Carn Mor Dearg (1220m),Ben Nevis (1344m) via the CMD arête from Torlundy
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 11.27 mi
- Elevation gain
- 4,770 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 4,770 ft
- Max elevation
- 4,409 ft
- TrailRank
- 43
- Min elevation
- 164 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Time
- 6 hours 54 minutes
- Coordinates
- 2643
- Uploaded
- June 2, 2018
- Recorded
- May 2018
near Torlundy, Scotland (United Kingdom)
Viewed 1233 times, downloaded 128 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
Set off at 8.15am taking the path through the forest, cross the stile to follow the path alongside the Allt a’Mhuillin before leaving the track for a wet and boggy path to start the long ascent to Carn Mor Dearg. As we gained height, absolutely stunning views open up of the cliffs, buttresses and gullies of Ben Nevis’ north face. We joined the ridge after two hours climbing just below Carn Dearg Meadhonach with good views of the Aonachs in the East. A strong cold wind was blowing from the south, so we stopped to layer up, find shelter and refuel, before continuing to reach the summit of Carn Mor Dearg. Great views of the spectacular CMD arête below that leads to the Ben towering above. We stowed the poles and dropped to join the crest of the ridge for what turned into an utterly involving traverse with easy scrambling over bouldery blocks across to a large cairn at the foot of the Ben. We continued to rise steeply on boulders to reach the snowy plateau and were shocked by the large number of tourists on the summit who had come up the pony track.
We returned initially on the pony track (had to queue for the descent) and thankfully soon reached the turn off to the Lochan Meall an t’Suidhe. We were worried about the navigation off the summit to avoid the cornices, but a series of cairns are now in place to help walkers cross safely and on a clear day there were no issues. From here we took a pathless NNE bearing down to cross the Allt a’Mhuillin to pickup the outward path returning to the car.
We returned initially on the pony track (had to queue for the descent) and thankfully soon reached the turn off to the Lochan Meall an t’Suidhe. We were worried about the navigation off the summit to avoid the cornices, but a series of cairns are now in place to help walkers cross safely and on a clear day there were no issues. From here we took a pathless NNE bearing down to cross the Allt a’Mhuillin to pickup the outward path returning to the car.
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