There are various ways to the top of Britain's highest mountain. It's a pity that so many people only get to see it from the tourist track, a stony highway up the blunt side of the hill. Far superior, both for views and for the enjoyable clambering it offers, is the route over the Carn Mor Dearg arête. Serious climbers, of course, know very well which side of the mountain is for them.
But for anyone game for a longer day out, nothing can surpass the traverse of the whole range that has Ben Nevis as its western outpost. This means progressing over the Grey Corries and Aonach Beag with the spectacular east side of Ben Nevis in full view all the way (mist allowing!), finally arriving on Ben Nevis by way of the famous arête. One glance at the map is enough to show the compelling logic of this route, which is known (at least to some) as the ``Lochaber Traverse". The minimal version of it described here took me a little under 11 hours on a pleasant day in August 1996, when aged 54 and not unfit by walkers' standards, though a mere tail-ender in the world of fell running (my outing was strictly a walk). It comprises six Munros and at least six further tops, depending what you count. The total ascent is about 2800m, the descent 2900m, and the distance about 28km. For those for whom this is too short, two further Munros are available as optional extras.
For those for whom it might be a bit long, the only reasonable option for shortening it is to go down to Glen Nevis after completing the Grey Corries, leaving out Aonach Beag and Ben Nevis. (Though none of the books seem to say so, this is a good way to do the Grey Corries anyway, much better than returning to the starting point.) Anyone not confident of their ability to get this far would be best advised not to set out, because the Grey Corries are in a very remote situation. I have given my times to various intermediate points, from which other walkers will be able to get an idea of how long they can expect remaining sections of the route to take. No parts of the route involve more than a mild scramble, but the descent from the Aonachs is steep and could be a bit tricky in mist. It's a ridge route, so make sure you start with a good supply of liquid ! It is also very decidedly an end-to-end walk, so it requires the usual arrangements involving a loyal friend, two cars or perhaps even a shared taxi to the start point.
This point is on the rough track south of Corriechoille, reached along a minor road from Spean Bridge. You are allowed to drive as far as the gate at the entrance to the forest, but in the interests of minimizing car repair bills I settled for the junction of two tracks at the 150m contour, about 600m short of the gate, because at this point the roughness of the track takes on new extremes. After walking through the forest on the continuing track, I took to the open fell and made my way up the northern slopes of Stob Choire Claurigh. It must be said that this is a rather dull ascent on broad grassy slopes with the top hidden from view until you reach Stob Coire Gaibhre. Just before the summit, the subsidiary top of Stob Coire na Ceannain invites a short diversion: it's an enticing pointed top about 400m away along a fine little ridge, and even my ``minimal" version of the Traverse includes it, because it clearly forms the eastern end of the main ridge. I now think that a better way to start, avoiding both the dull grassy slopes and the retracing just described, is to aim directly for the east ridge of Stob Coire na Ceannain from a suitable point on the original track, as suggested by Ralph Storer in 100 Best Routes on Scottish Mountains. Either way, we now gain Stob Choire Claurigh (1177m), our first proper summit. My time to here: 2 hours 36 minutes.
A rather major optional extra is to take in Stob Ban (977m). This shapely little peak is tiresomely placed nearly 2km south of Claurigh. To my mind, it does not really belong to the Lochaber Traverse, since it is not on the main ridge. Furthermore, I was free from any compulsion to collect it as a Munro, having been there before. However, you may be determined to do it either for Munro-bagging reasons, or to prove that you are not a wimp! If so, the best way is to go up Stob Ban first (after an even longer walk along the original track) and then to climb Claurigh from the south. You must still go over to Stob Coire na Ceannain as well ! Stob Ban will cost you at least an extra 80 minutes.
If lucky with the weather, you will pause on Claurigh to admire one of the classic views of the Highlands, the vista across the graceful ridges and tops of the Grey Corries to the splendid eastern aspects of Aonach Beag and Ben Nevis beyond. On this occasion, I had to be content with half of this spectacle, because the mist was persistent on the north side of the ridge, while the south side remained clear all day.
From Claurigh we follow the pleasant ridge to Stob Coire an Laoigh (1116m) over three intermediate tops, never dropping below 1020m, and on to the further ``top" of Stob Coire Easain. The descent from this one is through a mass of boulders (I would like to see how the fell runners cope here!), and the ridge drops to 930m before rising to the fine pyramid of Sgurr Choinnich Mor (1094m). The views of Aonach Beag and Ben Nevis are riveting (if you can see them), and the Mamores to the south also look very fine. The satellite top of Sgurr Choinnich Beag (963m) looks like a toy in these surroundings - for the English, it's amusing to note that it's the same height as Scafell ! We go down to the pass at 735m marking the western end of the Grey Corries range. My time to here: 5 hours 15 minutes - rather less than half way.
