Aonach Mor

Ben Nevis is the biggest one

This was our last walk of the week, and we definitely saved the best for last. It's a 1200m mountain, but the best thing is you can get a gondola up the first 600m. Now that's the way to climb a hill. The climb pretty much starts from sea level, so even with that head start you still have another 600m to go, but at least you can avoid some of the slog.

This was a great little spot, you are walking up the mountain that is right next to Ben Nevis, so you actually get the views with Ben Nevis in it, which you could argue is better than the view when you are on Ben Nevis. And we chose a perfect day for it too, or rather Scotland finally blessed us with some sun. Well maybe not sun, but at least there was no hail or mist, which in Scotland is a perfect spring day.

The flat plateau of Aonach Mor

The snowless slopes at the start, this wasn't to last long

Even the gondola ride up and down was pretty cool. I really like gondolas, so much more secure than a little chair lift. Probably not really, but I like to think that they are. That wasn't the really cool thing about the ride though, apparently the World Mountain Bike championships were going to be held on the slopes the next week. So there were heaps of bikers there trying out the course, which goes right under the gondola.

It's a pretty good idea, during winter you have all the skiers going up and during the summer you have heaps of bikers. Year-round use of the gondola. The bikers would slot their bikes where you would normally expect the skis to go. It's funny that more ski areas don't turn their parks into multi-use facilities. The other great thing about the gondola was at the top there was a cafe serving macaroni cheese. Just what you need before starting a munro ascent!

Starting to get into the snow - an impressive ridgeline alongside

So I took a lot with Ben Nevis

The walk up the mountain was great, no path, you just walk out of the cafe and start heading up. Even in very late spring there was heaps of snow about. So much snow that there were still people skiing on the main slope. No chair lifts were running, that would have made the climb even easier. I guess they slogged their way up carrying their skis, in ski boots too, now that is the sign of true addiction.

This has got to be one of the easiest munros, which are Scottish hills over 3,000 feet, you only have to climb 600m, there is no scrambling along exposed ridges, you don't have to rope up or abseil down anything. Overall a very pleasant walk, a little steep, but then the top is quite a broad plateau, so you can really enjoy the views.

Surrounded by great ridges - with a view towards Aonach Beag

The plateau at the top.

Most of the walk was covered in snow. So it got a little bit scary on the very steepest part of the hill. It was always going to be ok, it was just that it was a bit more slippery than what is comfortable. But after a nut bar break I felt like I could tackle it. The very steep bit only lasted for another 50m or so up, and then it flattened out again. So I'm really glad I carried on.

The "walk" back down - so nice on the knees

I really like the valleys too.

The walk down was the best too, it was more like a run down. Rather than gingerly kicking steps down the ridgeline we had walked up we decided to "walk" down the bowl of the main ski field. Which was still covered in snow for the whole 600m elevation descent. It wasn't really a walk though, we could run down through the snow. With a few butt slides thrown in, it was the best way to descend a mountain. It had taken us about an hour or so to walk up, and we were back at the cafe in about 15 minutes. Really go climb this mountain, it's easy, and the view to effort ratio has to be the one of the highest I've ever done. Now to fill your screen with photos.

Starting to really get into the snow now

Yet another of Ben Nevis

Just such great views all round