Peter Schrammel - Mountains

16. 11. 2025

Peter Schrammel

Weather

cloudless, -3° in the morning, an obstinate cloud on the summit at noon, brief shower on the way down

Interest

****: Alpine winter hike onto the mountain with its head in the clouds

Route

Torlundy, North Face Car Park, 50m - Càrn Dearg Meadhonach, 1179m - Càrn Mòr Dearg, 1220m - Ben Nevis, 1345m - Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe, 565m - North Face Car Park

Elevation gain

1544m

Distance

19km

Timing

7h (2:40 + 0:15 + 1:40 + 1:15 + 1:10)

Stamina

Difficulty

I-: Càrn Mòr Dear 0; ridge: several steps 0+, one step I-; southeast face 0, Mountain Path 0

Danger

4: Càrn Mòr Dear 3; ridge 3-4, a few short sections 4, southeast face 2, edges of the summit plateau (!), Mountain Path 2

Visitor frequency

d: A dozen of cars at the parking. 4 hikers on the way to Càrn Dearg Meadhonach; 4 more on the southeast face to the summit; probably a hundred on the Mountain Path; nobody from Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe to the car park

Comments

Frozen boggy ground starting from 300m; 5-10cm snow cover from 700m, in some places up to 25cm; crampons required on almost the entire circuit

Report

I had some remaining annual leave to consume before the end of the year. Since I had positive memories from my last winter hikes in the Shropshire Hills two years ago, I decided to go hiking again despite the wintery conditions. The weather forecast promised three stable days in Scotland. Hence, I flew to Glasgow, rented a car and drove to Fort William. Driving along Loch Lomond, I could estimate the snowline at roughly 600m on the southern slopes of Ben Lomond. The plan for the first hike was the Ben Nevis horseshoe. When I got up in the morning, there was ice on the car's windscreen. In the absence of an ice scraper I used a piece of cardboard which worked surprisingly well. I reached the North Face car park via a dirt road with huge potholes at 7am. There were a couple of camper vans. I was able to pay the parking fee via the app and started walking down the forest road at 7.15am. It was still completely dark in the woods. A broad path allowed me to gain height quickly. At a junction I turned left because this seemed to be the shorter path according to my map. After a flat section it joined the right path again. In the meanwhile it was dawning. Loch Linnhe was covered by a blanket of clouds. The clouds above Ben Nevis slowly turned pink while I was approaching the mountain following the path along Allt a'Mhuilinn. Shortly after a distinctive birch tree I turned left onto traces that climb the northern slopes of Càrn Beag Dearg. While the snowline was still higher up, the ground was already frozen here, which was an advantage because of the boggy terrain. As the slope was steepening the path transformed more and more into an ice fall so that I had to be careful where to step to avoid slipping. I noticed a group of 4 hikers further up in front of me that I reached shortly after the snowline. They were well-equipped, but only made slow progress. I overtook them and continued tracing a path along the logical line. Sometimes the path was clearly visible because it caught most of the snow, but sometimes there was just a slope covered by rubble and a few centimeters of snow. I was cross-checking with my GPS watch whenever I thought that I got too much off-track. The summits of Ben Nevis and Càrn Mòr Dearg were stuck in clouds while the valley with its mountain cabin below was free. The wind was picking up, thus I put on my jacket. After more than 2h30 of walking I could devine the shape of a summit. I first thought that it was already Càrn Mòr Dearg - I only realised that it was Càrn Dearg Meadhonach when I reached the top and noticed that there is one more summit on the ridge. It was 10am. So, I took a short break and ate part of my lunch. There were clouds all around except for a little hole in the clouds towards the northwest. Càrn Mòr Dearg looked farther away than it was - it was just a 15min walk. There was zero visibility on the summit. So, I immediately continued descending the ridge. After a few metres I decided to put on my light crampons to have a sure foot on the mixture of granite blocks, snow and maybe some hidden ice. A few metres further down I was below the clouds in the sun and had a great view towards Aonach Mòr, Aonach Beag, and also the summit of Ben Nevis, which looks like a gigantic rock pyramid from here, was free of clouds at that moment. The route to the summit was visible from here: follow the ridge. This was not too difficult, but required constant care because of the terrain, snow and choosing the right route, mostly on op of the ridge, sometimes on the very exposed right, sometimes on the left. There was some easy scrambling in some places. After having descended the little knob after a third of the ridge, the "path" continues on the left side of the ridge, while a cliff falls into Coire Leis on the right. The meandering river in Coire Giubhsachan was glittering in the sunshine. I made steady progress as the wind was blowing steadily. In the meanwhile, the summit was in the clouds again. Suddenly, I encountered a hiker with a huge paragliding backpack on the search for a launch spot. A huge masoned cairn marks the beginning the of the ascent via the south face. The granite blocks double in size here. Since rock looked dry, I removed my crampons. The clouds were crawling down from the summit; the temperature was falling noticeably. Luckily the steep, pathless climb was heating from the inside. I could perceive four hikers further up who I soon overtook. There were rods that marked the path, which was recognisable now, but also attracted the snow. A spooky castle appeared in the fog - I had reached the summit plateau. The snow was deeper now; I almost needed gaiters. What looked like a castle were the ruins of the observatory with its two towers, a shelter and the summit cairn. It was shortly after noon. The shelter was already taken by a couple, so I looked for a wall in the ruins that would shield me from the breeze. I wasn't alone there; a conversation with an Irish guy how Ben Nevis resembles Carrauntoohil unfolded while we were eating our lunch; I should definitely come to beautiful County Kerry at some point. The white around us seemed to lighten up a bit, but the hope for sun was in vain. After 12.30pm I followed the massive cairns across the summit plateau westwards passing by the gullies and precipices of the famous north face. The mountain path was very busy even under these conditions. The snow got trapped on the path so that I put on the crampons again. Suddenly, was below the clouds and I could see Glen Nevis. The amount of snow reduced, so I removed the crampons again. After snow followed ice, though: close to the rivulet crossings the paved path was covered by a layer of thick sugar-like icing. I had to circumvent them via the grassy slope as my spikes wouldn't have given my sufficient safety. While a steady stream of hikers was flowing upwards from Glen Nevis, I continued the path towards Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe. I took a short break to eat an apple and enjoyed the lake view. At 1.45pm I scrambled to continue as it started to rain - now only snowfall was missing to have experienced the full suite of Ben Nevis weather. After crossing the outlet of the lake I lost the path traces. The terrain was easy, but the ground was frozen and extremely icy. I made only slow progress following the left bank of the brook. Later I followed some traces to cross the brook. The traces were soon lost again and the next icy section slowed me down again. Finally, I hit some quad tracks that led me to the ford across Allt a'Mhuilinn. It was towards 3pm when I was walking down the broad path towards the car park again, which I reached at 3.20pm. I used the more windy path, which was well-maintained. I drove to Turlundy via the pot hole slalom. I pressed the button for the traffic lights for the single-lane bridge to cross the railway, but they remained red. An oncoming car stopped and the driver told me that the lights didn't turn green for him either. Back in the hotel, I used all available facilities to dry my clothes. After dinner I finished the evening with a whisky tasting in the hotel bar.