The Superwalkers’ route up Ben Nevis

There are ramblers and walkers and then there are superwalkers. The latter category are those intrepid souls who are not content with meandering along gentle river banks and following well trodden footpaths across rolling countryside. No, these guys are already half way towards an ascent of Mount Everest.

Many cut their teeth on the 3 main mountain ranges in Scotland, the Grahams, the Corbetts and, the hghest of them all, the Munros – named after the Sir Hugh Munro who first catalogued all 283 of their mountain tops.

While the Munros may be the highest North of the Border, the other 2 ranges with altitudes between 2,000 and 3,000 feet are still challenging for both walkers and climbers.

Naturally, no-one expects to climb all the Munros plus the 221 Corbetts and 224 Grahams so many choose to tackle a small selection including , of course,Ben Nevis itself.Hillwalker extraordinaire, Cameron McNeish recommends Harveys’ Ben Nevis map and Glen Coe map which he reckons "provides all the details needed for safe navigation on these iconic mountains"

As every experienced hillwalker knows, it’s no good cutting corners when it comes to navigating your way around these formidable ranges and, as Chirs Bonnington points out, the 1 : 40,000 scale used by these British Mountain Maps is ideal for navigating for mountainous areas. "The maps provide clear, detailed information on one of the most popular hill walking areas in Britain," he concludes.

Serious superwalkers need to know everything about the terrain ahead of them and a decent map like this which is chosen by the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team provides clear shading of valleys and distinct, visible contours. The area covered includes Fort William, Glen Nevis, Loch Treig, Glen Coe to the Grey Corries south to Kinlochleven. Ben Nevis, the Aonachs, Mamores are among the 20 Munros and 4 Corbetts encompassed by this edition. As befits Britain’s highest mountain, the Ben Nevis summit area is accorded 1 : 12,500 enlargements showing the safety bearings in case of a poor visibility descent in deteriorating weather.

Made in co-operation with the British Mountaineering Council and the Mountaineering Council of Scotland, this specialist map has numerous features designed with climbers in mind. There is detailed crag information, mountain incident and first aid advice, useful local phone numbers and relevant websites.



The map itself neatly reconciles the need for practicality as well as content. Weighing in at less than half a laminated equivalent, it is presented in durable, tear-resistant and 100 % waterproof polyethylene.



The same series covers favourite hill walking and climbing areas of the UK such as the Cairngorms, the Southern Highlands, Knoydart, the Brecon Beacons, Snowdonia, the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, the Peak District and Dartmoor.

We actually found the Ben Nevis area map available at outboundmaps.com for £10.99 which was actually considerably cheaper than from Harvey’s own site which was asking £ 14.95. The former also seem to offer highly competitive deals on other essentials such as compasses and reflective survival jackets.