UKC

A very nice spring day on Ben Nevis but I completely failed to find Ledge Route. Where does it start? Is it above the small buttress in No 5 gully that divides it in two? I tried two lower ledges, one over the  Curtain, but they petered out into blank rock.

Maybe one of them was Ledge Route as it involves crossing slabs that can be scary. It's the first ledge on the right in the gully proper....only about 30m or so up. The ledge blanks out after a while so you then go up and a bit left up a shallow gully to another ledge. Then right to the main ridge.

Someone should be able to confirm, but pretty sure it's the first ledge on the right, just above the Curtain. It can be unpleasant to start in summer, as it's basically wee bits of scree on a rock slab and a good bit of care is required, but fine once you do that bit. Don't go up left too soon from the ledge.

Hmm. Maybe I wasnt far off. I crossed some slabs that fit that and poked around. A bit higher I ended up on an damp narrowing ledge with an overhang above - very exposed and  no crampon marks, so I reversed. Tried a couple of gullies to the left but they were lose and not well trodden. Maybe missed something. Reversing the slab was...focussing.

So  pretty much the continuing line of the Curtain in that picture? I did sort.of.try that bit as above was loose. Obviously missed something. 

Thanks. Should have persevered with the "loose but easy gully". Suprised there  so little evidence of a path/wear.

I initially went further on the  line that leads to the gully, which led to the blank section

Been under snow for 6 months!

There are two options, about 50m up No5 Gully, then turn right on a ramp and slab above Carn Dearg Buttress. This is then followed by a left turn uphill at the first obvious opportunity, (red line). 
 

Or, carry on in to the Coire and take a long traverse right across slopes leading to the top of Moonlight Gully Buttress, a flat-ish area from where you cross No5 Gully and walk across a sloping terrace to meet the crest which then leads you to the Plateau, (blue line). 
 

Good topo

The second of these options is the better IMHO because you traverse the whole of the 'ledge', although the shortcut up No5 is fine on days when the vis is poor.

Its becoming increasingly common for people going up in summer to take the route over the top of Moonlight Gully Buttress shown in Rich's topo. That Gully is so loose that any path that appears one year has been eradicated by shifting rubble during the spring that the following year.