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Stunning Carn Mor Dearg, CMD Arete and Ben Nevis

Stunning Carn Mor Dearg, CMD Arete and Ben Nevis


Postby Bod » Wed Jun 06, 2012 6:31 pm

Route description: Ben Nevis by the Càrn Mòr Dearg Arête

Munros included on this walk: Ben Nevis, Càrn Mòr Dearg

Date walked: 02/06/2012

Time taken: 10 hours

Distance: 17.1 km

Ascent: 1502m

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Having climbed more than half the munros now at least once, I thought it was about time to summit out on Ben Nevis. Also Valerie was getting ever keener on traversing CMD arete.... :D :D :D
So our Jubilee Weekend plan turned out to be camping in Glen Nevis with our Gary and his lovely lass Carrie eager to capture their 2nd and 3rd munros. Why not go for two giants with a linking arete requiring scambling and bags of energy then? :lol:
I arrived first on Friday evening direct from work with Ritchie and the car packed to the gunnels with the tent and all the camping gear. With the tent swiftly set up I was then off down to the supermarket where I bumped into dooterbang and his lass also buying provisions for the weekend. They were headed further north to climb Suilven, and it was cool to recognise eachother simply from our walk reports and introduce ourselves for the first time :D . By this time Valerie, Gary and Carrie had arrived and we settled down in the glen enjoying watching walkers and climbers descending the Ben.


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The North face Carpark was our chosen starting point and provided a very enjoyable approach up through the forest to follow the Allt a'Mhuilin and then the broad shoulder rising steadily up towards Carn Mor Dearg. Ritchie was left behind today with friends living locally as I reckoned the arete was not ideal dog walking ground, plus we fancied the chance to explore and have the opportunity to thoroughly enjoy Ben Nevis and take no unnecessary risks. Drinking water too had to be considered as there would be few sources on the hill today adding to the thrill and adventure. The Ben did not let us down, what a mountain :D :D :D

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Our mountains for today viewed from just north of Torlundy close to our friends house where Ritchie was being looked after.
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My first proper sight of Coire na Ciste and the surrounding crags and gulleys.
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What a north face! Further venturing down below is going to be needed one day in the future and a stay around the CIC hut area just to have time to fully appreciate our highest munro.
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Spectacular views back over Fort William and Corpach to Loch Eil and beyond. Ah...the West Highlands, one of my most favourite places to be......:)
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Note how red the rocky surface of Carn Mor Dearg is! And stunning walking with constantly marvellous views. (photo courtesy of Gary)
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Dearg (red) right enough! Glorious weather treated us to seeing these mountains at their best. Not too hot with a light easterly to keep us cool. (photo courtesy of Gary)
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Now the summit of Carn Mor Dearg (1220 metres) lies before us and a closer view of the arete curving around the massive bowl of Coire Leis.
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Carn Mor Dearg Arete! :) :) :)
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The Ring of Steall now clearly identifiable in our view southwards across the upper areas of Glen Nevis.
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Now the fun begins.......and more of a rugged scramble that I had thought. Being without Ritchie we were able to keep on the highest boulders most of the way round :)
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At the lowest point of the arete still at an amazing 1058 metres above sea-level, and yet the Ben looked like an immense monster looming above.
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Probably the most exposed part of the arete (Carrie's shaky leg moment happened here!) :)
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An Steall far below with the famous waterfall and rope bridge just above the Glen Nevis gorge.
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Tower Ridge rises up to join the summit plateau.
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Climbers on and nearing the gap of Tower Ridge.
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Four very happy hill/mountain walkers :) :) :)


The Mountain track descent that we took initially as far as the half way lochan (Lochan an Meall an t-Suidhe) with the wide zig-zags was a very entertaining at some points a concerning experience. Dozens and dozens of walkers of all sorts and types were all striving to reach the top, and this never seemed to end! Goodluck to them all though and I hope they all kept safe and managed to get some enjoyment on the way back down?

At the path crossing of the red burn Valerie and I decided to leave Gary and Carrie to keeping heading down the track towards the campsite, and we crossed back over towards Torlundy. This route proved to be a fine end to our day and we were soon back round in Glen Nevis after collecting the car and Ritchie (a huge thank you to David and Mo for dog-sitting). Scrumptious bar meals and refreshing ciders and beers in the site bar and restuarant were then duly savoured ending off one of my best mountain experiences to date. Huge thumbs up :D :D :D :wink: :thumbup:
Last edited by Bod on Fri Jun 08, 2012 12:20 am, edited 29 times in total.
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Re: Stunning Carn Mor Dearg, CMD Arete and Ben Nevis

Postby Bod » Wed Jun 06, 2012 11:30 pm

A couple of special effects pics by Gary trying out a couple of camera settings ......cheers Gary :D
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Last edited by Bod on Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:11 am, edited 6 times in total.
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Re: Stunning Carn Mor Dearg, CMD Arete and Ben Nevis

