Always one of the more popular destinations, 45 of us made the journey up to Fort William this time. While most opted to head up the Ben Nevis mountain track, others took on longer and more strenuous routes: the CMD Arête, and Aonach Beag and Aonach Mor via Glen Nevis.
The weather was generally mediocre, cloudy and occasionally pretty wet, but the day was enlivened by there being a fair amount of snow high up, a foot or more on the summit of Ben Nevis itself. And we did manage the odd glimpse of blue sky.
Ben Nevis via the Carn Mor Dearg (CMD) Arête
There were two groups: Remco and Tomas left first, and were followed by Brett, Kit, Euan, Paul and Caspar, who wrote the report below.
An early meet at the buses and a 3 hour drive lead us to the foot of Ben Nevis. A quick sign of the meets book and we were on our way. We followed the tourist path up to Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe, then took a left and followed the path around the ridge.
As we gained height, clouds started to set in. We passed the emergency rescue shelter and headed up the side of the valley around the back of the North Face.
The cold began to grip us as we climbed. Loose rocks slipped under our feet. We scrabbled up onto the ridge and made our way onto the summit.
The snow was cold and the mist deep on the summit. We sheltered from the weather in the rescue hut. Then we made our descent via the tourist route.
Stunning views awaited us on our descent, the sun setting across the valley.
Then we were back at the buses, feeling exhausted and, of course, headed for the pub for a well-earned pint.
A great atmosphere awaited our arrival at the Ben Nevis Inn. Couple of pints and a chat later it was time to head home. A sleepy bus later and we were back in bonnie Dundee for a well-deserved rest.
Ben Nevis via the Mountain Track
Let's start with the bad: due to poor communication up to 20 of the earliest returnees were left hanging around in the wet outside a locked bus while only a few minutes walk from the warmth of the Ben Nevis Inn. While waiting for people to get back is a routine part of most trips, this was completely avoidable and just shouldn't have happened. Sincere apologies to everyone who had a protracted wait out in the rain.
The good? Well, after a long trudge up in generally thick cloud...
...there were occasional views from the top and the summit looked great in the snow.
The last party to arrive stayed for some time: with little wind to speak of it wasn't particularly cold and the opportunity to take lots of photos and hurl a few crafty snowballs proved irresistable.
The initial descent afforded a few opportunities for bum slides and improvised skiing before hitting the uncovered path 200m or so lower down. After that it was a straightforward (albeit personally knee-jarring) walk in occasional and unwelcome rain.
An hour from the bottom Euan overtook the group on his way back from the CMD route, with Remco and Tomas not far behind. Then just as we got down and the pub came into sight we received a call about the people waiting at the bus. Nightmare.
There were still around two hours to go before those on the Aonachs route would return, but at least this time would now be spent in the comfort of the Ben Nevis Inn!
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