Sunday 3 May 2009

BEN NEVIS - CMD ARETE, WINTER STYLE



































































A wonderful day on The Ben today. Jip, Peter, Yvonne and I were on Britain's highest peak in what could have passed for winter. We went up via Carn Mor Dearg and the superb arete which links to The Ben. This was Jip and Peter's first taste of Scottish hillwalking and what a grand way to start off! The temperature's had dropped overnight and it had snowed to 800m. During the day we had a few snow showers above 800m but also some excellent breaks and spells of sunshine. Jip and Peter tackled the snowy arete with confidence and enjoyed every step along. I have taken several groups along here in 'winter' but with less snow than we had this day. We 'picked' up Edward along the arete who was a little nervous and looking for a helping hand. The plateau still has 2 metres of snow and it was getting a bit icy with the passage of so many folk out this weekend. The usual colourful characters were seen on our way down the pony track, including a guy sporting a wedding dress, hopefully it was waterproof?

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