The Best way up BEN NEVIS : Scotland's Highest Mountain via the CMD Arete

[Music] Ben neis is Scotland's highest mountain at 4,413 FT and most people who Ascend it come up via the pony track to the west of the mountain but tucked around the other side is the Magnificent North Face of the B the most Alpine looking landscape in Scotland and to ascend the mountain from this side you have to tackle the carore Jer correct an area Ridge which runs from carore jera to the highest point in Scotland it really is a fabulous route the best way to the top of Ben Nev is for sure and also the most Alpine route in Scotland it's not a short day it's quite committing and the route goes for almost 18 km and covers nearly 1600 M of a scent so it's not one for the faint-hearted so to do this I started early I was up at half 3 in the morning from my Park up and a short drive later more than that later at the end of the video by the way a short drive later I found myself at the starting point for the climb which is the North Face car park I got my stuff ready and I was climbing long before the sun was UTI rzed and the stars were sparkling in the sky above it was going to be a [Music] HD oh we right I hope hope you can see me okay it's the middle of the night and I've been it's what time is it now 5:30 it's an hour till sunrise and I've been walk I've been up since 3:30 a true Alpine start and uh yeah I'm going to I'm grumbling a we bit but more about that I'll maybe come on to why I'm grumbling and complaining not like me uh later on but let me spin you around and I'll show you uh yes the The View that I can just about see now and what a view it is hopefully you can see I've cranked up the the iso and May be blown out now anyway behind me I was talking about an Alpine start this is going to be it's probably the most Alpine route in Scotland I I think and it's it's maybe could I say it's Where it All Began YouTube wise for me maybe a bit more about that later on but certainly one of the videos I did in my early early days up here was was the first one that kind of got popular but again more than that later on I'm home to head up here I don't know if I'll get to the top for Sunrise but that's the plan I'll not get to the top of this this is Ben NIS by the way but I might get to the top of one of the Peaks up here for the sun coming up that's the plan but yeah nice and early so I need to just watch my step it's a bit icy this morning but yeah really looking forward to this and hopefully I can bring you some cracking views of alpan Scotland right let's go oh it's bogy these are Big Hills obviously Ben neis is the highest mountain in Scotland but the first one must been in the top top 10 carore Gerard so yeah I'll spin you around and it's looking absolutely superb not sure if I'm going to make the talk for Sunrise though how good does that look absolutely fabulous we're well into uh spring now again I've said this before but uh higher up in the Scottish mountains winter continues on even when it's nice and summer like down in the Glenn so I've got my actually got two ice axes with me to my helmet crampons it's a grade one rout carore Jette that I'm going to be doing CMD but the real star of the show for me coming around this way is the view over to the north side of Ben NIS if you've done Ben n from the other side it's great but you miss out on this wild and rugged side so I'll bring you back when I'm up on the ridge uh and I'll tell you why I started so early not just um yeah there's there's a couple of reasons why why not just to get up for Sunrise but there's another reason why I get started early so I shall report back later this is where the most Ascent happens in the day you start not far off sea level but the we walk in takes you to about 350 M and then from there up this section you're ascending probably over 800 M and fairly constant gradients however if you get a daily Ed the views are just stunning and the views to The North Face that that Alpine looking North Face of Ben n start to open up and it's well worth it it's just a fantastic fantastic place to be oh nice colors and the band of Venus coming over to my uh over my back to the North and the West Lely and the band of Venus means that the sun's coming and I don't know if you'll make out on the camera but the first rays are just starting to hit the B upper parts of the B so yeah I think it'll probably be the first cuz it's the highest point with the first part of the landscape to see the Sun but it's nice and pink proper Alpine glow with B nervis being the highest mountain it gets the sun first and catches it before anywhere else and the slope that I was on was actually it wasn't getting the Sun not because it was lower than Ben neis but because to the east of the mountain I was on are two very large mountains anak beg and anak Moore and they were blocking the sun whereas as you can see behind me the lower Peaks far to the North were bathed in the morning sun however that did mean that I almost made it to the top for Sunrise as you're about to see [Music] just about made it for Sunrise I the sun's been up for quite some time over on the B over there you can see it uh I think I said this in my last uh well the last time I came up here was when I was well camping but I think I said that the Ben hits gets the sun first and then uh we get it here it's lower down but look at that isn't that a sight to behold and I'm heading up here that's the first Peak but what a place look at that absolutely stunning look at that wow I'm going to take some photographs of that I think it's quite nice the sun coming up wow right let's do that [Music] woohoo after taking some photographs I set on my way again and as I always say a little bit of sunshine always makes a world of difference it just perks up your spirits and put a spring in your ST which is certainly what what happened