Ben Nevis rises snow-streaked above a rocky Highland glen, its immense dark face and bright summit clouds giving the route through the valley a bracing sense of ascent.

A clear burn threads through boulders at the valley floor, drawing the eye towards crumpled grey slopes beneath the mountain. Heather-coloured banks and pale scree break the lower ground, while snow remains in long seams across the high ridges under a hard blue sky.

Ben Nevis is known through the early start, the changing weather and the long look back down the glen. For climbers, hill walkers or people who have travelled through Lochaber, the stream and towering rock face return the physical scale of approaching Britain's highest mountain directly.