
At One with the Mountains - An interview with Nick Gardner
Issue 6: Nick Gardner and his wife Janet were living an idyllic life on a croft…

A Munro of 1,220 metres, number 8 of the 282.
Aonach Mor is the eighth highest of the 282 Munros, and it keeps grand company.
Aonach Beag is about a kilometre and a half to the south, Carn Mor Dearg much the same to the south-west, and Ben Nevis only about three kilometres away.
It is also the hill of Nevis Range, seven miles from Fort William, whose gondola travels up the north face from 100 metres to a top station at 650. Under snow this is ski ground.
The avalanche service speaks of "the Aonach Mor range", and names it with Ben Nevis as the core of its Lochaber forecast.
West wind to 18 mph, gusting 33
Rain, about 7 mm
Light from 7.53am to 6.16pm, ten hours
A weather model's forecast for the height of the summit, not a report from the hill. Read the mountain forecast the evening before: West Highlands forecast, Aonach Mòr, Lochaber avalanche forecast.
Choose the day you mean to climb.Near or far: the light you will have, and what the summit is likely to be doing.
Photographs by Aman Toor, JM- IH “Asdfghjkl11111” and Jeremy Nuttall, via Google

Once at the gondola top station you are in a high mountain environment with all the associated dangers including avalanche, cornice collapse, unstable snow, ice and rock.Nevis Range, which runs the gondola, on its page for winter climbers
Under snow and ice this is a different day, with short light and the risk of avalanche. It needs an ice axe, crampons, winter boots and the skill to use them.
The summit is optional. Turning back is the right decision whenever the cloud, the wind or the light say so.
How to call for help in the hills · Safety and skills for the hills · ThinkWINTER
Nobody has written from Aonach Mor yet. If you were up, yours would be the first.
Were you up? Three words is enough.A free account, a word for the weather and a line if you like.

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For the route itself, take the map and read these.

Stay: Ballachulish, about fourteen miles from Nevis Range as the crow flies and…

Café: In Fort William, about five miles from Nevis Range as the crow flies

Eat: In Fort William, about five miles from Nevis Range as the crow flies

Eat: In Fort William, about five miles from Nevis Range as the crow flies
Next along: Aonach Beag, Carn Mor Dearg, Ben Nevis, Sgurr Choinnich Mor. Checked on 10 October 2026. The facts on this page are Nevis Range's and Shiel Buses'; the forecasts are the Mountain Weather Information Service's, the Met Office's and the Scottish Avalanche Information Service's. Height and position from The Database of British and Irish Hills, v18.3, adapted, CC BY 4.0. This page is not a route description and does not replace a map.