Carn Mor Dearg - GM/WS-003 SOTA (2022)

Summits on the Air Activation Report

Activation Date: Thursday 24th March, 2022.
Activator(s): Richard M1HAX.
Summit: Carn Mor Dearg, Western Scotland, Scotland.
Summit ID: SOTA reference GM/WS-003 (10 points).
Summit Height: 1220m elevation, 162m prominence.
Summit Location: Lat./Long. 56.80525, -4.98662. Maidenhead Grid IO76mt.
Also Activated: GM/WS-001.
Distance: 18.9km travelled with 1510m of ascent.
Difficulty: Winter Grade I.
Elapsed Time: 8hr 50m (incl. operating and other summit(s) on the same hike).
Weather: 0°C, light breeze, cloudy.
Radio Equipment: Yaesu FTM100D, MFJ-1714, Zippy 4200mAh 4S LiFePo4.
Callsign Used: MM1HAX/P.
Contacts: 7 (2m FM).

Trip Notes

Carn Mor Dearg, meaning “big red cairn” in Gaelic, is Scotland’s 8th highest mountain and forms part of the famous Carn Mor Dearg Arete (“CMD”) route to Ben Nevis. At 1220 metres, this impressive peak offers spectacular views of Ben Nevis’s imposing North Face and provides a more interesting approach to Britain’s highest summit than the standard tourist path route.

For this winter activation, I planned a circular route that would take me up Carn Mor Dearg first before traversing the CMD Arete to summit Ben Nevis. This classic mountaineering route is considered a Winter Grade I climb when covered in snow and ice, requiring proper equipment and experience - several fatalities have occurred here over the years.

The day began at the North Face car park near Torlundy, with excellent views of what the Scots traditionally called “the venomous mountain” (Ben Nevis). The route initially followed a well-defined footpath through pleasant woodland before emerging onto more open ground where a fainter trail led up the lower slopes of Carn Beag Dearg.

We reached the snow line fairly quickly, and it became evident that we were in for a spectacular day on the mountain. The visibility was excellent, providing stunning views across the surrounding mountains of Lochaber. The reasonable snow conditions and clear weather made for many good photo opportunities throughout the ascent.

As we climbed higher, the gradient steepened, and we put on crampons for the final push to the summit. We followed the tracks of another hiker who had just completed a solo ascent of the nearby East Ridge route.

Upon reaching the summit of Carn Mor Dearg, I quickly set up my Yaesu FTM100D and MFJ-1714 antenna in the fresh cold wind. Operating time at the summit was limited by the day’s long itinerary, but I managed to complete seven QSOs in about ten minutes on 2 metres FM. A highlight was a summit-to-summit contact with Gavin GM0GAV/P on GM/WS-049 (Sgurr Eilde Mor).

After packing away my amateur radio station, we continued our journey across the spectacular CMD Arete - a narrow, curved ridge that provides perhaps one of the finest high-level mountain walks in Scotland. This remarkable natural feature forms a massive horseshoe that links Carn Mor Dearg with Ben Nevis, offering great views of the North Face’s imposing cliffs along the way.

The CMD Arete, while not technically difficult in good conditions, demands respect and careful movement in winter, with considerable exposure on either side. The traverse across this snowy ridge led us upward to our next objective: the summit of Ben Nevis.

Photos

Below are some photographs taken during my activation of Carn Mor Dearg on Thursday 24th March, 2022.

Walking Route for Carn Mor Dearg

The interactive map below shows my GPS track taken to the SOTA activation zone for Carn Mor Dearg. Note that this summit was activated as part of a multi-summit hike and the map below shows the full route taken on the day. The GM/WS-003 summit area is marked on the map with a blue pin icon.

You can download the route shown above as a GPX file suitable for use with most GPS devices. This file is provided for information only, to support your own walk planning and research (it may contain navigation errors, detours and/or safety hazards). The route downloads provided here are governed by the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.

Station Log

I logged the following 7 amateur radio contacts operating as MM1HAX/P from GM/WS-003 Carn Mor Dearg on Thursday 24th March, 2022 (all times shown are UTC):

In the notes field I will usually log the other operator’s name and the signal report they provided. In accordance with the Summits on the Air rules, I do not make a log entry where a complete exchange of callsigns and signal reports was unsuccessful.

Additional Information

The following resources may be helpful to walkers, mountaineers and SOTA activators interested in Carn Mor Dearg:

• Sotl.as Summit Page for GM/WS-003 Carn Mor Dearg.
• Hill Bagging UK Summit Page for Carn Mor Dearg.
• Google Maps Page for Carn Mor Dearg.
• Wikipedia entry for Carn Mor Dearg.
• 360° Panorama near summit of GM/WS-003 Carn Mor Dearg.

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