Looking back at the Summit of Ben Nevis from the CMD
Another day on the Ben in superb winter conditions and todays quality mountain route was Castle Ridge grade III ** one of the big four classic Nevis ridges. The weather was generally good but mist had engulfed us as we reached the summit plateau. At this time my mate was doing his Winter ML, the misty conditions were ideal for nav practice so we were counting steps on a bearing in deep snow some 300 meters away from the tourist route looking for a spot height.
A figure loomed out of the mist towards us, he was wearing trainers, jeans, some sort of combat jacket, no gloves or hat, did not appear to be navigating with map/compass or GPS.
He said which way to Ben Nevis, we pointed to the general direction, he was off without another word.
We found our spot height and set off for the summit ourselves, recent winds had obliterated any helpfull footprints in the snow so we navigated by handrailing the plateau rim to our left. Once we got in front our man fell in behind us, luckily for us there were a couple of other teams at the top.
We thought our man a liability and did not want to get involved with getting him off the hill so we legged it straight past the summit and down to the CMD ridge without stopping.
Later on in the day as we looked back at the north face of the Ben from the CMD ridge a rescue helicopter was buzzin round I could not help wondering if our man had got off the hill safely.....