to me on this day and uh yeah that spring was taking me closer to the first summit which wasn't too far away and at this point I was still relatively sheltered from the the winds which was nice that was about to change at the top what a placey oh the first summit it is 17 minutes 7 and this Summit sits at just under 1200 M it's not um on roll the next one is carore jard and uh yeah it's way bit more breef easy here so I'm going to get another layer on get my sunnies on before heading up to car more Jer I don't need my my the S the snow's kind of soft and I don't uh don't need my crampons on just yet I'll probably too L when I get to the top of car J so any let's get another lay on here I'll get my sun sunglasses out put this head torch away as well I think just notice a big band of cloud coming over that's not good don't on that right let's get this one so the cloud was starting to form and some of the Summits wasn't too bad at the moment but I know that this can sometimes happen ahead of weather moving in and that was the forecast for today there was some weather forecast to be coming in in the afternoon with the wind strengthening markedly and Rain eventually arriving which it did which it did but at the moment I was Keen to make the most of it no that that blue sky was going to disappear I set about taking some pictures and grabbing some footage of this Alpine environment I mean it just looks spectacular I hope you agree water a place the footage is quite yeah quite good but it's never as good is the needed here's some Dr footage hope you [Applause] [Music] [Applause] enjoy [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] all right time to head off wind's picking up a bit let's get across this all [Music] right of course it was just down here that I did the Wild Camp I maybe stick a playlist together if you want to go and watch some of the other Adventures because the last time I was up here was ledge route I was going to do that today actually but anyway I'll sck a playlist at the end but yeah I camp around it here which was wonderful but anyway right let's go stop reing on that's me approaching the summit of carore jard so I'm going to stop I'm going to put my crampons on it's much steeper down the other side and there is more Consolidated snow here so oh hands are cold I'm going to get my bigger gloves on as well thicker gloves right let's get the crampons on woo I've warmed up a we actually it was quite I really was quite cold my hands were really cold um but they seem to have warmed up so get my helmet on as well I'm just going to take one ice a put my poles away oh bit of cloud coming in and uh yeah I think I mentioned earlier on this is where kind of this is where well I wouldn't say where my YouTube Journey started but it certainly the first video I did a video very similar conditions just not as much wind coming over this the CMD and it was the first video that kind of gained any traction people liked it and I think it go I don't know over 1,000 views which at the time for me was just amazing and it kind of gave me the impetus to try and improve my videos and all that sort of Ja got got me hooked there's my broken behind me I'll spin you around and see if you can see it let's just go around this way hold up all right let's go I don't know what's going on not no idea if you can see it but uh yeah block inspector and glory is behind me there don't know if that is being picked up by the camera just cuz there's a we bit of M coming in you you usually get that when the it's your shadow cast on any Cloud below you you get your your glories and you're broken but uh yeah lovely right time to concentrate I might have to put the big camera away I've got my 360 camera so I do apologize for any skewed looking footage right let's go I set off down from carore Jer going to the ARR and that broken followed me with the fog bow which was lovely and at this point Ben NIS was still peeking out above the clouds it really is one of the best routs in [Music] Scotland oh this is just absolutely fabulous proper winter neck um the snow's really nice and Consolidated as well uh we bit of powdery stuff here and there but yeah this is just wonderful wonderful look at this a we Bank of cloud just sitting over the uh the rat every now and again that's what's coming and going and giving me the uh the broken so yeah I've done this route loads of times but every time I come there's something different it's just different conditions and it's been a few years so I'm really glad to get back here this has got to be one of the best routs anywhere anywhere especially in conditions like this I keep it for a good day if you do come but uh yeah absolutely brilliant so let's crack on I'll bring you back when I'm at the next peek along there there's nothing too technical on the arat itself it's a grade one winter climb but you do have to just watch your footing especially in conditions like today when the stones and the Rocks were protruding from the snow but what a place as I said those Mists that were lingering on the Summits and across the right were just making it very very atmospheric that's be about halfway along Cloud's coming again which is a bit of a shame I was going to stick the Drone up and get some drone shots here but I don't think it's worth it I did take some drone shots earlier on when I was in the first summit maybe not of the a r but I would have got bits of it um so I'm glad I did that then but yeah it's just it's it's even though the Cloud's in it's coming and going I don't know if you can make out the b behind me it's every now and again it's appearing out of the cloud it's just fabulous absolutely fabulous so uh yeah I'll drop down here a bit more and then it gets narrower I seem to remember it does it get narrower towards the end there so I'll bring you back then I might chat a we bit about