A winter ascent of Tower Ridge on the north face of Ben Nevis

As featured in the January 2016 issue of Trail, Salewa athlete and mountain instructor Paddy Cave takes you on a guided tour of Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis. Widely regarded as the greatest Alpine route in Britain, Paddy talks you through all of the major obstacles and challenges in an action-packed video shot by Stephen Ashworth.

[Matt.With.Huskies]

I have only very recently discovered the wonders of the Scottish high places. couple of winter Munros in and really looking forward to the day where i can start looking at achieving this sort of climb. Great video guys. Lovely commentary.

[Elysianplains]

Great. You said a lot in a short amount of time. Some good safety points as well regarding time of day, and about the effects of tiredness at certain points. Good stuff

[johnlucas]

Inspiring stuff. Shame you can't hear what the guy is saying. Turn the music down!

[MrZimmaframe]

really interesting to watch, you should leave some links to some guides for this route

[Bruceboot]

This was uploaded in 2015 but it talks about 2016

[JasonH]

Good footage, I'm off to climb all the 4000's in Scotland next year really looking forward to it.

[tullochgorum]

Just a warning note - he says that the climb is virtually finished once you're above the Great Tower. But we hit very nasty black verglas, and had a challenging hour or two before we got past it. Escape from the ridge can be impractical, and descending in the dark would be an epic. Get an early start and be prepared for difficulties at any stage - conditions vary hugely from week to week.

[timbarlow]

cant hear what he is say due to the music . TURN IT DOWN

[lumberjack]

Lovely explained its an amazing route!

[Llamateurs]

Scottish landscapes...! One of the bests.

[JulieJackson]

I stuck to walking the Pony Trek route. It still took hours and felt quite dangerous at times. I slipped on some loose pebbles and fell on some protruding rocks on the way down.I now have the scars to prove it! Black and blue all down the left side.

[stevenc]

Most climbers and walkers would agreed that Scotland is one of the best places in the world for winter climbing, under the right conditions, snow, ice, wind, damp, freezing, wet, blizzard, the atmosphere, wild abandoned and empty places, it’s a full package of mountaineering !

[frmcf]

I'm glad you used that music so we know that it's Scotland.

[awesomegamer]

I'm going to be climbing Ben Nevis in a couple of months

[MTG]

Gonna hopefully climb this mountain in august

[RamblingTog]

Interesting given Trail is a walking mag

[martin]

annoying music! would be nice if i could hear something. otherwise great vid!

[peterpozman]

I climbed Tower Ridge in 1984. When we got to the Eastern Traverse we just kept going. I led up to the Ridge proper but believe we went beyond the Gap because I don't remember it at all. When we attained the Ridge finishing was just an easy steepening to the summit plateau. Does this sound like anybody else's experience.
We completed the day by going along the CMD.

[PHILIPWATSON]

IM SORRY BUT THESE PEOPLE WHO CLIMB EVEREST ARE ABSOLUTELY INSANE. NUTS ABSOLUTELY NUTS

[sebastianarcher]

Great pics of the action. Shame about the gabbled commentary which I did not hear one word of - speak slowly and clearly, no need for self effacement when you've done such an epic climb.