BEN NEVIS | A Heavenly Day on The Venomous Mountain

[Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] so another early morning alarm call so be getting up well in the middle of the night really and heading out in the dark and driving along dark windy roads to reach my destination which was a car park up in the west of scotland where i set about getting ready for a rather grand adventure in some stunning conditions amongst some stunning mountain scenery [Laughter] [Music] getting away as the first signs of light started to appear in the sky certainly had his advantages and as the dawn broke the skies to the east lit up a lovely pink colour just what i was expecting and i was striding on towards the mountain with a lovely sunrise happening it was just absolutely fantastic i was really really looking forward to what way ahead [Music] well we'd look at this fantastic good morning everyone and what time are we at 5 55 in the morning and uh yeah i've been up for a while i've been on the go now for about four hours so i woke up yeah middle of the night just about just past two a.m quick shower bowl of porridge and then i was on the road before three i can't remember the exact time and then it took me a couple hours to get up here and i was walking oh god i don't know about five o'clock so i've been on the go for about an hour and i've taken a sneaky day off the forecast has been really dry for the last week or two in the forecast for this weekend's looking fantastic but unfortunately i've got family commitments or fortunately so i'm looking forward to them so um yeah the boss allowed me a wee wee cheeky day off to the uh a short notice and uh yeah heading up here behind me i'll talk about a bit more about it it'll be well but i need to assess my options and on which route i'm going to take and i can't really do that until i see what the conditions are like in the ground about higher up but yeah i'm really looking forward to this right less talking let's get walking it's certainly been an alpine start to the day and walking up past this sort of alpine light cut probably the most alpine light cut in scotland it did actually feel like it could have been somewhere else in the continent in the high mountains it was lovely anyway i passed the heart and at this point the ascent started and i made my way further up the mountain with these towering rock cliffs starting to surround me and fill my field of view it was rather grand wow what a place look at this absolutely fabulous if i told you i was in the the swiss alps or maybe the italian doll mates you would believe me because this especially on a day like today when the when the spring snow is still sitting in the high gullies and the sun's out shining against these big granite cliffs is just what a what a place what an empty theater absolutely gorgeous so i don't know if you'll you'll know where i am but for those of you that don't know where i'm and i'm on ben nevis and a lot of you won't recognize this has been nervous a lot of i'd say 90 percent of people that come up the bend come up on the other side which is it's a bit like mr jekyll or dr jekyll mr hyde you've got the the weight from glenn davis a big wheel back ridge path going all the way up and then you come over to this side the north side of the bay and it's just just a different mountain it's absolutely spectacular so anyway now that i'm up here i've made my decision i was going to be going up my gulley snow gully but you know what the snow here is pretty firm but the sun's been up and on the top of the the gullies round about the cornices for quite some time and the temperature didn't drop below zero last night according to the forecast so i'm not going to do that i'm going to go and try and get onto one of these ridges and get on some rock and i'll make my way up to the highest point in britain but for the time being i'm actually going to have a second breakfast here and just take take this in at the moment because it's just it doesn't get much better than this right let's get some breaky so i stopped here to have some breakfast just just to take it all in and ben nevis translates there's a few different translations depending on what source you look at and some call it the mountain with the with its head in the clouds which is quite apt because it's so high it is quite often covered in cloud but other meanings suggest maybe the venomous mountain and certainly this side is a lot more venomous looking not on a day like today right enough but more venomous looking than the other side a final translation is mountain of of heaven and uh yeah that's probably more apt for my trip today because that's exactly what it felt like it felt like i was in heaven absolutely [Music] beautiful [Music] [Music] so off i went and i was glad i had my crampons and ice axe because even even late into the spring and early summer the snows can linger in scotland at the site and for me to access the ridge i was heading to which is on the skyline here i did have to cross quite a bit of snow and right here i'm going across a gully which is called number five gully and just a word of warning in the less good conditions this can be an avalanche spot so just be wary if you're trying to access this route uh you just have to be careful going across here and i was certainly still having to be careful today because the sun was starting to get that snow and i could have done with it being a little bit firmer anyway i soon crossed the snow and reached the ridgeline well i'm warm believe it or not i've just just crossed the uh the gully with the snow in it and now that i'm up on the ridge the sun's coming up i'm gonna have to take this jack off i think i am absolutely toasty it really is like an alpine day and you know it's only it's only 20 past eight in the morning so um yeah now that i'm on the ridge there's a bit of scrambling so i'm going to put the axe away over