Climbing Ben Nevis by the Mountain Track: what the people who look after it say

Ben Nevis is 1,345 metres high, a metre more than it used to be after the Ordnance Survey resurveyed it in 2016. The John Muir Trust, which looks after the upper mountain, says over 130,000 people climb to the summit each year. Most of them go up the same way, and most of the advice below comes from three bodies whose job is to keep them safe: Mountaineering Scotland, High Life Highland, which runs the Ben Nevis Visitor Centre, and the John Muir Trust. High Life Highland and the John Muir Trust both call it the Ben.

Where the path starts

The Mountain Track, which Mountaineering Scotland notes used to be called the Tourist Route, starts at the Ben Nevis Visitor Centre on Glen Nevis Road, about two miles from the town centre. The car park there costs £8 a day and is first come, first served, per High Life Highland, and the centre is open from 08:00 to 16:00 every day, all winter too. Two other places describe themselves as at the foot of the path: the Ben Nevis Inn at Achintee describes its rooms as right at the bottom of the footpath, and Glen Nevis Youth Hostel says a path to the mountain leads from its door.

The start you should not use is the one a phone may give you. In July 2021 Mountaineering Scotland and the John Muir Trust warned that searching Ben Nevis in Google Maps could show a route to the car park at the head of Glen Nevis, then a dotted line to the summit over steep, pathless ground, which the safety adviser called potentially fatal. Google later changed its directions to the visitor centre, but the lesson stands: plan from a map, not from a dotted line.

How long it takes

High Life Highland's Tackling the Ben FAQs put the walk to the summit and back at about 16 kilometres and an average of seven to eight hours. Mountaineering Scotland gives six to nine. The winner of the Ben Nevis Race goes up and down in around 90 minutes, the same FAQs note, which tells you more about the runners than about the path. Start early if only for the parking.

What to carry

Mountaineering Scotland's list is short and specific. Warm, windproof and waterproof clothing, including a hat and gloves. Boots with ankle support and a firm, grippy sole. A torch, a first aid kit and an emergency shelter or bivvy bag. At least two litres of fluid each. It advises against cotton, jeans and T-shirts included. There is no cafe or shop at the summit, and High Life Highland's FAQs add that there are no toilets and no litter bins on the mountain, so everything you carry up comes back down with you.

Above all, carry a map and a compass and know how to use them. High Life Highland's FAQs call the ability to navigate with a map and compass in poor visibility essential.

The top, and why the way down matters more than the way up

Mountaineering Scotland says even in summer the summit and higher slopes can be very cold, wet, windy and covered in snow, and that snow covers the upper part of the mountain through winter and into early summer. The summit is on the edge of cliffs, with steep gullies either side of the route down. The two it names are Gardyloo Gully and Five Finger Gully, the second with what it calls deceivingly gentle upper slopes.

For poor visibility it publishes two bearings. From the summit cairn, walk 150 metres on a bearing of 231 degrees, which takes you safely past Gardyloo Gully on your right. Then follow a bearing of 282 degrees. It also warns against drifting into the Red Burn area, a known avalanche danger area. Read its full page before you go and practise taking a bearing at home. A bearing you have never walked on is not much use in a whiteout.

Forecasts to read the night before

• The Met Office five-day forecast for Ben Nevis, which Mountaineering Scotland recommends.
• The Mountain Weather Information Service forecast for the West Highlands, also on Mountaineering Scotland's list.
• In winter, the Scottish Avalanche Information Service report for Lochaber, which covers Ben Nevis and the Aonach Mòr range.

High Life Highland's FAQs advise checking the West Highlands mountain weather forecast, which they say is updated twice a day and can be seen at the visitor centre, and to ask the staff at the visitor centre.

Dogs

Dogs are welcome, preferably on a lead, High Life Highland's FAQs say. Sheep graze up to about 700 metres, and the scree near the summit can be hard on a dog's pads.

If something goes wrong

Call 999 and ask for Police, then Mountain Rescue. That is Scottish Mountain Rescue's own wording, and it runs an emergency SMS service you can register your phone for before the trip. The nearest A&E is Belford Hospital on Belford Road in town, which NHS Highland lists as open 24 hours.

Other ways up

High Life Highland names the Carn Mòr Dearg Arête as another route and describes it as a tricky ridge for experienced scramblers and hillwalkers only. For a big day in the glen that does not go to the top, the Nevis Gorge walk to Steall starts at the end of the Glen Nevis road; it is covered in our Glen Nevis guide.