Saturday 20 August 2011

LEDGE ROUTE AND CMD ARETE, BEN NEVIS

Back on The Ben and today I was with Mike who's wife had bought him a guided walk on Ben Nevis for his Birthday gift. After some early morning rain and very low cloud, the rain eased off and the clouds slowly started to lift by the time we reached the CIC  hut. We scrambled up Ledge Route, there were only two other folk just behind us on this classic scramble on The Ben. We were well sheltered from the strong SW winds, the views opened up by the time we got onto the plateau. We quickly got to the summit and then just as quickly escaped the crowds and many wheelchairs on the Pony track today then down onto the CMD arete where peace and quiet resumed. The cloud had by now well cleared the tops and we had a nice traverse along the ridge with fine views and some buffeting from the stiff breeze. The sun finally came through on the decent and it was quite warm compared to the rather chilly and damp morning. Mike and I were round in a very fast time of under 8 hours today, well done to him.

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