A trip to the Nevis Range 3-5 May 2025
The spring has been very sunny and dry. For the early May bank holiday we went to Scotland. Coincidentally, Lova was in England so he joined us. We wanted to climb Ben Nevis via the Ledge Route and descend via the AMD Arête. We had long wanted to do this route, but the previous attempt (in 2018!) had to be abandoned due to very strong winds. This time the wind was also strong on the first two days, so we did the route in reverse: instead of going straight to Ben Nevis, we climbed it on the last day in amazing weather.
The green, blue and red lines show our track on the first, second and third days. Shift-click the track link to open it in nakarte.me.
Day 1. Approach.
The drive to Fort William took about 8 hours, so we didn't hit the trail until 4 pm. We walked through the forest and clearings, and then started climbing up to the ridge. Spring has not yet sprung here - there is no green colour at all.
At some point the sun came out and lit up the plateau.
Sunspots on distant ridges.
There are mountains everywhere you look.
The higher we climbed, the stronger the wind blew and it got colder and colder.
We climbed up Stob Coire Easain. The rock here is amazingly beautiful pink and white quartz. We descended the main ridge and found a relatively dry and level place to camp near a small tarn. That evening we climbed almost a kilometre. The wind was getting stronger. It became quite cold. We cooked dinner in the tent, which we don't usually do.
Day 2. Nevis Range.
Overnight the temperature dropped below zero. But the sky was blue. We dressed warm and went on our way.
Clumps of white quartz on the ridge.
The wind was not too strong but very cold, so we put on our down jackets, waterproof trousers, mittens and warm hats.
The grass was covered in a thick layer of frost.
Grey Corries behind us.
Right behind us is Stob Coire Easain.
Wrapped up warm.
Striped mountains.
Climbing Stob Coire Bhealaich. There is a path up under this sloping rock.
Lova climbed up the rock slabs while we followed the grassy slope.
The path goes under the overhanging rock.
The valley below is criss-crossed with litle streams.
Ben Nevis appeared in the distance.
The sun was mostly hiding in the clouds.
A patch of snow.
We climbed to the top of Aonach Beag and descended into the neighbouring valley. In front of us is Càrn Mòrn Dearg, and behind it is the bright red spur of Càrn Dearg Meadhonach.
Red granite covered with bright green lichen.
Loch Lochy in the distance.
The north face of Ben Nevis. One can see our camping spot and the ridge we climbed the next day (red line). The blue line shows the classic start of this route on ledges (hence the name of the route: the Ledge Route). We bypassed the shelves in order to camp by the lakeside. It was a great place to spend the night, so we don't regret missing the part of the route that was probably the most difficult, with the sloping slab above the abyss.
Let's see where to go next.
Aonach Mòr. If you look closely, you can spot ski lifts on the left-hand side of the mountain.
Gray and green lichen on red granite.
Red ridge of Càrn Dearg Meadhonach.
The rocks of Ben Nevis are covered with an unusual dark blue lichen.
With some difficulty we found a relatively flat camping spot at the bottom of the north face of Ben Nevis. The wind had died down and it was very beautiful.
Day 3. Ben Nevis.
Morning. Not a cloud in the sky. The photo shows No. 3 and No. 4 gullies at the north face of Ben Nevis.
A tarn with clear water and a thin crust of ice.
A rocky formation near the start of our part of the Ledge Route.
The scramble was not difficult at all, and most can be avoided.
The last part of the ascent to the Ben Nevis plateau. At the top is a wide plateau with a well-trodden path to the summit from Fort William.
A view of Loch Eil from the summit.
Our camping spot is far below.
The snow is all but gone.
In the shadows of narrow gullies, the rocks are covered with ice.
Three cairns at the summit of Ben Nevis.
A shelter at the very top, where you can hide from the wind in bad weather. A meteorological station used to be here a long time ago.
The crowds started to arrive at the summit, but we promptly moved on to our next obstacle, the Càrn Mòr Dearg (CMD) Arête. It connects the gray-green slope of Ben Nevis with the reddish slope of CMD.
The whole ridge is about a kilometre long. It is a knife-edge, exposed ridge, but with no technical difficulties: in good weather you can almost get to the other side without using your hands. People in Scotland are very friendly and talkative. On this ridge we stopped several times to chat with the other hikers.
We headed down along the stream bed. We still had over a kilometre of altitude to drop. There are no man-made paths in this valley, only deer or sheep paths, but walking was easy and fast.
In the neighbouring valley there were mountain bike trails. We had to descend on some of these, always looking around to make sure that no one would run us over. World mountain biking championships used to be held here. The ski chairlift takes cyclists up in the summer. Descending these trails is not for the faint-hearted.
Then we got out on a country road and walked the last 6 kilometres along it through the bright green spring forest. The drive back took us only about 7 hours, so we got home by midnight. This time we were very lucky with the weather, which is rare in Scotland. We spent three great days in the mountains and even climbed the highest point in the UK. It is still very wild and beautiful here, especially if you get a bit away from the popular routes.
