The weather was really good and it was an easy decision to hike Ben Nevis via Carn Mor Dearg (recommended). We drove past Fort William to Inverlochy and took a side road going around aluminum smelter, but the road was gated and we were not sure how serious the sign about the gate being closed was. We knew we were coming back late and did not want to take any risk of being stuck there after hours. To save time we decided not to explore alternatives to get to parking spot higher up along the trail. We decided to do what hikers do best: walk, adding couple km for the day. We were at the North Face trailhead parking lot in Torlundy around 9 am. The parking lot was actually full, with some people camping around it. Surprisingly we saw only few people on the trail. Avoiding possible crowds on the main trail (Mountain Path) was part of the decision to hike this route. Of course it is also much more interesting and scenic. The trail starts very easy and gains altitude steadily all the way to Carn Mor Dearg (1220 m). The views opened in all directions. We descended a bit before crossing Carn Mor Dearg Arete and final ascent to Ben Nevis (1345 m). The last stretch was more difficult with no obvious trail and many large boulders to go around. Navigation was not difficult, with marker posts on top well visible. GPS was showing we were near the trail, but the trail itself often was not obvious. Parts of the last segment (1 km, 300 m ascent) were quite steep. The summit is flat. Most hikers were already gone, but a few, like us, were still coming up. We met Polish hikers. We just stumbled around looking in all directions.
Ben Nevis summit
Rather than returning the same way, we decided to take different route down: Mountain Path to Lochan Meall an t’Suidhe and around the massif to Allt a’Mhullim, shortcut across the valley and back to North Face car park. The descent was easy, quiet and at the end with no people in sight. We took advantage of long day to hike 20 km/1500 m total ascent loop at comfortable pace. We returned to Signal Rock after 11 pm, quite tired.
Ben Nevis via Carn Mor Dearg
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