​Geoff And Sandy Climb Ben Nevis (Beinn Nibheis)
July 2012
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INTRODUCTION
One evening way back in 2011 Sandy and I drew up a 'Bucket List' - this being a list of things to do before we kicked the bucket. On this list was for us to climb Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the United Kingdom. We didn't realise what this meant until I worked out that, at 1,344 metres (4,409 feet), Ben Nevis is eleven times higher than climbing from sea level to the top of Portland in Dorset near where we live.
The view from the top of Portland 120 metres above sea level.
I realised that I needed to greatly improve my fitness having, in recent years, had an operation on a knee, broken my neck in three places and had a double hernia operation. Also I was well into my seventies and really not fit.
And so I started a regime of getting fit by walking the steep hills around Dorset and mainly walking up and down Portland. In fact, I became so used to walking from sea level to the top of Portland and back down that Sandy and I used a unit of 'Portlands' (120 metres) to measure how far we were up Ben Nevis on the actual climb.
Looking at photographs of Ben Nevis and searching the Internet often raised doubts as the wisdom of this challenge.
The pictures above and below (taken from the Wikimedia Commons Archive) show the enormity of our challenge. What didn't help was that the walk started very close to sea level in Glen Nevis. These two pictures don't show the bottom half of the mountain!
Our plan was to climb for 8 kilometres up an average gradient of one in six and then come down again. Other climbers' experience suggested this could take as long as eight hours.
I printed off detailed maps showing the path - click here to see a large-scale map of the start of the Ben Nevis track, here for the central part and here for the route to the summit. I marked the maps with 24 waymarks each with a height and a bearing to the next waymark. Three GPS trackers also were taken to guide us through possible impenetrable fog or two metre deep snow - we left nothing to chance!
There was also the problem of bad weather with the area having four metres of rain a year - five times greater than in Dorset. The summit could have snow until late June and gales were recorded on the majority of days on the summit. We would have to take a set of good weatherproof clothing.
We booked a week in Scotland with a window of three days in late July 2012 in which we hoped the weather would be suitable to make an attempt.
What follows is an account of our adventure.
THE CLIMB
We flew from Bristol to Inverness and picked up a thoroughly unlikable little Peugeot 107 hire car. Trust me - don't buy one of these! We stayed in Inverness for two nights and travelled to stay in the excellent Achintee Guesthouse at the foot of the Ben Nevis - click here for the guesthouse website and here for Trip Advisor reviews where it earns a well justified 5* rating.
The above pictures show the excellent weather on arrival with Ben Nevis just visible on the right edge of the second picture.
We had three days in which to climb the mountain so we consulted the Weather Forecasting Stone and decided to climb on the next day.
The look of confidence that we can reach the summit and return safely.
It was a hot day at the start - T-shirts and shorts weather in a temperature around 20 C. The view is near the start of the ascent looking down Glen Nevis which we explored later in the week.
Looking the other way towards the campsite and Youth Hostel in Glen Nevis. At this point we were about 240 metres (= 2 Portlands) high. There are several climbers coming down and we asked a group what time they had set off. "5 o'clock - just around sunrise" was the reply. We were having a great cooked breakfast as they were leaving the summit!
Sandy stops for a discrete loo stop in the toilet hut.
Getting higher and the view down Glen Nevis widens out.
Distant mountain peaks to the north start to appear.
Distant mountain peaks to the north start to appear.
Most of the track was difficult to walk on as it was made up of large boulders. These were actually more difficult to cope with coming down as our boots were slippery and we both skidded and were saved from injury several times only by our walking poles.
Sandy stops to talk to her daughter - technology invades everywhere these days!
The above spot was near the tarn at an altitude of 565 metres - nearly five Portlands - and 2/5ths of the way to the top - see the map here. The trees were now well below us and the mountain was covered in short coarse grass. We sat for a few minutes and admired the beautiful tarn below us. This is shown in the next four sweeping pictures.
Soon the tracks became much steeper and the grass was replaced by tough lichen. Even these soon disappeared as we climbed ever upwards leaving glaring white rock in the bright sunshine. The temperature was now much lower and we gradually put on more layers. However, being a truly eccentric Englishman I remained in my shorts so that the other climbers could admire my finely structured knees.
This waterfall is traditionally taken to be the half-way point in the climb being at about 750 metres - about six Portlands.
Ever more distant mountains were appearing and we started to see Loch Linnhe in the middle distance. It was still gloriously sunny but getting cold.
Above about 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) the track was very rough stones and boulders and we had to take care not to twist an ankle. The most distance peaks on this photograph are about 80 km (50 miles) distant.
We started to find marker pillars of stones which told us that the summit could not be too far away. Although we still had over 250 metres to climb we were so close to achieving our goal that we ignored the cold air and the ankle-twisting boulders - we now knew that we could make the summit.
A snow field. We thought of stopping for a snowball fight but we were so close to the top that we pressed on.
THE SUMMIT
We have made the summit! Our GPS tracker tells the story - we had climbed for 3 hours and 47 minutes to an altitude of 1,343 metres (starting at 20 metres above sea level) and we covered 7.88 kilometres (4.9 miles) of track.
We joined a queue to climb up to the trig point to pose as the highest person in the United Kingdom.
The summit is different from the rest of the mountain because, during the most ferocious of the Ice Ages, the whole of Scotland was covered with ice and only the summit of Ben Nevis was exposed. The summit is covered in large angular blocks which can so easily twist and break an ankle. It was not an easy place to move around.
There are several derelict buildings on the summit comprising a weather observatory, a shelter hut and - amazingly - an hotel!
Sandy sends several texts to friends and family before we set off down. Whilst on the summit the cloud base enveloped us and we decided to start back down before the visibility became too restricting. In fact, the cloud base was going down almost as fast as we could go down.
THE DESCENT
The rough steep descent from the summit was not helped by the thick cloud that quickly came down. Luckily, there were so many other climbers going up and down that it was not difficult to find the path. As we started our descent we met climbers coming up. "Not far now - nearly half-way!" I cheerily lied. One exhausted young lady replied "That's not f***ing funny!"
We soon dropped below the thick cloud and recovered amazing views. This seemed a great place to rest and eat our packed lunch.
Going down was definitely more dangerous than going up. The jolting on knees and ankles made us unstable and in pain. Several times we stumbled and were saved by our walking poles.
I was so excited spotting wildlife unknown in Dorset. Above I point out, at great risk to the integrity of my groin, a flamingo swooping low over our heads...
...a flock of wild Haggis chasing sheep in the valley...
...and a Golden Eagle carrying a large cow back to its fledglings nesting nearby. In my excitement, I think about jumping over the boulders and jogging back to base.
"You haven't got the balls to jog all the way to the base" taunts Sandy. I check. "Yes, I do have the balls - two in fact".
Sandy, unlike me, has an excess of energy to work off and shows her dancing skills on a footbridge.
And so... we arrive at the foot of the descent. We refuel and enjoy perfect weather sitting at the very welcoming pub.
And so, there is the evidence that we have arrived back safely having climbed the highest mountain in the United Kingdom (1343 metres) in 7 hours 44 minutes.
A great adventure!
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Keywords: Climbing Ben Nevis Geoff Kirby Sandy Lane Achintee Guesthouse Fort William