Aonach Beag

About Aonach Beag

Aonach Beag lies roughly 3 km east of Ben Nevis on the north side of Glen Nevis, near Fort William. Setting Ben Nevis aside, it is the highest summit in the British Isles outside the Cairngorms.

Its name translates as 'small ridge' against Aonach Mòr's 'big ridge' to the north, to which it is joined by a high bealach — but Aonach Beag is in fact the higher of the two. The names describe the bulk of the hills, not their altitude. Walkers reach it either by the Nevis Range gondola onto Aonach Mòr at 650 m and then along the connecting ridge, or more traditionally from Glen Nevis to the south.

Background written from facts in the Wikipedia article on Aonach Beag (CC BY-SA 4.0). Heights, prominence and grid references come from the Database of British & Irish Hills, not from Wikipedia.

Access rights here

General position for Scotland — local byelaws, seasonal restrictions and closures can override it. Full details: access rights in Scotland ·check another location.

Daylight at this summit today

Sunrise

—

Sunset

—

Daylight

—

Civil twilight ends

—

Computed astronomically for 56.800, -4.954. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.

Get food nearby

3 places to eat or drink within 10 km of the summit, rated under the Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (Scotland runs its own Food Hygiene Information Scheme, a pass/fail equivalent).

Classifications and ratings are the local authority's own and can be coarse — this is a lead, not a guarantee of opening hours or that food is served to non-residents. Follow a name through to the official rating page to check, and confirm before you rely on it.

Food hygiene data from the Food Standards Agency and Food Standards Scotland (Open Government Licence v3.0). Distances and directions computed by OpenFell from the summit.

The Aonach Beag group

5 other listed summits sit in the same prominence group, with Aonach Beag as the independent hill at its head.

Grouping is by prominence alone: a summit belongs to the nearest higher Marilyn it connects to without a deeper intervening col. Over a large massif that can gather hills no one would walk in a single day, and which few would describe as parts of the same mountain — it is a measure of independence, not a suggested route.

Nearest listed peaks