This is your first opportunity to settle for a shorter walk. You could go down to Glen Nevis and reach the car park in rather more than two hours. You would have done a perfectly valid walk, the traverse of the Grey Corries. But let's hope that your limbs and the weather favour continuing. The next thing is a straight 500m ascent of Aonach Beag (1234m). The lower part of the ridge is steep, but perfectly feasible; an alternative path traverses left to regain the ridge higher up. The summit of Aonach Beag offers a really magnificent view of the photogenic side of Ben Nevis, now of course much closer than before. Here you have a further opportunity to shorten the walk by opting to do without Ben Nevis: easy grassy slopes will take you down to Glen Nevis at Steall.
The western slope of the Aonachs massif is also grassy, but wickedly steep throughout its length. You have to get down it somewhere to reach the pass between the Aonachs and Carn Mor Dearg, about 250m below the col between the Aonachs. For the official route, you continue a bit towards Aonach Mor from this col, soon reaching a cairn marking the point where a faint track goes down. However, the hillside is just as steep here as everywhere else. Of course, having got his far, you will probably choose to visit the summit of Aonach Mor first: this involves a nearly flat walk of about 1km across the plateau (and back). Not knowing about the track, and conscious of my rather optimistic predicted finishing time, I decided to miss out Aonach Mor (further confirming my status as a wimp) and slithered down the grass from the col, aiming diagonally for the pass. I now regret this a bit: Aonach Mor, though rather dull, has a much stronger case than Stob Ban for inclusion in the Lochaber Traverse. Either way, the descent to this pass is potentially the trickiest point of the whole Traverse in mist. My time: 7 hours 6 minutes.
Now for the big one - Carn Mor Dearg and Ben Nevis. From the pass, there is no difficulty in getting on to the attractive east ridge of Carn Mor Dearg, which leads straight to the top (1220m). We now go along the beautiful, curving arête and prepare for the shock of seeing more people at the summit of Ben Nevis (1344m) than we have seen all day so far (even if the time is nearly 7 p.m., as in my case). The summit is, of course, the climax, and it's a pity that we still have to go down, especially on the tourist track, which seems like a main road (albeit an extremely stony one!) after all that has gone before. On this occasion, the summit was in sunshine, but a large part of the way down was in mist, so that the redeeming feature of this track - new views to the west - was not on offer. However, at least it provides a fast and easy way down, and I reached Achintee 10 hours 50 minutes after setting out. A day to remember - and perhaps to repeat, preferably on one of those rare days when the views are completely clear.
In The Big Walks by Ken Wilson and Richard Gilbert, the Lochaber Traverse is described in the opposite direction. However, the view towards Ben Nevis from the east really is a classic, unmatched by the views the other way (though of course they are pleasant), and the east-to-west traverse is psychologically perfect, in that you have this compelling ultimate goal in front of you all day until finally reaching it by a splendid route. It also means you spend less time on the tourist track, because you go down it instead of up !
Like me, you may feel a mild sense of achievement in completing the Lochaber Traverse. But before you brag too much, you had better be aware of the exploits of fell runners. The top ones would undoubtedly complete the Traverse in less than four hours (the record for the Wasdale fell race, which is comparable in both ascent and distance, is 3 hours 25 minutes). With so much of the day still left, they naturally look for something more to keep them occupied. ``Tranter's Round" combines the Lochaber Traverse with the Mamores, the parallel range to the south. The aforementioned Stob Ban now becomes a natural link (to add to confusion, there is another Stob Ban in the Mamores !). The Mamores contain eleven Munros (counting the recently promoted Sgorr an Iubhair) and necessitate a good deal of retracing: because of this, I regard their full traverse as a rather less satisfactory route than the Lochaber Traverse. The total ascent in Tranter's Round is around 6300m. The current record stands at 12 hours 50 minutes (Mark McDermott in 1990).
This leaves some people determined to ask what can be achieved in 24 hours. The standard Scottish challenge was set by Charlie Ramsey in 1978: his ``Round" adds to Tranter's Round by including a further five widely spaced Munros the the east. Only sixteen people have successfully repeated it to date - and some extremely fit people have failed ! Those who have also done the corresponding Lake District challenge, the Bob Graham Round, judge the Charlie Ramsey Round to take about an hour longer. Meanwhile, the record for the number of Munros done in 24 hours has been raised to 28 by Adrian Belton.
If your objective is to impress the world with how much you can do in a day, these are the standards you must contend with ! But different objectives are possible. The Lochaber Traverse belongs in the category of routes that are towards the upper end of what can be done as a walk in daylight hours, allowing time to admire the views (but not to linger !). Among walks in this category, it is one of the best.
Graham Jameson
The heights quoted are from the Ordnance Survey revision of 1995.