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In a special edition of Out of Doors, we celebrate 250 years since the first recorded ascent of Ben Nevis.

Mark Stephen and Helen Needham climb the UK’s highest mountain and meet various people along the way. For many, the Ben is a ‘must do’ mountain and it is their first experience of being in such an environment.

Euan McIlwraith hears about how busy the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team has been in recent months as thousands flock to the mountain post lockdown, often unprepared. He also chats to fiddler Aonghas Grant who was involved in path building and was a countryside ranger on the Ben.

Maud Start learns about James Robertson, the botanist from the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh who recorded the first ascent on 17th August 1771.

Plus Alex Gillespie shares the story of ‘buying the Ben’ on behalf of the John Muir Trust. And Nathan Berrie of the Trust discusses some of the contemporary issues facing the management of the mountain.

Mountain Guide and chair of the Nevis Landscape Partnership, Mike Pescod, describes his deep love for Ben Nevis and the North Face in particular. That love is shared by Claire and Dave MacLeod. Dave has spent decades climbing the North Face and now they make films about it together.

And Euan discovers the complicated geological history of Ben Nevis from founder of the Lochaber Geopark, Noel Williams.