There’s so much brilliant climbing on Ben Nevis that, although I’d already ticked both its Hard Rock routes: Centurion and The Bat

Centurion – The Ben

The Bat

… it didn’t take much for Jake to persuade me to make another visit. My one regret from the Centurion trip had been coming down Ledge Route to the CIC Hut in glorious sunshine and kicking ourselves that we hadn’t thought to bring bivvy gear to bag a couple of days climbing for the price of one walk in, so we resolved to make amends this time. As a bonus it would give me the chance to play with my new tiny bivvy tent!

A late start, after some shopping and packing, saw us in fab conditions walking up the Allt a’ Mhuilinn path, and we arrived to set up camp and enjoy a leisurely lunch beneath Carn Dearg.

Jake was keen to climb The Ben as well as just climb on it, so we selected Minus One Buttress Direct, a 4*, 10-pitch outing climbing to a point around 2/3 of the way up North East Buttress, and thence up it to the Summit – almost 500m of ascent in all.

We arrived to find the snow patch in the gully to be bigger and steeper than we’d hoped, and completely untrodden, so we took a while to navigate past it and its huge bergschrund.

As we geared up around 3pm we did start to wonder whether our departure might have been a little too relaxed; a feeling that was enhanced when the cracks on P3 were dripping with water.

Happily the P3 stance was bathed in sunshine and we were to enjoy glorious evening rays and dry rock for the rest of the route – quite a treat on a nominally north-facing crag. Our late start had been a genius strategy rather than a numpty misjudgement!

P4 is the crux of the original route; an airy step right onto a nose and some thought-provoking moves up it in an exhilarating position.

We took the Serendipity Variant for P5, for an out-there traverse across a slab to a spectacular position on the arete and tricky moves into a hidden niche.

P7, another variation, is perhaps the crux, with a wild traverse beneath a roof and a tough pull over its far end with a LOT of space beneath your feet!

In between these three 5b pitches, the rest of the climbing is steady and enjoyable 4b/c fare, with a notable struggle up a final groove on P9 and a glorious romp up a severe crack on P10 to reach a junction with NEB. You’ve still got a couple of hundred metres of ground to cover, including the famous Man Trap and 40ft Corner, which yielded some crag swag (you guessed it – a #4 DMM Walnut! The rock giveth and the rock taketh away!)

We were on the summit before 8pm and answering the inevitable annoying questions from the late arrivals up the Tourist Path. “Did you come up the OTHER side?”. “Are you CLIMBERS?”. The right turn off the main drag for Number 4 Gully couldn’t come soon enough to say goodbye to our admiring audience!

I’d never been down Number 4 in summer, and it really isn’t much fun, which set me wondering if anyone has any better suggestions for getting down from the top of The Ben back to the CIC Hut? Reversing one of the ridges maybe or around the Carn Dearg Arete?

We soon had the Jet Boil fired up and were tucking into a gourmet dinner of Pot Noodle and Ginger Cake washed down with a brew, illuminated by a stunning sunset.

Sadly this prompted a midge invasion so it was a delight to zip ourselves into the tent which proved fully midge proof and surprisingly spacious (Jake would dispute this, but he hasn’t spent a night spooning in the typical OMM tent, which is the other option for on-the-go accommodation at under a kilo.)

Panoramic views are another bonus, and overall I was pretty happy with my little blue bivvy (a BD offering that uses walking poles for support), with the caveat that the inside of the single skin gets a bit soggy from condensation.

For our Day 2 Bonus Route we’d toyed with King Kong (Extreme Rock tick but it shares quite a lot of ground with The Bat) and Torro (fabulous sunny climbing with the early start, but we were feeling a tiny bit jaded) so we settled on Titan Wall. No sun, but an absolutely stunning 4* line through really improbable territory for an Extreme Rock tick with the bonus of an abseil descent. Winner!

I’d rapped the line when descending off The Bat (shades of The Fuhrer there) and it was even more impressive and imposing from below. I bagged the first 30m 5b pitch, which would make for a 4* E1/2 in its own right (and in fact there is a rap point from the mid height ledge if that’s what you fancy). Thin, sustained crack climbing on vertical rock, a little reminiscent of Left Wall. Here’s the view down P1

Although the guidebook suggests taking a stance on the airy perch on the arete, it makes a lot more sense for safety and rope drag to make a hanging stance immediately beneath the P2 crack. This is an absolute belter – gently overhanging for the first 10m or so, with some long moves between good finger locks and edges, and good gear (but only if you can hang on long enough to place it). The angle relents a little but the moves keep coming, stirred in with the occasional damp or rattly hold to remind you that you’re on a high, north-facing mountain crag. Top end E3 and definitely 4*.

The abseil is a real rope-stretcher on 60s, but just about makes it (you could use the halfway ab-point with 50s but be sure to kick out to get a swing going otherwise you’ll be in space trying to remember how to jumar!) and you can marvel at the ground you’ve just covered.

With a couple of routes on The Ben in the bag, it was time for the third and final leg of our one-week “4* Scottish Climbing” tour, following in Bonnie Prince Charlie’s wake – Over the sea to Skye.