With another hot day forecast, it would have been good to have set out early – but, this being a Hillbillies walk, Dave insisted on sticking to the usual 9.50am starting time. As a result, we were sweltering right from the start.

The slog up to Carn Mor Dearg felt long and punishing, but when we finally reached the top, the views of the arrete were spectacular and we all took plenty of photos before the short descent to the start of the arrete.

The arrete itself felt very long indeed, and very tiring constantly clambering up and down over large rocks along the way. Views were glorious though, and there were plenty of spots where one could safely stop to take photos, so we did. 

The final section from the end of the arrete to the summit of Ben Nevis was a horrible slog up a steep bouldery slope; even those who had been full of energy on the arrete were sagging by this stage. But eventually we all made it and were able to take triumphant pictures at the top. 

The walk down was mostly without incident, though I did find myself foolishly following Dave and others down the same treacherous shortcut that I’d stupidly taken on my previous Ben Nevis climb. Being with others made it slightly less nerve-wracking the second time around but it was still very unpleasant and I vowed to stay on the zig-zag path if I ever do Ben Nevis again. 

As we rested at the bottom of the shortcut where it rejoins the main path, we watched a helicopter arrive to pick up an injured walker from the side of the path just below us. Thankfully as we passed her we could see she was sitting up and talking, having presumably just injured her leg, but I was impressed at how quickly they got her winched up into the helicopter. 

The sun was setting over the loch as we finally neared the end of the walk – this was around 7pm, the end of a very long day!