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With such a great forecast, I had some decision making issues for this day out. So much so that I didn't finally make my mind up until about 3 hours into the walk
.
I "settled" on the Aonachs as I was a bit late in arriving at the carpark at the end of Glen Nevis and thought this would take about 7 hours.
Anyway, the weather was great as I set off up the Steall Gorge path to the always special Steall Falls and meadows.
- Aonach Beag - the "target"
At the footbridge just before the ruins I turned north passing some lovely waterfalls to reach the vast open high valley of the Allt Coire Ghiuthsachan.
- nice waterfall and pool
Surrounded by the Aonachs on the right and Ben Nevis and Carn Mor Dearg on the left, this was an awe inspiring place
. The allt was just a trickle and - when I could - I had fun picking my way up the slabby river bed rather than following the damp path.
I kept looking left to the ridge high above and my mind began to start thinking "
what a day to do the CMD arete...". At the col between Aonach Mor and CMD, I felt I had enough time to do the bigger two so started up the steep slope to the summit of CMD.
- hazy view back where I'd come from
There is a nice narrowing of the ridge on the final pull to the summit.
- name of this anyone ?
- nice ridge
At the summit, the N face of BN and the arete were silhouetted against the late afternoon sun
.
- think you all know what this is
After a short break, I was off along the arete. I can't add much to what has aready been written about it but it was terrific
. I stuck pretty religiously to the apex, avoiding the bypass paths where I could. The scrambling was fun and not too exposed with so little breeze.
- looking back to CMD
A final tough climb over boulders brought me to the summit of Britain at about 5:20pm with not a soul in sight (well, apart from 2 guys in the shelter who were staying the night).
- what crowds ?
I considered descending the tourist path but that would have left a long road walk back to the car. Instead I opted to take the direct route down to the Bealach Cumhann then follow the Allt Garbh back to the Steall Gorge path.
- long way down
This was a knee punishing descent of 1200m in just 2.7km and I stopped to rest my legs on a couple of occasions. This route would probably not be suitable in wet weather due to some steep parts but I took my time and zig-zagged where necessary.
- last look at the Ben
- final rest at Bealach Cumhann
The final section along the Allt Garbh was attractive and had a few more humps and hollows to help ease the constant gradient. I was happy to be back at the path still in daylight and I sauntered the final 0.6km back to the car. What a day
.
PS. I probably wouldn't recommend this
laissez faire approach to hillwalking but this is a cracking way to make a circuit of these two giants if you don't mind a long steep descent.