whether YouTube's worth it at the moment just just thinking back to the the video that I did here the very first video that gained any traction for me so yeah maybe talk about that but I'm going to concentrate now maybe take some pictures cuz over and down and again the the Cloud's actually adding to the atmosphere um adding to the atmosphere adding to the uh the day I think cuz it's it's just uh making it a bit more atmospheric oh oh my God I'm speaking of absolute load of nonsense I'm right I'm going to put this away and crack on a bit further and I'll bring you back look at this look at the mamores Fantastic beautiful [Music] right on IH headed and this footage is from the 360 camera again it does skew it quite a lot but it gives you an idea of how rocky it is and it's not as steep as it looks but it's still not a place to trip up and fall that's for sure or you know I wouldn't go on to the right if it was super super windy um there are bypass paths around most of the difficulties as well but there are bits where it does narrow as you'll see later on anyway onward wa it [Music] was oh it's lovely right so yeah it's YouTube YouTube still worth it today I think I've been thinking about it because as I said the video that I did all those years ago kind of took off it's maybe a bit harder now but back back then there was less less people doing it I suppose in fact I at the time I I was a bit embarrassed I didn't want people to know that I was doing YouTube and that's the main reason that the the Channel's called Scotland's mountains it was called my name before that but I changed it cuz I didn't want well one the thought was a bit pretentious I know that's all changed now so I'm not having a popet anybody out there that's got their name as a you Channel um I kind of wish I'd kept my name but anyway I just kind of um didn't want people to know what I was doing it was a bit geeky so I changed it to Scotland's mountains that didn't work out very well anyway is it is it still worth it well I think it is um you just just need to get on with it and and do it and if your videos are of good enough quality then there's always somebody yeah there's always uh new channels starting I watch some there's lots of outdoor channels that I watch now that are are new and they're get lots of views but it's not all about the views as you know um I still do these as a momental I can look back in this in years to come and as long as you're not doing it for money cuz unless you're uh unless You' got hundreds of thousands of Subs maybe Millions you're you're in the wrong game if you're wanting to make some money you've got to enjoy it so I think it is definitely still worth doing but anyway I'm kind of yeah I am speaking a loot of nonsense today I don't know crack on a but I've not yet told you why the other reason why I got up early I'll do that either at the top or at the the week but yeah let's go on let's see how we got one towards the end of the r part itself there are a few little bits uh which steepen up uh don't you can you can bypass them but there's a couple of we steps which you can clamber over as it starts to gain height again towards the end of the r and yeah the cloud was still coming and going I was kind of hoping it was going to move from the summit when I got there but I wasn't holding out much hope because uh the forecast as I said was going Hill going downhill should I say uh for the rest of the day anyway I was soon off the rocks and that heralded the end of the r and yeah I was approaching the K that marks the end just here marks the end of the right I'm going to sit here get a pool out maybe have a bite to eat had anything to eat yet today yeah lovely it was good the snow wasn't as deep as uh well not as deep as it could have been I think sometimes it's easier when there's more snow because it's quite a rocky it's quite a rocky route you can't really get into your Shay cuz there's so many rocks anyway right Scotch EG for breakfast what time are we at halfast 9 so let's do that and I'll report back in we well oh that Sun's breaking through again although it was only half 9 that Scotch egg was lovely I had already been up for 6 hours and hadn't had anything to eat it all i' had were a couple of coffees before leaving the van but I knew the Scotch egg is the food for kings and that would keep me going anyway I finished with Scotch egg and enjoyed the rest at the Kier and now it was time to tackle the final it's about 200 M from here the final slopes up to Ben Nevis and this bit always always gets me cuz you think you're almost there having tackled their right but this is uh this slow slope here especially when it's in well snow you know it it needs respect because there's long runoffs um in in all directions and today I wouldn't have gone anywhere near it without krampon and an ice ax and that will certainly be the case quite long into this spring oh the wind's picking up now woo that slopes a beast oh it's giving me a beasting anyway there's a summit just over there not too far now there there'll be some people up there so I'll probably not do too many bits to camera but I get the 360 camera out and uh walk up to the top but oh legs are tired I'll report back when uh I've got a we bit more time to myself winds blow so there were quite a few people uh not that many in comparison to later on in in the day but yeah um you can see by the cloud Whispering over my head it was quite windy I I always try and reduce the wind noise but I headed up to the the summit with my 360 camera I didn't do any bits to camera I get a bit shy when there's people around I headed down to look at the fog bow uh which was Lo loitering over the north phase and then about turned and took took the correct bearing it's quite important to go the right way off Ben neis cuz there's lots of cornices and cliffs about so just make sure if