Ben More: A beauty and a beast

I first climbed Ben More and its slightly lesser twin, Stob Binnein, with two friends back in July 2016. July is often a wet month in Scotland, and this one was no exception. We had few views from the summits, but we enjoyed the adventure.

At 1170m, Ben More is Scotland’s 16th mountain, and it’s known for its steepness. The usual route up is often described as “relentless” or “dull with no views”, a “beast of a moutnain”, or “one I’ll never do again as long as I live!”.

Me and my two friends climbed it from the Stob Binnein side, starting at a hamlet called Inverlochlarig.

It was just slightly less relentlessly steep. The first 700m were straight up, and we were pleased to have reached such a height so quickly, if dripping with sweat.

As we reached the dizzy heights of Stob Binnein’s summit, at 1165m, the mist rolled in and interesting rock formations started to appear.

Other walkers started to appear, including a large family group headed by an elderly couple. I was impressed that they’d managed to do such a gruelling climb. We headed down the steep path to the bealach and then sent our leg muscles into reverse, to do the equally steep 300m up to the summit of Ben More.

I was so happy to reach the summit, despite the lack of views, as Ben More is a landmark where I used to live, towering up in the distance. I used to think you had to be super-fit and an extreme risk-taker to climb it!

I vowed to climb it again on a sunny day and get the views. I would even go up the “relentless” north face. I like steep climbs anyway.

Second time up Ben More - in sunshine!

I then heard about an alternative, gentler route that approached the mountain from its east side, through forest. I decided to do it as a recce for my hillwalking group, and on a sunny day. I picked a very sunny Monday.

This approach to Ben More is longer than the way we did it the last time, and the straight-up ultra-steep route. The well-marked paths take you through a forest, and then into a logging area full of felled trees.

Once the logging is behind you, the way gets pretty marshy and pathless – at least, if there is a path, I couldn’t find it!

The ascent is gradual at this point, and the snowy peak of Stob Binnein was right ahead of me all the time.

At about 800m, I should have started climbing up the shoulder of Ben More, but I got distracted by trying to navigate my way around several large snow patches which I feared might be concealing streams (and which probably were concealing streams). I didn’t want to risk falling through a snow hole, a considerable risk with soft, melting snow. So I ended up doing the planned route in reverse, and climbing up to the bealach between Ben More and Stob Binnein.

As I climbed up the steep 250m to the summit, I saw my first humans since the travellers. They were all people who had climbed up the “relentless” route. The first one was a man who had climbed Ben More and Stob Binnen four times, the first time 50 years earlier.

Just before the summit there is a “big step” to scale – or alternatively you can take the bypass path. On our 2016 visit, we balked at the "big step" and took the bypass path.

This time, after 18 months of indoor climbing and bouldering, I had no problems climbing the "big step"! In any case, the bypass path led to a steep patch of snow, and I didn’t have my crampons with me.

When I finally reached the summit, the views were spectacular. Ben More might be a beast of a mountain, but it’s a beautiful beast!

As I was drinking in the views, a man arrived at the summit exhausted, having done the relentless route, but exhilarated to have climbed his 11th Munro.

“Are you Nat?” he asked. I didn’t recognise him, as he was wearing a hat, coat and large sunglasses. It turned out he was in my climbing group. We chatted and took photos of each other before I decided to head back down.

Me on the summit

I was a bit nervous about descending this notoriously steep mountain via a pathless route, but not only were there clear footsteps in the snow – I found out that Ben More has a shoulder that allows you a very gentle descent, with beautiful views all the way.

There are some steep rocky sections to avoid, and some steep grassy banks that can’t really be avoided, but it wasn’t long before I was back walking along the marshy moor.

This less popular route attracts a lot of wildlife, and I saw a dotterel at about 850m.

Dotterels are less shy than most birds and they allow you to approach quite close to them. I’ve seen a few at this altitude in spring.

I was lucky enough to spot a weasel darting about, and I caught it on camera – no easy feat, as it was moving so fast.

And there was something wrigglng in the bog, which I think was a newt, but it soon wriggled away. The hills will soon be covered in frogs, but I haven’t seen any of those yet.

The whole trip took me eight hours, and that included a couple of lingering breaks in the sunshine and some photo stops. For me, Ben More is a beauty of a mountain, and it's home to a lot of beasts!

My video is at DLive