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| Getting ready |
The big one. Something I have always fancied doing , so we (myself , Jake and Rowan) had two days of work (1 for me I don't work Fridays) and we drove up to Fort William on the Thursday to spend the night at a hostel.
We skipped breakfast at the hostel , thinking we could get something more substantial at McDonalds or Morrisons, but it seems the Scots don't like to open early (it was about 7.30). A short drive out of town to the Glen Nevis visitor centre took us to the start of the walk. The route we took was the popular Mountain Track / Pony Route / Tourist Route. I can understand why they don't call it the tourist route anymore - for most the way the path is well defined, but not near the summit where there are steep drops from the plateau and frequent hill fog.
For most of the walk jake and myself were trailing Rowan who didn't have any problems with the effort required. With a few stops for a breather we made good time and it wasn't until we got to the top of the zig zags , and there was a thick layer of snow for the rest of the route. After a few hundred yards more we were walking in thick hill mist - we had reached a cairn and could not see the next cairn. We were there a while - didn't see anyone following us up , and thought maybe we should turn around ....... I checked my garmin and we were not far from the foot of Mcleans Steep which is the last bit of uphill to get on the plateau proper. While we were deliberating a guided group of about 25 people arrived , and we mad the sensible decision to tag along after them for the final summit push (I know I have been reading too many Everest books!!) I am confident I could have got us there but it felt safer following someone who does this several times per week.
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| Red Burn - just before the start of the zig zags |
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| The view on the way up |
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| on the zig zags |
It was a great feeling to get to the summit - there was plenty of folk there and more arrived as we were taking pics
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| The remains of the old weather observatory |
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| Two handsome chaps |
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| What a poser |
Same way back down. Apart from a trip where Jake hurt his ankle , an uneventful descent.
A magic mountain day out on Britain's highest - about 8 miles - Map - Harvey Superwalker
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