Ben Nevis

Our climb up The Ben was scheduled for Saturday, but after much equivocation, very very much, we opted for Friday, originally our rest day. Neither day promised great weather (there are clear views from the top only a few times a month), but, among several weather variables, the deciding factor was the temperature. It was predicted that Saturday would be about ten degrees colder, which, at the top, is no small thing, so we took our chances with the rain, and set out.

The climb is about 4,409 feet and the round trip takes ordinary people some seven hours. I say "ordinary," because there are meshunignehs who actually run. Some of them are participating in The Three Peak Challenge, an event that challenges climbers to do the three tallest peaks in the UK in twenty-four hours. Does that sound like fun or what? Then we learned, granted, after the fact, that Saturday was the Rat Race. This is a triathlon of sorts that combines some crazy off road bike ride, mountain climbing, and a third jolly entertainment. On any day, The Ben is teeming with people, people who get going at dawn (at this time of year between 3:00 and 3:30 a.m) and are on their way down by 9:00 a.m. or so, people starting the climb at least as late as 4:00 p.m. (at 10:00 p.m. it is still light), and even nuttier, as we learned from a taxi driver, some, not deterred at all by the dark, who ascend and/or descend using head lamps. What can I say, this peak has a reputation and EVERYONE wants to climb it.

Of a truth, it is not excruciatingly difficult, like, say, the severe ups and downs at Lullworth on the Southwest Coast Path. It is a long slog and one does have to watch the placement of one's feet almost all the way. But maybe if you are twenty, you don't. I would not know. But I will boast about this: we were told that most people are stiff for at least two days after the climb. I was not; Jerry Anne, "some."

A wee section of the path:





About an hour into the climb, we came upon this enterprising fellow selling chocolate bars, cans of Pepsi, and cookies, and had a little gas burner going for making tea or coffee:





That spot was his....




It was a freezing rain on Friday, and boy, did our hands get cold. The top of the Ben is a persistent challenge because when it is fogged in, which it is a lot of the time, you cannot see. There are cairns, but you cannot see from one to the next. There was snow, too, lots of it, deep and slushy. The snow adds to the visibility problem. However, since there is so much traffic on the mount, you try to keep close to someone in front of you on the way up, and on the way down, you just wait for someone on the way up and head the same way. Then you wait for the next person—you don't have to wait long, that is for sure--and so on until you are below the densest fog.

Now, I want to explain just how cold and wet it was. We did not linger for two minutes at the summit, we did not try to get our cameras out to commemorate the moment, we turned and slid through the snow; we were on the way DOWN! There were some people climbing with a dog. Jerry Anne greats all dogs, big and small, and always has loving words for them. Not on The Ben. Silently we passed the pooch and continued on our way. About two miles from the top, it warmed up enough for photos:

Congratulations!



Congratulations!





A spectacular gorge runs down the mountain:




Down....




Down....



Until, at last you reach bottom and can say, "I did it!"

In case you want to try it, be warned, there is NO WHERE to use "a loo" on Ben Nevis!

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