Ben Nevis via The CMD Arete

[quagga64]

After going to sleep at midnight, I woke up at 2 a.m. and could'nt get back to sleep so I got up at 5 and got Chris up at 6, we left at 6:40 and headed up to Fort William, the roads were quite quiet and the sun was already shining. Got to the Ben Nevis car park at 9:10, it was very busy with scores of people heading up the mountain track. Fed some chocolate to two wee chaffinches that flew right down at our feet as soon as we got out of the car before heading off at 9:15 and joining the crowds filing over the bouncy bridge across the river Nevis and up the tourist trail, it was almost like a moving conveyer belt of people all the way up to the half way lochan which took us about an hour and 40 minutes to reach and quite tough going because of the heat. We had a rest at the lochan and zipped our trouser legs off to turn them into shorts before covering ourselves with suntan lotion and skin so soft to keep the midges at bay then we set off again around the North side of Ben Nevis and into the Coire Leis which separates Ben Nevis from Carn Mor Dearg. Walked up the corrie as far as the mountain rescue hut and then cut directly up the steep slope of Carn Mor Dearg to the top of the ridge, met a couple of men who'd been just in front of us, a guy called Adam Livingstone and his Bulgarian friend Goospa, Adam took a couple of photos of me and Chris together and I done same for them, we then made the short walk along the ridge to the summit of Carn Mor Dearg which was packed. Again Adam took a couple of photos for us and I returned the favour before we set off across the Arete. It was great fun crossing the Arete and the mountain rescue helicopter spent about an hour or more coming in close to the cliff face of Ben Nevis and hovering then circling around to do it again, someone said there had been a rockfall earlier but I think they were just practicing. The views all around were brilliant and at the end of the Arete it was a 25 minute scramble up the SouthEast face to the top of Ben Nevis where we took a few photos at the trig point with the Scotland flag which proved very popular with other people standing around who wanted a shot of it for their photos, Adam & Goospa arrived and we all took each others photos again. Sat in the ruins of the old observatory and ate our piece then I had a walk around the summit plateau taking photos of the various views and cairns and stuff while Chris sat in the observatory tower, spent an hour on the summit from 4:45 to 5:45 before heading back down the mountain track, took a wrong turn which we thought was a shortcut but turned out to be a very steep and slippery pain in the arse till we regained the track further down. Took about an hour and 45 minutes to reach the half way lochan and although it was about 7:30 there was still loads of people just making their way up and this was the case all the way down ! Got back to the car at 9:05 just as light was fading so descent took us 3 hours 20 mins and we'd walked for 11 hours 50 minutes in total. Drove down to McDonalds in Fort William and got two large meals with extra burgers and McFlurrys which we ate in the car park overlooking Loch Linnhe before setting off about 9:45, I was absolutely knackered due to lack of sleep and struggled to keep my eyes open all the way down the road, a large adult female deer was sitting up right in the middle of the road in Glen Dochart which must have been hit by the landrover in front of us, poor thing just sat there looking dazed and in shock. Got back to the house at 20 past midnight, Tommy and william & Aimee already in their beds and after a quick coffee me and chris went to bed too, a long hard day but a very enjoyable one.