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| Sophie excited on the start of the CMD arete |
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| The views, as always, stunning |
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| Near the top of Carn Mor Dearg with Carn Dearg Buttress in the background |
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| The north face of Ben Nevis, full winter conditions |
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| Magic atmpsphere and light all the way today |
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| A rare one of me |
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| Wind picking up in the afternoon |
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| New windslab and cornices developed over last few days |
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| The final slopes to the summit and lots of fresh snow |
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| Summit celebrations |
Sophie contacted me last minute wanting a day out on an 'exciting winter ridge' before the season was over. Wednesday was looking great, weather wise, so it was a day over in the west and Ben Nevis via the CMD arete for a long winter ridge. She had toyed with the idea of heading over to Chamonix in The Alps for some late season skiing but who needs Chamonix and Mount Blanc when you can have a full on Alpine experience and majestic, big mountains with great snow cover like we had today? It was another glorious blue skies morning with some high cloud rolling in and out over The Ben just to give it that wonderful atmosphere. Much colder than of late and with a couple of days fresh snow above 700m it was definitely more wintry than last Saturdays' Alpine weather. The fresh snow on the arete made it less awkward walking around the rockier sections and further along toward Coire Leis there were some lovely cornices forming. The wind picked up later in the afternoon, as forecasted, and this spiced the traverse up a bit but Sophie just relished the whole experience. She has been up on Ben Nevis in summer a few times via the Pony Track but it may be a long time before she walks up the 'less exciting' side again! Top day out and great fun, banter and company. Winter is far, far, far away from being over :)
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