So we've come up to the top of the forest there at the bottom of the track and we're
going to follow that path all the way up the Alta Vulin stream of the mill up towards the
hut up here, the CIC hut.
Just before the hut we'll cross the stream and head on up underneath this steeper here
on the edge of the north face there.
So our route is that ridge line going up to Kanjerag.
Kanjerag is a summit that's just next to Ben Nevis summit itself so we've got a snow
gully to start off with, some ledges that give the route its name, the ledge route, which
then forms a nice narrow ridge, a bit rocky to start off with and a bit snowy kind of
higher up.
So a couple of hours to get up the ridge itself, we'll get us up to Kanjerag, this other
summit and from there about 45 minutes walk perhaps we'll get us around to the summit
of Ben Nevis itself.
So somewhere up there in the mist is the summit, that's where we go, that's why I'm showing
you on the map.
But the forecast is due to clear, so by the end of the day we should be in the sunshine
looking out to sky, looking up to the northwest highlands down to this stunning views hopefully
later on.
I'm losing count of days, we're in day five, so we're just waking up now to the summit
of Nevis and it's going to be about an hour's trek before we actually start climbing.
I see the really big, steep rocky buttress, black rock, we go up that, not straight up
that but just around the back of it by these snowy ledges, but we get to the slightly easier
angle bit at the top of that buttress and the ridge line going from there up into the
clouds is our roof ledger.
This is the first, I think third, we've been walking for about an hour, so far it's not
too bad, but we're going to come up to now a steep incline, and I think we'll start to
feed it then.
I haven't done that, this isn't okay so far.
So seeing these boots are a bit more rigid than what you might be used to, the sole
is quite stiff there, so try and put your feet across the slope, still go up the slope
but put your feet across the slope and use that edge to bite into the slope, it makes
it a lot easier on the car puzzle.
I think Armour's got to cope with this being the fifth challenge, so it's all going to
pile up on it.
Over the last few days, I just built up, built up, built up and this is just taken, this
is just knocked me for six times, it's just taken it out on me, if we look at where we
come from down there, oh man, that's hard for an hours track.
No, we're going up there, and it's just...
It's a long bend, first off, get your jacket done, then your helmet.
And we're going to go up this way here, this is the first ledge of the ledge route, where
Zig Zags up, up onto the top of Conjetic Butchers, that massive lump of rock that we can see
earlier on.
So the ledges come first and we just kind of walk up the snow here, roped up, we're
going to get the rope on just now, before the ridge line higher up.
This is beautiful, you know, I'm heavy here, I'm just burning, burning, I haven't trained
yet, and it's just killing me.
And it is quite exposed up here, so we don't want any slips or anything, so make sure every
foot is really secure before you step up on it.
So Amir, step over the rope there, so it's on the left side, stop it.
Let's go.
You're a moving well team, you're moving well, I said that right at the wrong moment
We had like, talking about centimetres to go about in the drops, scary stuff
300m drop straight down here, you've got base jumping down there if you like it
There's the path that we walked in on, we trail all the way down there just the other side
So from here we've done the ledges from here we got the ridge from here
it's a bit meander it's not straight up to the top so it doesn't look like much
of a ridge but you know it's quite a narrow rocky ridge
I'm going to bring your right foot down there last week, you're there now, down there
I'm going to keep coming up
Everyone's gone quiet, that was quite dramatic, that was quite dramatic wasn't it yeah, that was really dramatic
Good stuff, we're getting back into that rhythm
Stop right there
The smiles are coming back, that air of tension is coming back, never again, never again.
We're doing well about three quarters of the way up Ledgerute, we've just got about 15
minutes more to go up to there, but the summit of Benevis is over in that direction.
I can't quite see the tree point that's right on the top because it sits back just a little
bit, I feel tired, exhausted, just I don't know man, words can't describe it, no energy,
no energy at all, we've still got to go down yet, but I tell you what, there's a sense
of achievement, there's a big, big, big sense of achievement man, it's incredible, especially
yesterday that the mountain biking, I was feeling like really, I was in pain, I was
feeling sore, my body's aching, no idea how I'm going to feel after this man, this is
something else, seriously, already I'm in pain, let alone go home and relax and chill
out.
So the further this kind of snowy rocky route line is what we went up and you can see the
big steep butt to slow down, just left of that you can see the zigzag leg.
Every step I took it was just pure pain, you've got the crampons on, you're not used to wearing
those in the stiff boots and they just really make the walking really awkward and there's
some really scary moments down in the ridges and Mike's very, very comfortable there but
I mean I was just, so many thoughts were running through my head and just thinking what if
you slip.
We've got two hours to do, that's the thing, we've got two hours of downhill, uphill is
uphill can feel hard work and it does feel hard work but downhill can feel a bit sore
is where any kind of pain in the knees and the joints and things are going to start coming
out so we've got that still to do yet.
