Aonach Mor

The gondola from Nevis Range takes about 15 minutes and carries walkers to roughly 650 metres, reaching a top station with a restaurant and cafe. A return ticket cost GBP 24.95 plus GBP 5 parking at the time of the video. One walker reached Aonach Mor and Aonach Beag this way.

this will take me up to about 650 M and quite expensive 24.95 plus5 for parking down at nervous range

From the top of the gondola station the view drops away towards Fort William, which a walker described as brilliant views in that direction.

there some brilliant views here down to Fort William that direction

Around 1200 metres a walker found sheep and lambs grazing on the plateau, with Ben Nevis rising behind them.

some lambs and sheep with Big Ben nervous in the background

Aonach Mor is the eighth highest mountain in Britain at 1221 metres, the lower of the two Aonachs. Despite the name translating roughly as "big rocky ridge", Aonach Beag ("little ridge mountain") is the higher of the pair at 1234 metres, which walkers find confusing.

the summit of the eighth highest mountain of Britain this is unik Moore or anik Moore... it's 1,221 m High it translates to the big rocky ridge

The best view from the summit of Aonach Mor is of Ben Nevis with Carn Mor Dearg just behind it, described as a spectacular view in that direction.

the best vi from here by a mile is Ben NIS and the carore Jer a just behind it

A walker met a couple who had camped overnight on the summit plateau of Aonach Mor.

they were actually Summit camping at top of un more

The route between the two Munros drops to a bealach that is surprisingly narrow, before a steep pull-up to the summit of Aonach Beag. One walker found the pull steep but presenting no real difficulties, with a fair dump of snow still lying on the face.

surprisingly narrow this bit of be here not wide at all... it was a bit of a steep pull up from the beac but there was no real difficulties

Using the gondola, a walker took around an hour to reach the first summit and about two to two and a quarter hours to reach Aonach Beag, with the whole two-Munro route taking roughly four and a half to five hours.

it's taking me maybe 2 hours 2 hours 15 to get here I say this whole route will take about 4 and a half to 5 hours

On the gondola access day the last gondola down from the top station leaves at 4:15pm, which a walker factored into his plan, describing it as leaving plenty of time.

the last G is at 4:15 so i've got plenty of time

One walker concluded that taking the gondola is not cheating because the climb and summit views still deliver, rated the day 8.5 out of 10, and recommended the route to anyone, citing epic views of Ben Nevis all day once up high.

is it cheating getting the gondola honestly I don't think so... give that an 8.5 really enjoy that that views of neice are just brilliant epic views all day

A group climbed the Aonachs from upper Glen Nevis, starting near Steall Falls past a popular wild-camp spot, crossing rivers and bridges before striking more directly uphill with the falls falling away behind them.

we headed up across a few rivers and a few bridges before striking more directly uphill

Approaching the Aonach summits, walkers met their first snow of the walk, with small cornices already forming on the ridges. At this time of year the snow is transient and an incoming Atlantic weather system was expected to melt it within days.

there must have been a fair bit over the prior few days because there was even some cornicing starting to form

The eastern and northern sides of the Aonachs fall away as big rugged cliffs rather like those of Ben Nevis, contrasting with the more gently sloping tops of the summits.

lovely big cliffs very much like the ben... our eastern north sides are a lot more rugged than the sort of sloping tops

The cloud was low on the summit of Aonach Mor, coming and going atmospherically. The top is plateau-like, with patches of snow and some quite deep drifts, and cornices building up over a few days.

it's kind of plateau like the top of this it's cleared a bit behind us... there's some quite deep drifts there's a cornicing over there

A group rated the steep descent path off Aonach Mor as the trickiest part of the day. It drops into a glacial landscape with views over Carn Mor Dearg and Ben Nevis, and in anything other than ideal conditions careful navigation is needed because it would be easy to slip on wet grass or icy rocks.

this descent path is probably the trickiest part of the day and in anything other than ideal conditions you'd have to take a lot of care like it'd be very easy to slip on wet grass or icy rocks

Footpaths that once followed the line of the gondolas up from the Nevis Range ski centre have been converted into the World Cup mountain bike trail and are now marked no walking. For safety reasons nobody now walks up from the ski centre and everyone is effectively compelled to take the gondola, though a guidebook lists the piste route as an alternative.

for safety reasons there's no walking now up from the ski center and everybody's um compelled to take the gondola

From the cafe at the ski area, one walker followed the piste line uphill, past chairlifts and button lifts, up a route that starts as a blue run and becomes a black run. The climb was steep and difficult underfoot despite being grassy, and he felt the piste line saved him about an hour compared with his originally plotted route.

you start off following a blue run which eventually becomes a black run um so it is steep uh and it's quite difficult under foot even though it's grassy

The top of Aonach Mor is a very wide, featureless plateau. In thick cloud, rain and wind one walker found navigation extremely difficult and struggled to find the cairn, keeping away from steep cliffs on the edge, until a faint path took him to the summit cairn.

i really struggled on the top i have to say to find the top up first until i came across um a path found path which took me to the uh the summit can a very wide featureless top have to say

A definite path leaves the summit of Aonach Mor down a grassy slope that steadily becomes deeper and steeper towards the bealach. The ascent of Aonach Beag on the far side is a very different, rocky and quite steep climb where the path weaves between the rocks, though there is no scrambling.

from the summit can there is a definite path which takes you down a grassy slope which uh ever so gradually becomes deeper and steeper towards the bottom of the beelac and then you start the ascent of the other side which is very very different it's very rocky

Although the name Aonach Mor sounds as if it should be the higher mountain, it is in fact the lower of the two; Aonach Beag is both the steeper and the higher summit.

that's actually the steeper one and the higher one of the two even though i think one of more sounds like it should be the higher but it's not

A walker completing both Aonachs from the ski area recorded 6.5 miles with 2821 feet of ascent, taking four hours, and noted that although the distance was short, a lot of the climbing was steep.

six and a half miles but there's still two thousand eight hundred and twenty one feet of ascent