Number 137 of 282 by height · West Highlands
Stob Ban
Stob Bàn
3,280 ft (1,000 m)
Facts
- Grid reference
- NN 147 654
- Latitude, longitude
- 56.74372, -5.03035
- Area
- West Highlands
The walk up
- Distance, one way
- 2.3 mi (3.8 km)
- Climb
- 3,068 ft (935 m)
- Estimated time up
- 2 h 20 min
- Start
- Car park near Achriabhach
Route picked by computer, not yet checked on the hill
Summit conditions
From Sunday 1 November, 17:07. Not live.
- Weather
- Clear sky
- Temperature
- 36°F (2°C)
- Wind chill
- 32°F (0°C)
- Wind
- 4 mph (6 km/h) from the northwest
- Cloud cover
- 13%
- Rain or snow, next hour
- None
- Freezing level, rough estimate
- 4,288 ft (1,307 m)
- Sunrise, sunset
- 07:28, 16:38
The way up
From Car park near Achriabhach, follow the track south for 0.6 mi, climbing steadily from 170 ft to 610 ft. On the way you cross the Allt a' Choire Dheirg. Then follow the path south for the last 1.7 mi to the summit, climbing very steeply from 610 ft to 3,300 ft. The steepest part is between 610 ft and 1,900 ft, about 0.6 mi from the start. The summit is at 3,280 ft (1,000 m).
Written from the map, not from walking it. Paths on the ground can differ, so carry a map and compass.See it in 3D.
Getting there
By car
Car park near Achriabhach. Parking charge not known. This is where the walking route starts.
Driving directions to the Stob Ban car park56.76992,-5.04100
By train
Nearest station: Fort William, 4.3 mi (6.9 km) from the car park.
By bus
Nearest bus stop on the map: Lower Falls, right by the car park. Check the times first: many Highland buses run only a few times a day.
Public transport directionsBus and train times on Traveline Scotland
About Stob Ban
- In Gaelic
- Stob Bàn
- Means
- White peak
Stob Bàn stands at the western end of the Mamores ridge, about 3.5 miles north-west of Kinlochleven. It is not to be confused with the other Munro of the same name in the Grey Corries above Spean Bridge. Seen from lower Glen Nevis it has a sharp peak, and the crags of its north-east face fall more than 1,300 ft (400 m) to Coire a' Mhusgain, giving the hill its classic pyramid shape.
Three main ridges leave the summit. The east ridge crosses the head of Coire a' Mhusgain to Sgor an Iubhair, once a Munro, and the west ridge leads to Mullach nan Coirean. The north ridge drops over rocky terraces to Glen Nevis, with a false top at about 2,950 ft (900 m) that is often taken for the summit. A lesser fourth ridge falls south-west to the West Highland Way.
A large cairn marks the summit, which looks across to Ben Nevis and the Aonachs. It rises 778 ft (237 m) above the col linking it to higher ground, making it a Marilyn.
Tops on Stob Ban
One lower summit in the Munro tables, not counted as separate Munros. Keen baggers tick these too.
| Top | Height | From the summit |
|---|---|---|
| Mullach nan Coirean East TopNN 137 656 | 3,007 ft (917 m) | 0.7 mi (1.1 km) |
Through the year
Hours of daylight on Stob Ban in the middle of each month. The shorter the day, the earlier you need to start.
Stag stalking season, 1 July to 20 October. On many estates, walkers are asked to keep to set routes on stalking days: check the Scottish Outdoor Access Code site's Heading for the Scottish Hills service before you go.
Nearest Munros
| Munro | Height | Straight-line distance |
|---|---|---|
| Sgurr a' Mhaim | 3,606 ft (1,099 m) | 1.3 mi (2.1 km) |
| Mullach nan Coirean | 3,082 ft (939 m) | 1.7 mi (2.7 km) |
| Am Bodach | 3,385 ft (1,032 m) | 1.8 mi (2.9 km) |
Common questions about Stob Ban
- How high is Stob Ban?
- Stob Ban is 3,280 ft (1,000 m), number 137 of the 282 Munros by height, in the West Highlands.
- How long does it take to climb Stob Ban?
