The Lochaber Traverse

Alex Roddie

Alex Roddie is an outdoor writer, photographer and editor with a passion for the wild places of Britain and Europe. He writes for the UK outdoor press and is happiest when on a mountain as far from civilisation as possible.

alexroddie.com

Ben Nevis is the UK's highest mountain, and arguably one of the most intriguing for the landscape photographer. It has everything: towering walls, sweeping ridges, deep corries, and a thousand secret places that would take a lifetime to explore. Ben Nevis offers limitless riches for the photographer willing to seek them out – but those riches are often hard won, for Nevis guards its treasures with hostile weather and inaccessible terrain.

My relationship with this mountain goes back many years. Since I first climbed it, I have sought the perfect Nevis adventure: a long winter's journey on foot to reach the summit, with at least one night spent under the stars on a remote, high ridge. In recent years this dream grew to include photography as well. Perhaps to create images of Ben Nevis that really mean something I'd need to experience that definitive journey, that trail to the stars.