Walking and Climbing

 Thanks Charlie

Its pretty steep down that way, especially for the first few hundred meters, and could be challenging if there's a lot of snow and ice on it.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_20020519/ai_n12576631

My mate and I looked at it as a route up, rather than down in July but it had been raining hard and looked treacherous. I wouldn't fancy trying to get down it without a rope. Not in Mcleish's article the mention of the abseil posts.

I am sure someone's actually done it will put me right, but I'd recommend you drive round from Glen Nevis and look up it before you decide it's a safe way down.

The decent from 1346m to 1100m when we got out of the cloud cover was slow going as the ground was so hard and not having crampons made it tough to obtain a good footings. However, from 1100m the route was steep, however taking it slowly we were fine. 

Hi just wondering if you guys might have a good estimate of the time it will take to ascent the Ben Nevis via the CMD route, and descent via the tourist path in early January?

I am worried about the daylight hours available then..

Also, doing this route, will it be neccessary to be roped up?

 Much appreciate any advice!

It'll take the day - depending on how fast you move, plan to start in the dark and finish in the dark - so headtorches will be order of the day.

Roped up - dont think so, but you will need full winter kit (crampons and ice axe)

That was January 12th 2008, pretty much a perfect day. I started late-ish, plenty of light left at the top of the Ben, where I hung about chatting, got dark on the way down the tourist path. The path was treacherous - below the snow line there was lots of black ice on the rock. A head torch wil be essential. Crampons and axe too. Whether you'll want to rope up is up to you and the conditions.

Nice piccy....my photos look like a view of the inside of a pingpong ball

 Thanks Simon - I was just so so lucky. Made up for a lot of pingpongball days!