Ledge Route and the Carn Mor Dearg Arete (Ben Nevis)
Photo: Erik Piek, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Ledge Route is a grade 1 (ie easy) scramble up the imposing north-east face of Ben Nevis in Highland Scotland.
This itinerary describes a circuit route starting and finishing at a deer stile to the north of Ben Nevis (1344m). After reaching the summit via Ledge Route it crosses the Carn Mor Dearg Arete (c.1050m) and returns along the north ridge of Carn Mor Dearg (1220m). There is a choice of approaches to the deer stile from Fort William, the nearest town and a good place to obtain supplies and equipment.
The route is a mild scramble, but it is not a hillwalk. It isn't particularly committing, but because of its length and situation it is unsuitable for novices. It can also be done in reverse, but not to any real advantage (and navigation becomes harder).
UnderstandBen Nevis is the highest mountain in the United Kingdom. It can hold cloud even when surrounding areas are bathed in sunshine, and clouds are damp even if it is not actually raining.
Get inIntake Eleven, known to north-facers simply as "The Dam", is an aluminium company water intake tapping the Allt a' Mhuilinn (Mill Burn) at NN148751. It is perfectly hideous, but decently well concealed too, fortunately.
GoThe CIC hut (NN168722) is actually a stone cottage, named after Charles Inglis (pron 'ING-gulls') Clark, the son of two pioneering Nevis climbers who was killed by a Mesapotamian sniper in 1918.
Sources and licences
- Guide text adapted from the Wikivoyage article "Ledge Route and the Carn Mor Dearg Arete (Ben Nevis)" by its contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikivoyage · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo: Erik Piek, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons