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Combining your gut instinct, your general sense of well-being and your every day common sense while tackling a life or death situation over wanting to achieve the initial goal is a massive achievement in itself, we'll done guys you live to climb another day - Kudos 👏🏻

Very interesting. I turned back on my 1st climb on tourist route winter climb. Minus 17 degrees. January. Completed 2nd climb May. Great educational video. Thank you.

Such a responsible climber knowing when to turn back. Well done sir 👍🏻

It was a pleasure! Can't wait for the next one

Another great video! Best thing to do, that's also part of the challenge to make the right decisions at the right time ;) Incredibly beautiful scenery and a huge challenge, great adventure!

Scottish weather can be so harsh - but I'll remember that tip if and when I get to Ben Nevis- which my grandfather climbed over a hundred years ago. Great video again.

I really enjoyed the crisp quality of the video

My "friend" took me on this route recently without any prior knowledge, luckily we survived. I commend you for turning back

Good call. Thanks for posting this. Too many people make bad choices in the mountains and then mountain rescue need to risk their own lives to come help you or worst case scenario, someone looses their life.

Another wonderful adventure. So peacefull and relax video. It was scared when you came down the mountains. Strong wind, fog and tiny trails made it very difficult))

I would not recommend this long approach to CMD Arete. It is more than a 1500m (Vert.) day anyway and this route makes it steeper and maybe a bit longer. The best way to approach the CMD Arete route is from the North Face Car Park at Torlundy and up the Allt a'Mhuillin path before breaking out left around NN151744 and gently ascending the toe of the ridge. This way you have a gentler ascent, no large streams to cross and you get magnificent views of the rugged north face much sooner. What this does not save you from is the exposure on some parts of the top section of the ridge and the extreme winds that can be channelled up Coire Leis and cause dangerous conditions as you cross from Carn Mor Dearg to Ben Nevis. Where they turned back is near where these winds can get extreme. By this time you have already summited a 1220m mountain so the day is not wasted! Once you continue beyond this point, up the Ben Nevis side of the narrow ridge and onto easier ground, you MUST get your navigation correct. People go the wrong way here even in good visibility so it is wise to get your map out and make sure you avoid both the cliffs to the right and the apparently-benign but dreadfully dangerous ground to the left. A good navigating phone app with Ordnance Survey 1:25000 mapping and GNSS will be particularly useful (OS Maps, Topo GPS, Outdooractive, ... ...). After finding the summit structures, finding the descent path can also be difficult in poor visibility. Once down near the 'half-way lochan' (NN147724), take the path to the North to return to the car park at Torlundy.

Great video - thanks for sharing!

Your videography just keeps getting better and better. Wonderful footage and a great story. Makes me want to go back and try to summit Ben Nevis. Thanks for your amazing talents.👍

i was up last weeek and had th fight with my self to turn back but it was for the best , you always kicking yourself but its for the best , great video

You made the right decision to turn back.. always another day to conquer that route 💯⛰️🤜🤛

Nice one, really crisp video that love how you’ve worked the audio and a crisp footage. No shame about turning back, the weather and wind sounded awful. Ridge also looked very fairy, nice video though!

Great video my friend.. Good place, nice hiking! Thankyou for sharing.. keep it up to build this channel.. thankyou my friend

Thank you for sharing,end of September there we go

What a great mature decision to quit. Absolutely exemplary!

Hi great video full of info and not a fail just good sound judgement guys 🙌

Oh my, that Scottish weather ... Well captured nevertheless!

Literally did the exact same thing today, in the same spot too!

Wow what a professional looking video! Are you doing this as your day 2 day work? Or are you working with other things?

Unfortunate those conditions, having reached the ridge but a wise decision to not cross it. I've gone up the donkey trail to the snowy and unfortunately completely cloudy summit, with only some rain showers while climbing up. Very doable for anyone reasonably fit (and the right clothing+minimal gear, obviously). During a 'high route' part of the GGW, I've experienced wind that put/knocked me (and my 17 kg backpack) 2 steps next to the path. There was enough space around the path so no drama but that CMD ridge certainly doesn't allow for being blown a couple of steps sideways.

I’m sorry you didn’t make it to the top, but from the video I think you made the right decision to turn back. I’m planning to go up the route that you attempted with my daughter next year, but only with food weather! Thanks so much for all the advice 👍🏼

that looked like a really interesting day of climbing

Aw such a shamed you abandoned the trek, tourist route is always best in unsettled weather 👍

Turning back is always the right decision if you feel uneasy. I wonder why you don't use at least one trekking stick, I find them invaluable for both uphill, but especially steep downhill as they act like a 'third' leg.

Better to start from the North Face car park, then take the ridge path to CMD. It is quite a hard scramble across very big boulders and steep from where you turned back, though not all that difficult. In the mist on the summit plateau is where navigation is tricky, but once at the summit, the route down is straight forward. But good attempt and wise désirions to turn back if not happy. If you just retraced your route down from CMD, that was not best, must have been much worse going down. I would advise you take the east ridge then down into the hanging valley to the ruins of Steall at the top Glen Nevis.

I summited June 2013 and it was snowing heavily on top. I only took the pony track but it was still a tough hike.

Enjoyed your video. Looks like a fun way up. Why do you leave the ridge and go down to the left just before you turned around? Is it possible to just follow the ridge all the way? Get yourself some sealskinz waterproof socks. It saves taking your boots off. They work 100%. I failed to reach the summit in May 2021. I went the more popular route with crampons and an ice axe. It felt like overkill on equipment but the top was solid ice and hard snow. The wind kept blowing me over and the temperature dropped to -5. A mighty mountain to always be respected despite not being very high.

What software/app did you use at the end looks very good for planning thanks

A couple of points: (1) the hut that you mention at 8:42 (the Charles Inglis Clark Memorial Hut) is private (owned by the Scottish Mountaineering Club) and not available as a shelter. (2) the town is Fort William, not Fort Williams.

At last, a film showing what it's really like. Too many fair weather walkers on youtube 😊

If you had successfully made the ascent, will you had return back the via fhe tourist path, is that possible?

What date did you do the climb? me and a few friends are planning to go there at the end of April

That wasn't a lake on the way up Ben Nevis, it was a cwm or a cirque.

Getting to the top is optional, getting down is mandatory

Good effort but the hut your on about is only open to members and guests of the Scottish mountaineering club so if your doing that route again the hut would be no good to you in an emergency it would probably be locked

Poor route advice, the North Face carpark at Torlundy is a far more sensible place to start this route, no messing around crossing loads of water falls, and the accent is far less dangerous than going straight up the steep loose face.

Done it in worse conditions that that