Friday - Saturday 11-12 September 2009: Perfect start to the weekend

We met (Lillidot friends from Edinburgh) in the Clachaig Inn for dinner and to plan our campaign for Saturday’s walk: The Carn Mor Dearg arête.
We agreed to be at Achintee House for 0700 hours, which meant an early start for me – up at 0530 hours to walk Meg before leaving her with mum for the day.
What a stonking day: the views as the path climbed across the hillside were breathtaking: inverted cloud and clear for miles.
At Loch Meall an t-Suidhe a marshall tried to direct us straight on up the Ben – he was there to direct the loads of charity walkers.
Instead we walked round the mountainside to the CIC hut which took us right under the North Face of the Ben, riven by a series of gullies between which are huge grey buttresses.
The route up Carn Mor Dearg from the CIC hut is a real slog: very steep but the views easily took my mind off the footwork! We all re-grouped at the summit, regained our collective breath, then made our ways on to the arête: a magnificent ridge walk connecting CMD to The Ben.
My mantra to M was “breath deeply and slowly and keep your eyes on my feet”. M was a bit shaky at times but did it! What a sense of achievement for her. She’s being treated for depression and her doctor recommended walking…and this was some walk – scrambling in parts over big boulders.
Just as the ridge finishes and you start up the steep south shoulder of the Ben, a post indicates the existence of abseiling posts at 50 feet intervals providing an escape route for severe conditions.
Onwards and upwards to the summit of the Ben – like Sauchiehall Street on top: and such a different atmosphere.
We came back down via the “Tourist route” and while we could easily see the path, A and I wanted to follow the compass bearings and pace out the route to avoid stepping off in to the air between Gardyloo and five Finger Gullies. This worked a treat!

And the perfect end to this perfect day was dinner at the Kinlochleven bunkhouse with The Team, eating home made vegan lasagna washed down with a wee glass of red wine. Bliss.