Carn Mor Dearg

bouldery slopes. As the route is so popular we had expected a path but there was nothing even remotely like one. Graeme was all for continuing, feeling sure that a path to Carn Mor Dearg would reveal itself later on. Perhaps he was right but I preferred to go down as the book said because the other side looked by far the easiest route up onto the ridge leading to Carn Beag Dearg. I left it to Graeme to do what he wanted, agreeing to meet on the top of Carn Mor Dearg and went straight down the hill across the river and the path from the Distillery and up to another marked path. This might well have been have been a path to Carn Mor Dearg but I preferred to go straight up, or at least upwards in a diagonal direction. Graeme had had second thoughts and now followed me, I think we judged it right in the end. It was a steep, slow slog but actually bypassing the top of Carn Beag Dearg and on to the ridge where we started seeing and meeting people. At this point the ridge is stony but easy. We had lunch here, quite pleasant, cloudy and misty but mild and the Guinness went down nicely. It was, however, a bit like eating in the middle of Oxford Street, there were so many people coming up the ridge. A pretty tame climb and before you know where you are you are on the small summit. Not really a great place to stop, especially this day as lots of those who had passed us on the ridge were having their dinner. The summit is rocky and a bit like Schiehallion with just as many people camped on it. Must have been about thirty people. The mist cleared to give us good views of the arête but the Ben stayed in mist. You could tell that everyone was excited at doing the arête and most admitted they would only do it on a mild, dry, windless day like this was. The first part of the ridge was quite interesting. It is not really a scramble but more boulder hopping. Every so often there is a path running below the top, but not always, and it is hardly necessary. I found that you are so concerned about where to put your feet that you are almost unaware of the large drops at the side of you. Almost that is, as you do know it is mighty steep on both sides. I would say that the arête at the top is about 4/6 feet wide depending on the sort of boulders you have to manoeuvre but the rock is rough and gives good grip. Even when you have to use your hands the grips are firm and secure. Graeme went miles ahead and I followed a couple who were just as slow as me. They tended to take the path when they could as did I occasionally but as often as was possible I kept to the top. One point that could not be avoided was a triangular rock, apex up. I looked left and it was vertical, then right and it was vertical too. Puzzled I looked again. You couldn't go up and left and right were vertical. Then I noticed that round the left was a ledge and that by gripping the edge of the rock you could swing yourself round onto the ledge and then onto the ridge again. Slightly dicey but not difficult. The next bit was very straightforward and it was only near the end that it got narrow again, one bit being like a four feet wide pavement. I got myself caught on the path and off the top of the ridge for a while and Graeme tells me I missed another exciting boulder which looked impassable and had to be climbed over. Towards the end of the arête there is the very steep climb up to the summit of Ben Nevis. Almost a scramble as you have to climb over boulders, but no problem other than tiredness, me being quite knackered by now. Interesting looking back over the arête, still a stream of people though about half way back it seemed to dry up. I think we must have caught the rush hour. Towards the top are a series of poles, apparently guides during the snow season. They certainly acted as a guide for me and we were soon on the summit. Only a brief stop on the summit which had less people but seemed to have grown a lot more cairns. Made you feel you were walking through a graveyard. This was made even more so by the memorial cairn which had a number of wreaths surrounding it. Quite impressive. Coming off the top it was a slow, painful descent for me and for some reason we found ourselves on a steep, straight descent path rather than the tourist winding path. I can't think how we missed this the last time but it was more interesting than the usual path. Halfway down we met two red faced girls who stopped briefly to ask if this was indeed the path to the summit. Happy that it was they scampered off at a fair rate of knots. We actually thought they were taking a risk as it was getting late and we reckoned they could not make the top and get back down before dark. A short break and a delicious drink from the nearly dried up Red burn and off again. Graeme went ahead of me and that was the last I saw of him until I reached the car. Reaching the car was a nightmare, my feet were absolutely throbbing and I had to keep stopping for short breaks. As I eventually got down the path at the point where it begins to level out I noticed some people behind jogging down. They soon passed me and I almost gasped in amazement to note that it was the two girls who had passed us on their way up. They not only had got to the top but even done this and come down in the time I took to descend. They had picked up a third girl and when I reached the road noticed they had got into a van marked "three peaks" or something. It looks like they were on some kind of mountain marathon - good luck to them. Me, I could barely make it back to the car.