The Ben from the back

Towards the end of the war, prisoners in Colditz found their avenues for escape getting ever narrower. There just weren't that many routes that hadn't already been tried. When I looked at a map of the Ben, I sort of knew how they felt. Not that I was looking for a first ascent - just a way where we might find a bit of space. If we were climbers we could have avoided the crowds on any number of routes up the north face. But we're not climbers, and that meant that I ended up focusing my thoughts on the area south-east of the summit. It was either that or building a glider in the attic of the Snowgoose on Aonoch Mor.

So there we were in the Waterfall car park one July morning in 2010. 'We' on this occasion, included Kathryn, a cousin of Caroline's who visits us from Canada most years. We thought we'd give her a taster of what we do in Scotland - and what better than letting her go home saying she'd been up the highest mountain in Britain? Well, Kathryn was game for that, and we knew she was fit from running and cycling, so off we headed. We met a John Muir ranger in the car park who seemed to know just about every blade of grass on that side of the Ben. I told him my plan and he set us off on a tiny path for the first part, which headed diagonally uphill, towards the little bealach between Meall Cumhann and the south-east shoulder of the Ben.

Hot work, but the colours below were magnificent.

For anyone looking to repeat this route, in the following photo the grassy rake that leads across the slope to the horizon is an easy way onto the shoulder of the Ben.

And once above the bealach, the views down to the Nevis Gorge are terrific.

We didn't come across a track from here until the ar te, but there's nothing more to cope with than a few boulder fields. By the time we reached the ar te the weather was difficult to predict. The view down to Steall and across to the Mamores…

and over to Carn Mor Dearg…

From here all we had to do is teeter up the boulder field to a very crowded summit. Met a nice Palestinian man who took this team photo…

And lest we thought our route was vaguely intrepid…

So now what to do? What I had in mind was heading over the ar te to Carn Mor Dearg, then half-way back and down into the Allt Coire Giubhsachan. As we made our way along the ar te the sun came out. Kathryn was starting to discover muscles she never knew she had, and thought she'd be happy to lie down and admire the scenery from the ar te, whilst we went on. Thanks Kathryn, you allowed us a wonderful hour in the sun…

Our route down from the ar te looks benign, but it was pretty steep. Kathryn's newly-found muscles were certainly telling her that. Isn't that word 'fit' an odd one, by the way? I mean, I might think I'm 'fit' but a couple of lengths of a swimming pool, or five minutes on a soccer pitch, and I know I'd be a wreck.

Still it was now the most gorgeous evening for a slow plod out. Again, no track to speak of in the Allt Coire Giubhsachan (or at least none that we found) but a beautiful meandering burn to follow. And the Mamores over there were looking very mamorish…

The burn brings you down by the ruin at Steall, with just that lovely meadow and path above the gorge to bring you back to doh.

I know we had spectacular weather for this day trip, but I would highly recommend it as a route. And Kathryn? Well, as she reached the car she did say to Caroline that it was probably the hardest thing she'd ever done (although she never stopped smiling). But an hour later, back at the Onich Hotel with a glass and a plate in front of her, she looked as if it had been worth the effort.