UKC

I'm heading up to Ben Nevis later in the week with two fairly experienced walkers. Last year we attempted CMD and the winds increased to such a degree that we had to back off just before the actual ridge. As neither have ever summitted the ben they are eager to get up to the top via the tourist path and descend via CMD if conditions allow. Is is possible to reverse the route and what other factors should we consider? The weather forecast is looking good, I was hoping i could talk them into ascending via the arete but they're not having it. Any advice would be appreciated

In reply to smuffy:

Doing it in reverse has the advantage of offering a feasible descent into Coire Leis down the old line of the abseil posts. This means that if you get to the Arete and winds are threatening you can bail and still have summitted the Ben.

In reply to smuffy:

Right, now you've had a sensible answer off Jamie...

Anyone else think this was gonna be the sequel to the bench-on-the-Ben/piano-on-the-Ben affairs of a few years ago?

Reversing a Civic along the CMD Arete would be quite something!

In reply to Tom Last:

Lol.........not sure how the "honda" ended up in the heading..........looks like it generated a bit of interest though.

In reply to smuffy:
Like the Honda reference....nothing less than a Series Landrover would do imo. On topic - did this a few years ago in a beautiful sunny dawn. Tricky nav is the convex slope off the summit and I think it wouldn't be a lot of fun in the clag with very steep slopes to the left and right of the correct line. That said its a great descent after that and as already mentioned gives you a chance of a safe bail out into the glen and down the alt a mhuillin.
We used it having bivvied on the summit, to re- ascend Tower Ridge....