We started the walk at the Clachaigh Inn, heading towards the A82 where there is a path leading directly up to Sgorr nam Fiannaidh. This was quite a rapid ascent of over 900m, and there was a shelter at the top to recover before we progressed along the ridge eastwards.

The walk from here was straightforward until we reached a series of pinnacles which required some scrambling/climbing to pass. Whilst the weather was generally good (a bit windy but not snowing or raining), there was a lot snow on the ground so progress was slow.

We bumped into a couple of climbers coming the other way before we reached the Crazy Pinnacles, and after a short discussion (and giving consideration to the time, it was starting to get dark), we decided to turn back. We got back the shelter just as it got properly dark, and the descent back down to the A82 took ages!

Overall this was a challenging hike/scramble/climb, next time we will perhaps tackle it during the summer months when there is more daylight!

We took the mountain track up Ben Nevis, starting at the Nevis visitors centre. The weather was a bit wet when we started, and while we didn’t encounter any serious rain on the entire walk, there was a lot of snow and ice as we got nearer the top. Visibility was very poor and the cairns proved essential in finding our way once we were near the top.

The temperature up top was very very cold, it was quite windy which made things feel even chillier. We wore ski masks and by the time we begun our descent they had frozen up quite a bit, along with the rest our kit! We stopped for lunch in the shelter up top (which unfortunately was not left in a good state by other hikers).

We started walking at about 10.30 (after a brief visit to Fort William for supplies), and ended up finishing the walk in the dark at about 6pm (a head torch is essential).