Postby Bod » Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:17 am

Ritchie enjoyed a restful weekend playing with his friends Polo and Belle up in Torlundy, and lounging around the tent in Glen Nevis :D :D :D
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Re: Stunning Carn Mor Dearg, CMD Arete and Ben Nevis

Postby ChrisW » Thu Jun 07, 2012 3:55 am

wow - this is a real stunner Bod, great effort by all of you on what looks like a fair old pull, but man, those views. I'm sure this will remain a really memorable day - great stuff mate, well done :clap: :D
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Re: Stunning Carn Mor Dearg, CMD Arete and Ben Nevis

Postby Ranger » Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:43 am

Brilliant - superb conditions for the Ben :)

Gutted I missed out last weekend, whats happened to the Summer now? :roll:
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Re: Stunning Carn Mor Dearg, CMD Arete and Ben Nevis

Postby mountainstar » Thu Jun 07, 2012 9:03 am

then off down to the supermarket where I bunked into dooterbang and his lass also buying provisions for the weekend.

Was here shuffling through the magazine on the top shelf, looking for pictures of himself, muttering "Ver am I"? :lol: :wink:
Looks like you had a great day, so lucky with the weather :mrgreen:
PS You may not have heard the story behind the dooterbang joke.
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Re: Stunning Carn Mor Dearg, CMD Arete and Ben Nevis

Postby SusieThePensioner » Thu Jun 07, 2012 9:26 am

Bod wrote:I will be back to add in a few more words to describe this wonderful day very soon, needing to head off for some zzzzzzzzzzzz's

I think your amazing photos tell the story! Fantastic :clap:

That arete just makes me feel ill :shock: :lol:
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Re: Stunning Carn Mor Dearg, CMD Arete and Ben Nevis

Postby GillC » Thu Jun 07, 2012 9:37 am

Well done you guys. Cant believe the snows almost gone,,we did the same route just over 3 weeks ago, full snow cover from less than 1000ft and we were able to literally step off the snow to the trig, it was so deep at the top. The rocks on the ascent after the arete looked much easier than our scramble up deep snow.

Great pic, you had a smashing day for it,,well done again. Gillc :clap: :clap: :clap:
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Re: Stunning Carn Mor Dearg, CMD Arete and Ben Nevis

Postby skuk007 » Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:59 pm

Great report Bod. Fabulous views you had. I'm looking to do the same route next month so can't wait now. Is the path through the first bit of forest easy enough to find and did you have any problems crossing the river on your return?
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Re: Stunning Carn Mor Dearg, CMD Arete and Ben Nevis

Postby Johnny Corbett » Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:10 pm

Good stuff by you all and even better with it being your best walk yet :thumbup:
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Re: Stunning Carn Mor Dearg, CMD Arete and Ben Nevis

Postby Bod » Thu Jun 07, 2012 4:58 pm

skuk007 wrote:Great report Bod. Fabulous views you had. I'm looking to do the same route next month so can't wait now. Is the path through the first bit of forest easy enough to find and did you have any problems crossing the river on your return?



Hi skuk007, the path up through the forest from the North Face carpark is excellent and well maintained giving access to walkers and climbers. Also, the river crossing on our return caused no difficulties, but you could avoid that if you had time to continue round the path to the CIC hut, then take the path all the way back down (a bit more distance though). Interesting enough we met a couple of students studying Adventure Tourism Management who asked us about our route, and they indicated plans to develop further a path down our route (cheers mountainstar for the tip). Obviously landowners and finance are to be agreed with :D :D :D
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Re: Stunning Carn Mor Dearg, CMD Arete and Ben Nevis

Postby RadMan » Thu Jun 07, 2012 5:22 pm

Bod, I cannot describe how insanely jealous I am of this walk report :oops:
What a weekend you guys had and great weather! Cant beat camping at Glen Nevis, its such a magical place , I love it. And I really must do this walk before summers out :thumbup: Well done guys :clap:
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Re: Stunning Carn Mor Dearg, CMD Arete and Ben Nevis

Postby L-Hiking » Thu Jun 07, 2012 7:48 pm

Nice one Bod, definitely on this Yorkshiremans list of must dooooos :clap:
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Re: Stunning Carn Mor Dearg, CMD Arete and Ben Nevis

Postby jimandandrea » Thu Jun 07, 2012 7:57 pm

Fantastic - what a grand day you had. Great pics: really captured it. :clap: :clap:
Brilliant. I am currently looking out the window at a very wet and cold Cumbria evening. You cheered us up. :thumbup: :thumbup:
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Re: Stunning Carn Mor Dearg, CMD Arete and Ben Nevis

Postby gammy leg walker » Thu Jun 07, 2012 8:47 pm

Quality TR..................Quality pictures.............................Quality from start to finish.
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