Mark, Tim, Sarah and I were deposited from the minibus by a golf course a few miles short of Fort William. A rather inauspicious start to what was to become one of the most epic walks of all time. W e walked for a few hundred yards through a very wet, muddy path that wasn’t very nice. Then we climbed more steeply up a heather-covered slope for another several hundred yards that were very tiring. After hitting the snow-line, we climbed even more steeply, kicking steps as we went, which was comprehensively knackering. Eventually w e reached the broad ridge and struggled up to the summit of Carn Dearg Meadonach. All that took about three hours. The snow was blowing about quite a bit and it was occasionally somewhat painful; the view more than compensated for the pain. There was hardly a cloud in the sky and we could see for miles and miles and miles. After pausing briefly, we continued down and up to Carn Mor Dearg, a well defined peak that marked the start of the arete. It must be said that the arete looked pretty impressive, sharply defined against the deep blue sky.
The drops also looked rather vertical, and the three people in front of us were all wearing crampons. However we all bravely continued down the knife edge, taking care to place our feet with a resolution of less than four inches. On one side was a not insignificant cornice, which was useful for sticking ice-axes into but wouldn’t have been much use in the event of the ridge was about twice as long as Striding Edge, a third of the width, and considerably (and three times as good, subjectively). Throughout this stage of the walk, comments such as “this is amazing” and “I can’t believe this weather” were flying around. I can’t describe in words my feelings at this point. All mountain walkers should do this walk. The ecstasy didn’t last too long though, because we were soon at the end of the ridge and confronted by an extremely steep snow slope which rose about 1500ft to the summit plateau. To say this bit was hard work would be the understatement of the decade, but we were spurred on by the knowledge that we were nearly at the highest point in the country. We got to the plateau and climbed up what looked like a large snow covered boulder but was actually a small snow covered hut. An extended photo session ensued. We stayed on the top for a while before starting off down the tourist path ….
Ian