John Chivall, Outdoor Instructor

Yesterday was a fantastic day for mountaineering in the West Highlands. Sub-freezing temperatures at sea level after a hard frost, and much lighter snowfalll than in the east, made for an enticing prospect. We chose Stob Bàn, in the Mamores above Glen Nevis, for our day out.

With Emily and me was TGO magazine's Carey, on his first Scottish winter hill walk. We had to hire boots and crampons for Carey from Nevisport in Fort William, which meant not only a relatively late start, but also a deadline, as we had to be down from the hill in time to return the kit.

Stob Bàn's north ridge starts steeply, the blunt end of the truncated spur giving a test for the legs and lungs only 15 minutes from the car. Once the initial 500 metre climb is over, the ridge is more gentle for some way,  and we crunched satisfyingly over wind-scoured neve. It was incredibly cold, and the brisk northerly wind penetrated any gaps in our layers and numbed our faces. The views were spectacular in the clear air, with the low winter sun giving definition to distant peaks.

After a brief lunch stop, we took the ridge's main challenge head on. A stegasaurus spine of crag reared up for 150 metres, giving exposed scrambing on rock covered with weakly bonded drifts of sun-crusted powder. A couple of tricky steps gave pause for thought, but we weaved a route through the crags and soon found ourselves striding over the perfect final section of ridge before the rise to Stob Bàn's pyramidal top.

We couldn't hand about to enjoy the views though, as Carey had to return his boots in just two hours, so we picked our way carefully down the narrow east ridge before following the heavily iced stalker's path down the Allt Coire a' Mhusgain. Carey made it back to the shop with just two minutes to spare.