- About 2 h 20 min up and 45 min back down by our route from Car park near Achriabhach, before stops: 2.3 mi (3.8 km) each way with 3,068 ft (935 m) of climbing. That is one of the quicker Munros to climb. Most people take longer than these estimates.
- Where do you park for Stob Ban?
- Our route starts at Car park near Achriabhach.
- Can you climb Stob Ban without a car?
- The nearest railway station is Fort William, 4.3 mi (6.9 km) from the start, and the nearest bus stop on the map is Lower Falls, 0.1 mi (0.2 km) from the start. Highland trains and buses are few, so check times on Traveline Scotland before you go.
- Is Stob Ban a hard Munro?
- By time and climbing, it is one of the quicker Munros to climb, with 3,068 ft (935 m) of ascent over 2.3 mi (3.8 km). Like every Munro it reaches over 3,000 ft, where the weather can be far worse than at the car park, so take a map and compass and check the mountain forecast.
- What does Stob Ban mean?
- In Gaelic it is Stob Bàn. It is usually translated as "white peak".
- When is the best time to climb Stob Ban?
- Daylight runs from about 18 hours in mid June to 7 hours in mid December, so summer gives the most time. From 1 July to 20 October it is the stag stalking season, when some estates ask walkers to keep to set routes. In winter, snow and ice turn most Munros into mountaineering terrain.
A guide only. Mountain conditions change fast: carry a map and compass and know how to use them, and read the mountain forecast for the West Highlands before you go.
Questions
Where can I get a proper mountain forecast?
Read the Mountain Weather Information Service forecast for the West Highlands, written by forecasters for walkers and climbers. In winter, also read the Scottish Avalanche Information Service report for the area.
Where does the summit weather come from?
From MET Norway's forecast model, fetched for every Munro once an hour at the summit's own height. It is computer output for one point, not a forecast written for mountains, so treat it as a guide. The past hours are what the forecast said at the time. Wind chill, the freezing level and sunrise and sunset are worked out by this site from those figures; the freezing level assumes temperature drops steadily with height, so it can be well out when cold air sits in the glens.
How was this route drawn?
It follows footpaths and tracks mapped on OpenStreetMap, from a public car park to the summit, with heights from Copernicus elevation data. A computer picked the start as the car park with the quickest mapped way up, counting the climbing as well as the distance. Nobody has checked it on the hill yet, so it may not be the usual way up, and the path may be faint or missing on the ground. A line on a map is not a description of the ground.
- Path geometry: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), Overpass API extract fetched 2026-10-24T19:57:37.957Z. Start: the public car park nearest the usual start named on Wikipedia (Achriabhach, found by "Achriabhach" on OpenStreetMap) with the shortest mapped-path route to the summit.
- Elevation: Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (© DLR e.V. 2010-2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014-2018, provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA), sampled every 50 m, 3-sample median, 5 m hysteresis on ascent.
- Summit position: Database of British and Irish Hills v18 (CC BY 4.0).
Built 2026-10-25.
How is the time up worked out?
With Naismith's rule, the standard hill-walking estimate: an hour for every 3.1 miles (5 km), plus an hour for every 1,969 ft (600 m) of climbing, with no stops. For this route that gives about 2 h 20 min, one way. It ignores rough ground, weather, stops and the walk back down, so most people take longer.
Where do the car parks and bus stops come from?
From OpenStreetMap. Distances are straight lines, not the way you would walk or drive. A bus stop on the map says nothing about how often a bus calls: many Highland buses run a few times a day, some only on school days or by booking, so check Traveline Scotland first. The map cannot tell whether a car park is on a public road, so a remote one may only be reachable on foot or by train.
Where do the Gaelic names and stories come from?
From the hill's article on English Wikipedia and its Wikidata entry, put into a few words of our own. Meanings and pronunciations are only given where the article states them; many Gaelic hill names are old and their meaning is uncertain. Read the full article.
Where do the height and grid reference come from?
From the Database of British and Irish Hills, the surveyed list most baggers use. Stob Ban is hill 309 there.
Sources: Database of British and Irish Hills (CC BY 4.0), OpenStreetMap (ODbL), MET Norway (CC BY 4.0), Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikidata, Copernicus elevation data, Sentinel-2 cloudless imagery by EOX. All credits and licences.