LEDGE ROUTE & CMD ARETE

The lads outside the CIC hut with Carn Dearg Buttress

The fun begins

The delights of Ledge Route 

Happy scrambling on Ledge Route

Bit damp and cloudy, but atmospheric along the arete

Sadly no NF views from the CMD arete today

Simon L, Simon O, Steve,Nigel and Mark were out with me today for an adventurous day on Ben Nevis. We wandered up to the CIC Hut and relied on the weather forecast of an improving weather picture for the afternoon, it turned out the weather forecast wasn't what we got. Anyway, the guys were up for Ledge Route after I enthused how wonderful it is. The light rain/drizzle didn't dampen their spirits and the cloud base was quite high. We had the whole corrie and route to ourselves, it seemed. The guys made great progress and were up at the top in no time. After a short mingle on the Pony Track to the summit we disappeared into the cloud  and peace again for our trip back down via the CMD arete. The rain had increased and the cloud base had dropped by this time so no views of the North face sadly. Well done guys in getting tow great routes on The Ben in 9 hours.