Ben Nevis attempt the long way

After seven years of hiking I had never hiked in Scotland yet. Shameful I know. I had the chance to go up a munro (Scottish mountain higher than 3,000 feet) some years back but I was injured at the time. I wanted to ascend Ben Nevis and discovered a long route hitting a series of peaks on the way. I was staying in a hostel not too close by and there didn't seem to be a circular route I could find, so having a car wasn't too much help. It seemed that the best option was to hike straight from the hostel. After a 9km approach the route started ascending directly up the first Stob and then it followed the ridgeline from there. It was mid-April but Scotland being Scotland, there was still snow at the top of the peaks and the conditions were as unpredictable as ever.

The entire route was legendary, about 40km and over 3,000m of elevation gain, taking on 10 munros in its path along with Ben Nevis as the final one. I rented some crampons, boots and an ice axe - all things I had never actually used before. Had to check on YouTube before for how to tell which crampon goes on which foot. I told a guy at the hostel my plan in the morning and we agreed that I should probably be back by 6pm and if I haven't made contact by 10pm, then maybe raise alarm.

Set off

I left just before 8am wearing my trail running shoes, with everything packed up. There was a bridge to cross the river just near the hostel which was shut at the time. Not sure if for structural reasons so I very carefully crossed it. Then took a shortcut past an old section of mining railway, but the time it took me to get down and back up the valley probably negated the time benefit.

Cool old railway crossing

Soon after this the real mountains started and I changed into the climbing boots as the terrain turned proper soggy. For the last two months I had also had a dodgy Achilles so that was getting a little flared up from the ascent. About 1,000m above sea level I hit snow level to a point where I decided to finally get the crampons on. Some proper winter walking now. There were steep icy sections you just wouldn't want to risk in standard boots. Getting past the first peak took quite a while, movement was slowed by wind picking up and the terrain. Also everything fell into deep fog at times

Way up towards Stob Choire Claurigh

Then after the first peak the snow covered areas kept coming and going. At times there was just too much rock to traverse so I had to play around with the crampons a lot. The wind really picked up in some sections and I even fell over once because of a gust. At one of the peaks I had to really make a point to fight the wind just to make it to the trig point.

Rocky ridge

Looking at my watch it was clear that I'm not moving as fast as I hoped. The terrain and wind were taxing and I wasn't super fit either. My 6pm return was definitely gone. The problem with this route was that there wasn't really a back out option. Once you're on route it's either finish or turn around and go back. My map didn't show it at the time, but in reality there was a way off from the 3rd munro also. I had a break and some food just before the 4th munro and when studying the map, saw that there is a little dip down again after the 5th one. Then it will start ascending again. I kept an eye on the time and moved on but by the time I reached there I hadn't moved as fast as I hoped again. That dip down to 700m was also the mid-point of the hike. I really wanted the achievement of conquering 10 munros as my first time up here and of course getting up Ben Nevis, but at this point it was a question of whether I'd be able to get up to Ben Nevis before sunset and whether I'd be able to physically get up there at all. I had a headlamp and could probably get in touch with the guy before our 10pm agreement. But there was so much ascent remaining and most likely the snowiest sections as well. Could mean easy walking or could mean slow moving. If I couldn't reach Ben Nevis before sunset I wouldn't be attempting it, Scottish mountains are no joke and I'm in new terrain. I felt like if I had a bit more time then maybe I'd start ascending and see how it goes, but I knew it would be a silly idea carrying a lot of risk. Physically it just felt too demanding when already having ascended 2,000m before this.

At least the weather improved, which also tried to persuade me to keep going

I'm sure I did the right thing in not continuing up, the exhaustion would have gotten to me. So looking on my map, I could see that the floodplain which the river follows off of the mountain heads towards a trail eventually. 5.5km as the crow flies and 500m of descent. No idea if it's possible to follow and whether it gets too steep involving down climbing. It was a risk, but it would have been shit to turn back the way I came and start ascending that way again. If this shortcut doesn't work out I'm fucked though. The contours on my map didn't look bad, but the ones on an app can be misleading. I had three hours until sunset, time to crack on. I followed the river and as it swerved away I cut straight along the plain until the next bend caught my side again. For a while it was just a flat walk, not bad but also not good because I have this 500m of descent that needs to happen. The longer this stays relatively flat the higher the chance the drop will come all at once. Occasionally the ground would ascend away from the river so I'd go up a bit to gain better vantage, but it never revealed much.

Second half of the snowy peaks (behind leftmost peak No.5 I went over) I bailed on and the flood plain heading to the right down below

At one point I had to cross a small adjoining stream. Wasn't very wide so I decided I can just about jump it. With the big boots and my ruck I couldn't move as swift as I'd like. I just made the gap and struck the ice axe into the ground to hold me there, but with my inexperience with the axe as I moved forwards and tilted the axe it came loose and so, me still balancing backwards ended up getting my foot wet. I guess it wasn't too much of a loss, I soon had to put my foot in the river again because it cut off the ground with some vertical cliffs by the bank for a very short section. There were always parts away from the river going higher up where possibly they'd reveal a better route. But I was getting tired, didn't want to ascend anymore than absolutely nececssary, nor waste time backtracking and losing daylight. The movement really slowed down, I kept looking at my watch and another fifteen minutes would have gone by and I'd barely covered any distance. Even worse when I looked at my map. Every time I had this realisation I'd think shit I need to move and really get going, only to slow down soon because of all the shrub I need to blaze through. The ground was swampy too so I had to spot dryer looking parts. At one point it looked like my side of the river will get blocked off by the cliff and it might be better on the other side, so I looked for a place to cross where the water was the shallowest. That got me past this bottleneck but the ground was just undulating and exhausting to mover over.

Crossed the river to the left of this place. Always having to guess is that route gonna be manageable

I couldn't believe how slow progress I'm making. Two of the three hours had gone and I was still 300m above the trail. I forced some food and water down me and with the headphones on full blast carried on, trying to take the most direct route I could towards the supposed trail. I realised this river had me walking left and right a lot so that 5.5km was just not possible over here. This seemed endless. I was wondering how far I would have made it by now if I had carried on along the ridges. The weather was calm so no more heavy winds bashing me around, but maybe that was just down here. Every time I was descending a little it felt like a small victory.

The round munro in the middle was the final one I passed. After this was the dip where I started my shortcut

In the final hour of daylight the Sun had gone behind the mountains and some cloud started appearing. I was making slow progress but weirdly still high up. But once I reached the final mile I could breathe a sigh of relief. The terrain was gradual and I could get away from the river and I was aiming towards a forest in the distance. After maybe half of this distance I was standing at the top of a slope and this led me straight down, straight to the trail! I had visual. And the slope was a steep but easily manageable one. That's where the final 100m I was worried about where hiding. It felt like I was already down there. Three hours later just as the Sun set I reached the path, chucked my bag down and took a deep breath. Some 5.5km that, which was 8km in the end. The best part, I took off the wet boots I'd been in for over two hours and the souls off my feet felt super tender yet insanely good to rub on rough ground. Some rough concrete, a tree, whatever rough surface I could rub my bare foot on I was having a go. My feet have never felt like that. No foot massage has ever felt this good.

I put my trail running shoes on and bagged everything up and had no choice but to start running after my 31km hike because I had no phone signal, it would have been over two hours to walk back to the hostel and it was 8.45pm. I got through around 9pm and said I'll be late but all good. Guy was a legend and had a beer waiting for me. Ran around 12km with my ruck after all this hiking. Good fitness boost. Need a big day like this once in a while to keep yourself in check.

Strava link - https://www.strava.com/activities/6994905657