BB1433 Extra : The B Party !

On reading the BB1433 report about the Ethics of Reciprocity Bryan thought he should reciprocate by sharing the details of the outing to Scotland of what he calls the ‘B’ Party

As if!

For several years Dave Neild and I have been threatening to do a route up Ben Nevis called the Carn Mor Dearg Arete. It’s described on the walkhighlands website as

For experienced, fit mountain walkers who do not mind easy scrambling but are not climbers, this is the finest way to climb Ben Nevis. This is a truly spectacular route incorporating two Munros. It will live long in the memory and does true justice to the mountain.

But it’s also a route that we wanted to do in clear weather because as well as being an interesting ridge it also commands stunning views of the great North facing cliffs on Ben Nevis – something people don’t see from the Tourist Route up the mountain.

Each time we set some dates the weather turned bad and the trip was called off. So when this spell of high pressure settled on the country it was too good to miss.

Once my child-minding duties ended on Wednesday afternoon we set off. The drive up was a delight. The late evening sun on the hills as we passed through Glencoe was spectacular and demanded a photo stop.

Buchaille Etive Mor - Glencoe

A meal and a couple of beers ended the day. Next morning we woke to sunshine and no wind. After breakfast we set off for the North Face Car Park near Torlundy. After half an hour or so of steady climb through the forest we came out into the open on a delightful track alongside the Allt a’ Mhuilinn.

We followed this for a while before turning off to begin the 2,500ft of climb to the top of Carn Dearg Meadhonach. It was relentless.

Eventually we reached the ridge and were met by stunning views across the valley to Aonach Mor.

Looking across to Aonach Mor

Our way ahead to the top of Carn Mor Dearg looked impressive.

The ridge to Carn Mor Dearg; and the North Face of Ben Nevis

We pressed on along the ridge to the summit – 4,002ft high and a Munro.

In practice it’s no harder than Striding Edge, just a bit longer, and it was over all too soon. What remained was a 1,000ft of climb up a very steep boulder slope to the top of Ben Nevis.

It was quite a strange experience reaching the top. It’s a bit like going over a wall. One minute there’s just the two of us scrambling up the boulders and the next you pop over the top to see dozens of people scattered around the plateau.

Dave and I have been up Ben Nevis on quite a few occasions. Our first was back in June 1994 when we did our 17 hour round of the Three Peaks (with John Lyons and Ray Dee as drivers).

We arrived in Glen Nevis with rain falling and the wind blowing, and set off up The Ben at around 8 in the evening. As we climbed the rain turned to sleet and once on the plateau became snow. There were still cornices hanging over the cliffs; a few feet of snow on the ground; and all trace of footprints were gone. We navigated to the top in a semi white-out – one of our better pieces of navigation.

Dave struggled to take the obligatory summit photo because his hands were so cold he couldn’t press the shutter and we were pretty glad to get down.

Twenty years later and what a contrast. No snow, great visibility, and lots of people.

We sat and had lunch on the edge of the crags looking towards Tower Ridge. Spectacular. It never ceases to surprise me how many people never go near the edge and look down the crags. Preferring instead to sit by the Observatory or in a wall shelter looking at…. what?

After lunch we headed down, initially taking a circuitous route around the edge of the great cliffs before eventually joining the Tourist Route for the 2500ft of descent to Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe. We passed a lot of tired looking people descending and quite a few even more tired looking people coming up. I remarked to Dave how some of them reminded me of how I must have looked at 17,000ft in the Himalayas!

Once we reached the Lochan we left the Tourists behind to descend the heather covered slopes back to the Allt a’ Mhuilinn.

The stream was low so we were able to cross fairly easily before following our outward track back to the car, where we arrived at 5:45 after a 12.5 miles / 5101ft day.

Nice clear roads meant we were back in Kendal at 10:30 after a stunning day on the hills. Highly recommended.

Bryan, September 2014

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