camp the night before in order to get an early start as we knew it would be a long day, we couldnt leave until later though due to work commitments.
We pass Glencoe just before10pm and there are hundreds and hundreds of deer in the fields near the road. Good start im thinking, always enjoy seeing the wild life.
We then pass under the Aonach Eagach ridge and stare in awe, next time we all agree (well nearly us all
)We arrive at the car park at the end of the road in Glen Nevis not long before 11pm, find a suitable (well in the dark it seemed suitable) place to pitch the tent and then get the food, lovely tin of Irish stew mmm
The night sky is full of stars and looks tremendous. I look at the shadows of the mountains surrounding us, wondering how they will look in the morning. There is a total peace that you just dont get anywhere else. "I love this" im thinking.
A quick bottle of ale (to help me get a sleep obviously
) before we get the head down at 1am.What feels like 5 minutes later and a bright light shining into my tent (cheers David :-p) ensures im awake as well, 4am..time to get up.
There are many good reports already, so I will let the photos do the talking for the rest....
- 4.30am and i'm cooking a fry up before we set off.
- Not a bad effort if I do say so myself.
- 6.45am we're kitted up and we're ready to go.
- After a short walk, we are soon treated to some stunning views in the open glen.
- we were soon crossing the wire bridge.
- Tony at the Steall Falls.
- I was first to negotiate the rocks at the base of Steall Fall's so i had a wee laugh watching the other 4 attempting it
- 4 hours and a slog later and we have reached the 1st summit of the day. An Gearanach
Some of the group were not as fit as others and this would delay us by some time but we knew we had lots of daylight so this did not worry us too much. If anything it gave us more of a chance to take in some of the stunning views as we waited at each summit.
I dont think any of us realised how tricky the next section would be. In hindsight there was plenty of holds and with care it wasnt difficult but Anton had a wee slip which had all our hearts in our mouth and I did consider turning back. Probably the only thing that stopped me turning back was i knew it was a long slog back and I would regret it later. Im glad I carried on, the walk got easier....well until the devils ridge that is...
- Tony had a nasty knock on a rock which resulted in a cut knee and required a little first aid.
- the ridge towards An Garbhanach.
- it was a tough but straight forward climb to Munro No.2 Stob Coire a'Chairn.
- less than 2 hours after leaving the 1st summit and we were on the summit of Munro No.2 Stob Coire a'Chairn.
- leaving the summit of Stob Coire a'Chairn and on our way to Am Bodach.
- Most of the clag had gone and we had tremendous panoramic views, here Tony is losing layers just before the final climb to Am Bodach. Sgor an Iubhair is on the right.
- stunning view of The Devils Ridge with Sgor an Iubhair to the left and to the Sgorr a'Mhaim right.
- with David on the summit of Munro No.3 Am Bodach.
After some debate we all decided to tackle the devils ridge, we had plenty of daylight left and we were not sure how clever the conditions were on the ground if we cut the walk short. There is no denying it, for the most part we were all scared stiff. I was terrified!
I don't mind heights if I know i'm safe but I did not feel safe, i knew with each step the snow made it very possible to slide and I also knew with the steepness there would be no time for a recovery with my ice axe. I was clear in my mind, slip and im dead We all took our time and crossed the devil's ridge with extreme care, with no slips so we all survived
- looking back to The Devils Ridge.
- The North Face of Ben Nevis.
- at last, on the summit of Munro No.4 Sgurr a'Mhaim.
- The Descent to Glen Nevis with David & Ryan in the distance.
The snow made the descent easy, well easier. We got off the hill and back to the road at 9pm and then approximately a 40 minute walk to the car park. It was a long day but really enjoyable day. Really scary at times but in the end that all added to the fun. It has not put me off ridge walks but i doubt I will be rushing out to do any in the winter when the ground is snow covered. I reckon walking with some 'less fit friends'
probably held us up approximately 4 hours in total. We stopped for a good while at each summit waiting on the group to get back together and also stopped frequently at each steep ascent.Im well on target to have climbed 50 before the end of the year, where next?
