What a day on the Ben!
I feel a little guilty admitting this, but what the heck!
I was on Carn Mor Dearg and Ben Nevis today on one of the most magnificent days I’ve ever had on these hills. But we cheated. We went to both summits by helicopter…
It’s not something I do habitually but we were making a film for the Nevis Partnership, of which I’m chairman, and over the past few weeks we’ve managed to shoot nothing but cloud and rain. With high pressure forecast for today we went for it and used the helicopter for the aerial shots of the Ben. My sincerest apologies to anyone who was on the hill and had their peace disturbed - we did try and keep the disturbance to a minimum.
I was surprised by the amount of snow that was still on the hill and the gullies were busy with climbers. The views south, down Loch Linnhe, to Mull and the distant Paps of Jura were magnificent, but I think the best view of all was over the Carn Mor Dearg Arete to the Mamores, some of the loveliest hills in the country. The glens were hazy with mist but the tops were clear and the sun shone hot from a cobalt blue sky.
The NP film will be previewed at the Fort William Film Mountain Festival on Feb 19 and I reckon the clips we shot today will make it look quite spectacular. Apologies again to anyone whose peace was disturbed.
February 18th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Fantastic picture of the CMD there Cameron. I was over in the Cairngorms all week, with equally great weather. Looking at your picture I reckon that there’s more snow in the west than in the ‘Gorms - seems to be the case alot recently. A couple of years ago the Cuillin were just about the snowiest hills in Scotland late in the season - very odd.
February 24th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
The seasons have gone mad but as long as we get some snow on the hills, somewhere, then that’s great. After the past few days of rain and winds I must admit I’m looking forward to spring. I was down in the Trossachs area today and was delighted to see snowdrops and daffodils. Roll on the long days…