Carn Mor Dearg

Carn Mor Dearg

A much-needed and very welcome improvement in the weather has enabled me to tackle the few remaining hills of my 3^rd Munro round.  The highest of these was Carn Mor Dearg which holds hands with Ben Nevis and is connected to the former by the much-vaunted Carn Mor Dearg (CMD) arête.

Glen Nevis

For this ascent, I opted for the short, steep climb from the end of the road in Glen Nevis.  This avoids the long haul up the mountain’s N slopes and does include a traverse of the arête - but it’s hard work!

The Carn Mor Dearg Arête 

Parking at the road-end in Glen Nevis, it took a few minutes to locate the path in deep bracken.  When it did appear, so began the hard work - almost 500m of sustained steep climbing alongside the water-chute of the Allt Coire Eoghainn.  At least the views came quickly!

Ben Nevis From Carn Mor Dearg

The path disappears once in Coire Eoghainn, but reappears higher up just before the grassy slopes give way to a boulder field.  Keep climbing and all of a sudden, things begin to happen.  Almost simultaneously, the N face of Ben Nevis, the CMD arête and Carn Mor Dearg itself appear with the deep hollow of Coire Leis immediately in front of you.

Coire Leis

Not for the first time this year, the wind now became a problem with gusts of 50 mph threatening further progress.  Fortunately, the wind abated sufficiently to allow me to continue and I wasted no time in traversing the arête on to less hazardous ground.  With stunning views across Coire Leis to the Ben for added interest, the going got easier for the final climb up on to Carn Mor Dearg (1220m; big red hill).

The View North from the Summit

From the summit, I descended the peak’s sharply-defined E ridge to the 830m bealach between Carn Mor Dearg and Aonach Mor.  

Aonach Mor & Aonach Beag From Carn Mor Dearg

From here, and in thankfully lighter winds, the return to the car was straightforward - down Coire Giubhsachan, up and over the bealach immediately N of Meall Cumhann and then down to the car park in Glen Nevis.

Check out my plans for similar walks at: http://www.hillways.co.uk/summer/summer.htm