you're up here you know how to get off if the Mists come [Music] down oh right oh it's bright I didn't stop and do a bit the top cuz there was a there was folk there um it's uh Saturday so expected to be busy I probably be a lot of food coming up I was going to go back down the CMD but uh another reason I left early is it's a deteriorating forecast the winds are to pick up markedly they already are picking up to be honest with you and then there's rain moving in this afternoon so I think the winds on the uh other side will be too uh too high so I'm going to head back down now and I'll report back once it passed all the crows of people as expected there were hundreds of people that have passed on the way down the mountain who are heading up and as you can see there was snow pretty much all the way down to the halfway locking and to be honest with you this is less snow than there usually is at this time of year so just just be prepared that if you're coming up even well into the spring um to expect winter conditions on the top of Ben neis oh yeah I am sweltering the uh spring in the Glenn still winter on the top I didn't do much filming on the sort of zigzag path off the B it was just so busy um I'm going to really I'm going to sound really condescending here but I must have gone past over 100 people and I counted four winter boots um higher up there was four people with crampons on that was it so just I just just remember it as win up there you need both isacs and crampons I know how to use them but anyway yeah I I've not told you about mother Grumble I'll wait till I get back to the van and I'll tell tell about my other Grumble God I'm a grumpy old grumpy old G but anyway for now I'm going to uh delayer as I said I'm swe right how do we uh just we seat down there played bit with the Drone and it's time to get going I'll probably report back I'll tell you my final grundle when I uh get back down to the van I've still got to cross this river which could be interesting so if it is interesting you'll see me at the river try to cross it otherwise I'll see you guys back at the van hopefully with a cup of tea or a cup of coffee which I'm really looking forward to and uh yeah got it's like spring down here lovely right see you the van right oh back at the van there was no issues crossing the river the levels were relatively low I did I just remember one time coming down and we had to shim me across the a fence that went across it anyway yeah I was going to tell you about my Grumble but I'll do that once I've told you just how happy I am I'm knackered that um that whole B probably took about eight and a half hours all the filming I was up early but what a fantastic day I never have a bad day on the carore J I think always keep it for good weather um and I'd certainly advise if you're going to do it and if you don't mind a wee but I mean it's hardly any scrambling and um in that condition there there was a few B steps that I climbed up but you could have bypassed them the hardest bit was just the fact that the stones protruding through the snow it's it's not very even and that slope up to the top of the B is is energy sapping and did require crampons and nice ax that was a great one slope any why am I grumbling well parking I've just spent the last half an hour trying to go into the ring WAP um couldn't register didn't send me Verification codes it was a bit of a disaster so I just phoned them and the phone was going it's an automated phone um system or service and I put in the location number and it just said it couldn't be found so I I spent 10 minutes trying to find the sign with this verification number it was way at the back of the car park read somewhere that you couldn't Park here overnight which is fine I can understand why because there's yeah you know the small minority ruin it for the rest of us leaving places like Pig ties and toilets but uh I got in touch with them yesterday the forestry commission and just said listen I'll be coming up about 10:00 at night I'm leaving at 4: in the morning to go up the hill can I I don't mind paying twice can I you know used the car park I got an back saying no that's definitely not happening so that's why I had to park about 3 miles away what amazed me though when I got here at half 3 or 4:00 in the morning there was virtually no spaces cuz there was about a zillion camper van here so oh I'm too much a bloody goody two shoes but yeah I don't know what to do about the pain let me know if you've had any issues with that as well I don't know I've tried to register with Ringo before but it's not work but you would have thought the phone service would have but it didn't I'll maybe try again later rant over um apart from that it was a wonderful wonderful day a fe are sore I'll sleep well tonight and yeah I'm looking forward to to you you'll have seen all the footage I've not seen it yet I'm looking forward to seeing that and the pictures and all that sort of stuff so if you've made it this far and you've made it through my rant thank you very much for watching stay safe out there and I'll see you on the next adventure I'm wa have another cup of coffee before driving R see you next [Music] week [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Scotland's Mountains

Views: 35,026

Keywords: ben nevis, cmd arete, ben nevis summit, scotlands mountains, carn mor dearg, ben nevis via cmd arete, tourist path, scotlands mountains ben nevis, cmd arete ben nevis, ben nevis scotland, ben nevis climb, cmd route ben nevis, ben nevis cmd arete, ben nevis (mountain), munro bagging, carn mor dearg arete, cmd arete winter, cmd arete ben nevis winter, cmd arete ben nevis drone, ben nevis hike, ben nevis winter, carn mor dearg arete winter, how to climb Ben Nevis, northface

Id: 2YcG_Qpc_dk

Length: 28min 39sec (1719 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 27 2024