129 m away
South Castle Gully
Deep cut, steep couloir for the entire length - a great tick.
Extreme Ski Touring
- Distance
- 1.2 km
- Ascent
- 8 m
- Descent
- 450 m
A great pairing with South Castle Gully, if steep and extreme is your aim of the day.
Ski Touring Extreme
Two deep cut gullies split carve their way down from Castle Ridge, down to the corrie floor. Both of these two couloirs are flanked between towering rocky walls either side of them and both require large snow depths to make a descent possible and fill in the large rocky steps that are usually present during low snow years.
Both gullies are graded Grade II within the climbing guidebooks, but become fairly banked out during deep snow seasons, to make a passage by skis a little more amiable!
Saying that, even during deep snow years, these gullies frequently have rocky steps that are either required to be down climbed or rappelled, so it’s always needed to bring a rope and some protection in the event of a rappel needing to be set up.
North Castle Gully is the right hand gully of the two Castle Gullies as you are looking at them from the valley floor. North Castle Gully has a slightly more ‘open’ feel to it at the top, where a rocky ramp follows you down initially on the skier’s lefts hand side, before rising up to create a large rocky wall as you snake your way down this rarely visited part of the Ben.
Just as the walls start to rise up on either side of you as you head into the couloir proper, you need to make a slight skier’s left hand turn to follow the path of the couloir down to the base of The Castle.
Once at the bottom, traverse above the large cliff band that flanks the corrie floor to make your way back to the CIC Hut.
Extreme
Extreme skiing terrain above 45 degrees. These routes are reserved for experienced experts.
129 m away
Deep cut, steep couloir for the entire length - a great tick.
Extreme Ski Touring
373 m away
Stretching down the north face for 350m, Number 5 Gully is the longest of the named Grade I gullies on the north face
Severe Ski Touring
736 m away
A great introduction to skiing on the north face, yet still requiring strong technical abilities
Severe Ski Touring
1 km away
This is one steep and poker straight gully!
Severe Ski Touring
1 km away
Ski mountaineering & steep skiing on the UK's highest peak and adjacent mountains
Severe Ski Touring
1.2 km away
Technical, narrow and steep, a hidden gem!
Extreme Ski Touring
1.4 km away
Starting only slightly below the summit of the Ben, you’ve got a fantastic 650 metres of skiing ahead of you all the way down to the CIC Hut through alpine-like scenery
Severe Ski Touring
3.8 km away
A fantastic way to get way out of the resort boundaries and down into a wild and remote corner of Aonach Mor/Aonach Beag.
Difficult Ski Touring
4.1 km away
The north face of Ben Nevis hosts some of the finest steep skiing in the Highlands, with a huge range of routes accessible straight from the doors of the CIC Hut
Easy Ski Touring
5 routes · Ski Touring
8 routes · Ski Touring