there take the tampons off i might have to put them back on at the top or maybe when i'm descending on my way down but yeah i'm glad that i had them for them from the uh the corey floor across the goalies to get to this point it would have been a bit dicey without them but i'm in a magnificent position right now behind me i can see down i think it's glenn's spin and over to carmore gerard you can see right down to the cic hut that i passed earlier on on the way up and it just looks like it's right at my feet but just about a thousand feet away what a day it's absolutely spectacular so yeah i'm gonna get my crampons off de-layer and we'll start scrambling right let's do it so high up in the ridge the sun had done its job over the last few days and most of the snow and the ridgeline was gone and it was in summer condition it was just perfect and i was soon reaching i suppose what is the crux of this this move the gangway which is a wall now on this side you don't get a sense of the exposure but on the other side there's a massive big drop down into the depths of the quarry so you do need to be sure fruit is going across this part and it's just lovely a lovely exposed scramble across the top [Music] [Music] after a shortish part of the the ridge machine which was a bit more difficult scrambling the lies but nothing nothing nothing too technical the the ridge eases up and there was a few patches of snow here but not not too many i didn't have to get the crampons on just yet and upper went doing some easy scrambling with the sun basking down on my back and the views across the bed and to cardboard jerrod just absolutely stunning it was fantastic fun going up this ridge i can highly recommend it and as i went up the uh i had the i had the 360 camera on so the i do apologize about the views here the wide-angled lens does does sometimes tend to give a bit more feeling of exposure than what it actually is so don't be put off by this but um just having a 360 camera makes the filming a bit easier i need i needed both my hands for scrambling up the rocks here after some sustained grade one scrambling there's a short section on the ridge which levels out slightly and i got a good view of what lay ahead and as i was higher up there was more snow on the ground here and i was i was definitely needing those crampons back on and the ice sack so just to just to help me so from summer conditions back into winter conditions and heading along a lovely lovely snowier rate with drops that dropped on either side it just was fantastic once again the 360 camera excuse the angle here so it's not nowhere near as steep as it looks here you'll get a better perspective of it in a wee while when you'll see me climbing up the ridge certainly fell alpine and from the crunch of the snow to the scrattle of the crampons on the rocks certainly reminded me that of that as i headed up as i headed up the the mountain i was glad that i delayed because there was very little wind of any at all and the sun was just yeah it was it was heating me up and having using my muscles to get up to the top of the hill i was certainly feeling the heat certainly unusual for springtime this high in a mountain with lots of snow on the ground but you know what i wasn't complaining oh right just a quick piece of camera let's be getting near the top you see down behind me i don't know the gopro picked out but that's the route nice snowy already today which was just just added to snow wasn't great i'm being honest with you but you know as i said the sun's been up since um half past five and it's now half past nine so it's kind of got to and um i'm kind of glad i went the way i didn't i'll explain later on but you maybe see behind me all these cornices here and it's the same over round about the top of the gully that i came across um anyway i'll explain about that bit more but look at that's what i place the va woohoo absolutely glorious and that's me just about the top of the the route that i'm up the ridge and up there is a plateau then i'm going to be going up here to the summit which is over yeah but yeah what a place fantastic it's really quiet i think because i started so earlier i've met one party who are going to come gully and that's it so expect to see people at the tourist though right let's go so soon on the end of the ridge and onto the plateau and skirting around the top of the north face of ben nevis with all those cornices still hanging there and what was mentioning in the last piece of camera is what i touched on earlier on you have to be careful going on to this route which is called which was called ledge route because you have to cross number five gully and those cornices can be a little bit unstable late in the season and the route i2 can minimize my time on the gully trans traversing it higher up well that's me on the summit of ben nevis i think the last time i was here i had to climb up the steps down there just shows you how much snow still left them or not we're not actually far from uh may just a day away a few days away from the start of may and there's still a fair bit of snow there's lots of cornicing ready to fall down those gullies anyway i've got the place to myself not often you can see that on the britain's highest peak and i think that was just the early start it's now 10 o'clock it's taking about five hours to come up the the route i did ledge route is what it's called so yeah i'm almost tempted to stop hearing have something but i think i might drop down this is just a halfway point i've actually got another route to do now another adventure the uh you might recognize it as my descent because there might have been a few videos done on on this route uh where i'm going to go down before and it's one of my favorites in in scotland so yeah i'm going to keep on going drop down um to the start of this route and get these crampons off i don't even need to have my helmet on you