Considering hiking the big one in April. The route looks fairly straight forward up to a point.
Park at Torlundy and hike to the CIC hut. From then on it’s a scramble and walk to the summit I gather. All youtube vids up seem to have done it before and know their way.
Anyone who’s done it… is the path easy to spot? Or to phrase it another way… is it easy to lose your way and die?
Ta!
Technically it's a straight forward route but i've seen a few teams team take a wrong turn and end up on serious terrain. From memory this is near the bottom of the route before the left slanting gully with teams favouring a traverse to the right that soon runs out! Once out of this 'gully' its pretty straight forward route finding to the top (follow the crampon scratches).
In winter through late spring the approach is subject to avalanche risk from no. 5 gully.
Lovely route but it's still a long slog to the summit from the top!
Could still be plenty of snow on it in April.
It's more of a scramble than a hike in places, even if snow free, you have to be careful to pick the right line and not wander onto more difficult ground.
In winter conditions it's graded I/II, and there are obviously other challenges, particularly in low visibility/bad weather.
Always easy to get lost on the Ben, especially if the cloud unexpectedly comes down. I once ended up climbing entirely the wrong gully in winter... I'd maybe pick up one of the SMC guide books, they have topos and good descriptions of each route. Gives you a good chance of finding the start. Once your on the route, it's fairly easy route finding wise.
From memory with Ledge Route, your basically aiming for No 5 gully as your starting point from the CIC. There is a good chance the route could still be under snowy conditions come April, especially 5 gully. You'll want to go tooled up.
It is a great entry level mountaineering route in winter, taking a series of snow ramps and ledges to an easy snow crest/ridge to finish, under snow crampons and ice axe are essential, as it travels through some exposed terrain with big drops below on Carn Dearg buttress. very popular with guided parties through the winter doing winter skills so is usually tracked, at the moment it is unusually snow free, the Ben in general is the driest i have ever seen it! in April it is normally well built up with snow after a prolonged winter. Hazzards after heavy snowfall crossing Number five gully as it is prone to avalanche, also entry to the shelf can some times be awkward if there is less snow as it is a rock slab, hope this helps.
PS. was writing my long winded reply as others, all bases covered!
You guys are great. Thank you very much. I think it sounds like more than I fancy.
A walk up Aonach Mor to Aonach Beag in April will give you a great view of how much snow will be lying on Ben Nevis, just don't go walking on to a cornice
I did this ages ago in summer conditions, which I guess could be the case in April!
I remember it being really good fun, didn't feel particularly serious or scary, but it gave a great mountaineering "feel" to it, if that makes sense. All easy enough ground and no immediate knife edge stuff, but amazing nonetheless and heaps of fun.
One bit I *didn't* like IIRC was a little slanting groove up off the the right from the gully to gain the ridge. It felt awkward and a bit dangerous, despite not being particularly high up. I understand that this is mostly bypassed these days by a grassy ledge a bit further up which is much more secure.
If you are a confident walker then the CMD arete route to the summit of the Ben is a fine fine day out. Stupendous views into the North face. It was my first ascent of Ben Nevis and remains one of my favorite walks. I did it at Easter, the final climb to the Ben summit was under snow so an axe was required. Everything else was dry under foot
A few people making comments about what it's 'normally' like. Normal is really out the window as far as winter conditions go. It could be snowy in April or entirely snow free and you won't know which until much closer to the time.
I'd also like to echo oli31's comment about the seriousness of the terrain. It's an easy route through serious terrain and as such it is easy at a few points to get off route and into difficulty.
Don't do it on New Year's Day
