UKH

Ben Nevis CMD Arete

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 LJ2606 14 Apr 2014
I'm venturing north of the border for the first time over Easter. I'm planning on climbing Ben Nevis via Carn Mor Dearg and the CMD arête (ideally this Saturday). Can anyone give an update to what the current conditions of the ridge are like or on Ben Nevis as a whole? We have plenty of experience in the mountains of snowdonia and have done a fair bit of winter walking and easy winter ridges (Tryfan north ridge, Y Gribin etc). Will this route be ok for us or would we be better sticking to the 'tourist path'?

Cheers
Lee
 Jamie B 14 Apr 2014
In reply to LJ2606:

I'd imagine that the Arete itself will be dry, although if you take any of the detours around the crest you might end up on snow. It's also likely that the final ascent to Ben Nevis summit will be on snow and may well require winter kit. Watch the cornices on descent, they're huge!
OP LJ2606 14 Apr 2014
In reply to Jamie B:

Thanks for the info. We'll definitely be taking our axes and crampons.
 Michael Gordon 14 Apr 2014
In reply to LJ2606:

Apart from general fitness, all the route requires is ability to use axe/crampons and good navigation skills. If you're up to it then go for it! Probably about 100 times better than slogging up the tourist path.
 girlymonkey 14 Apr 2014
In reply to Michael Gordon:

In fact I would say don't bother with the tourist path, if you decide CMD is too hard for you, come back and do the Ben when you do have the skills to do an interesting route up and do something else this time! I did the CMD a couple of weeks ago and it was definitely still winter, but rock was dry so quite easy. I saw it from afar today, and definitely still lots of snow on it, but couldn't say more than that. It is easy as grade 1s go though, make sure your nav is up to scratch though
 peebles boy 14 Apr 2014
In reply to LJ2606:

New snow today!! Check my thread for more info, too tired to write it twice!!!
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