know i'm just being lazy i look silly but there's nobody here to see me just so you guys right i'm gonna crack on and get down to the uh the bottom of the hill right let's go so i headed down off the summit of bain nevis and i was headed towards the start of the carmore juror garrett and i'm glad that i'd kept my ice axe out and my crampons on because the snow was still fairly fairly deep on the descent but i soon made it down onto some nice dry rocks just before the start of the cmd erect oh well it's uh what time about now 10 to 11. i've been sat here for i don't know 20 minutes now and i don't know if you make it actually over my shoulder that's what i'm going over this car more gerarch and their rhett is just ahead of me that's what's up next is the cm direct which i'm really looking forward to but you know it's quite pleasant and i've got the the helmet off now and the the crampons off but i'm glad i kept them on because coming down the uh down the slopes to the start of the cmdr it was still very snowy i wouldn't have fancied coming down that way without the ice axe and possibly could have got away with the crampons but i kept them on anyway anyway i'm going to sit here for a bit longer top up my suntan and then uh yeah we'll get cracked all on the ridge but uh yeah just doing a bit of sunbathing not bad lovely after soaking up the sun for a bit longer it was soon time to get that backpack on and start the easy scramble along the car more jared and if you've watched the channel for any length of time you'll have seen me do this this route quite a few times and it's just fantastic it's a really really easy scramble and i highly recommend if you're okay with some heights this is certainly the best way to get to the summit of the uk's highest mountain just gives fantastic views and yeah for sure is the way up i would recommend all right that's me on the red just have to watch my feet and it says wonderful as it always is fantastic there's a wee breeze here i've put my jacket back on because of that but um i think once i start dropping dropping down and losing altitude it's going to be a toasty day down in the glen look at that view behind me look at that like the little brain the face they call that on ben nevis over there it's just a fantastic wall and every now and again i can hear rockfall coming down that is the sun's heating up the rock so it's not a place to be underneath it that's for sure but yes this is this is lovely um i didn't need my crampons or my helmet on coming along here this this part here is in summer condition um i did need them for coming off the bend though it was certainly yeah certainly required for coming down that snow slope and they've been struggling without them so just once again always remember to pack your ice axe and crampons even well into spring early summer because the snow can linger and all it takes is one wrong foot placement or slip and uh yeah you do need to be careful talking of which i am getting a little bit tired so i've slowed right down just to make sure i'm uh i'm not slipping or putting my feet in places it shouldn't be it's a flap at the moment hence i've got the camera but i'll need to put it away again so there's even more scrambling coming up ahead of me but yeah fantastic let's go up to monroe number two cardboard jrag [Music] [Music] so [Music] well this one to the glasses off this is the summit well the camera is actually on the weekend on the summit of car and more gerard which is a monroe as well and the real beauty about about this hill is actually that hill is the views you get to the north face it's definitely the best way around the uh round they are up the walker's route of the bend i'd always suggest coming up here the cmdr as long as you don't mind the weave at a boulder ground and a simple scrambling and it's some exposure it's fantastic as you can see behind me so i've kept my wee buff on the reason i've got this on it's not for the cold it's actually to save my my napper getting burnt in the sun so um it's it's just been lovely there's a wee breeze as you can probably hear and the views are fantastic so me by hazy it's not crystal clear that you can get it but i'm not going to complain i can see right over past glencoe towards crooker and these places to the south and our way to the north as well but today i'm getting a bit tired now i'm just glad that it's all downhill from here so i was thinking of actually dropping into the glen to the east of here and hidden back that way but um i'm just gonna head back the usual path and drop back on to the north face path and back to the car so i'm gonna sit here have a bite to eat and then get cracked on here [Music] after having another bite to eat on the second summit it was now time for that walk back down into the glen and back to the car and i can admit to you i was feeling knackered it had been a fantastic but long day and it wasn't it taken me probably the whole route probably took me about nine nine and a half hours but i was taking my time uh but my legs were still feeling it and this this walk back seemed to go on forever and ever however it was just one of those days that i'll live long in the memory stay safe out there guys thanks for watching and i'll see you on the next adventure [Applause] [Applause] so [Music] you

Channel: Scotland's Mountains

Views: 123,413

Keywords: heavenly day, venomous mountain, ben nevis hike, ben nevis summit, ben nevis cmd arete, ben nevis climb, ben nevis scotland, ledge route ben nevis, ledge route ben nevis winter, ledge route cmd arete, Scotlands Mountains, scotlands mountains ben nevis, scotlands mountains boots, scotlands mountains youtube, climbing scotland mountains, best mountains in scotland, beautiful scotland scenery, scotland scenery, scotland scenery 4k, Ben Nevis, ben nevis winter, CMD Arete

Id: 6HF3gcSMbfU

Length: 23min 17sec (1397 seconds)

Published: Wed May 19 2021