WHERE IT SNOWS IN JULY – BEN NEVIS

The drunk on the train asked everybody in outdoor gear who came into the compartment if they were going to ascend Ben Nevis. None of them were. The only one he did not ask, other than an old lady he knew, was myself. I was a puzzle to the drunk as I was wearing a suit and had an ordinary city raincoat.

He would have been surprised to know that I had my outdoor gear in my suitcase and was, weather permitting, intending going up Ben Nevis the next day.

Next morning I looked out of the window to find a blue sky and the sun was shining. Ben Nevis was definitely ‘on’.

In spite of it being so nice and warm in Fort William, besides my lunch and drink, I packed my bad weather gear into my bag. One should always respect the mountain and its moods no matter how good a day it appears to be.

Journey Begins

From Fort William, I walked to the bridge over the River Nevis, crossed it and right up Glen Nevis. Here, there is a road to Achintee Farm, which is at the start of the path up the Ben and where cars can park. Once across the stile at the end of the road here, the journey proper began.

In fact, the first part of the ascent is not on Ben Nevis itself but on Meall an t’Suidhe, which is part of the Ben Nevis range. The path bears left up the slope of the hill and gives good views up and down Glen Nevis. The tourist path is actually the old pony track to the summit of Ben Nevis and is very clear to follow, particularly the lower part. Crossing the gullies are small bridges provided by British Aluminium.

The valley floor dropped gently away at first until the path became steadily steeper. I was thinking that I could do with a sit down for a minute or two when, on rounding a corner, I found that other walkers had had similar thoughts. Shortly, the steep path from the Youth Hostel had joined the track. More people were coming up here. After this came the first zigzag with people apparently wandering in odd directions as the path itself could not be seen from below. The path now turns away from Glen Nevis and passes round a shoulder of Meall an t’Suidhe, rising steadily all the time.

By now, there was virtually a procession up the mountain.

Although it is so close to Ben Nevis proper along here, the summit of the mountain cannot be seen. Many of us had not been wearing jackets, but gradually they were put on as it gradually started to get much colder the higher we climbed. To the right of the track, there is a steep, grassy slope down to a burn well below with another slope on the other side, this being at the foot of the Ben. My first snow was now visible, not very far away up the burn across the valley.

Another zigzag section brings the saddle between Meall an t’Suidhe and Carn Dearg, part of Ben Nevis, into view straight ahead. It is moorland country and very easy walking along here with Lochan Meall an t’Suidhe coming into view on the left. Carn Dearg, or the Red Cairn, is part of the Ben Nevis massif and forms part of the familiar outline. The path turns here onto the Ben and continues steadily upwards back towards Glen Nevis.

Halfway Point

Not far from the burn, which is about the halfway point, I came tot he end of the grassy part of the hill slope and it quickly changed to scree. Then views were steadily improving all the time as height was gained, particularly looking along Loch Eil and out to the western mountains. It was fascinating to look across to the path on Meall an t’Suidhe and see the colourful anorak dots heading the same way as myself.

It is strange to think that cars have been up the mountain. The first was a Model T Ford in 1911. Also for a publicity stunt, the climb was repeated in 1928 with a Model A Ford. The likelihood of this happening again is pretty remote as modern cars are very low slung compared with the old Fords.

Where were the people who were coming down? Surely I should have been seeing several by now as the summit could not be that far away.

Suddenly, there it was in front of me. For a few minutes, a patch of cloud obscured the summit, but no matter, I was nearly there.

It seemed odd walking across real snow on a day when people below were dressed for summer. It should always be remembered too that Ben Nevis is only a few hundred short of being capped by a glacier. The average temperature of the summit is in fact just one degree below freezing point. Another indication of the mountain’s height is that the summit is only blessed with an average of two hours sunshine a day.

It was a wonderful arrival being greeted by a snow bunting singing merrily on a cairn, the first one I had ever seen. It was strange to think that I was at the highest point of the British Isles and that everything else was below me.

Pillar

The summit cairn is topped by the Ordnance Survey triangulation pillar and records 4418 feet above sea level. Just by are the ruins of the observatory, which was open from 1883 to 1904 when it was closed for economy reasons. It seems a pity that it does not still exist as many interesting atmospheric phenomena were recorded there and observations are still quoted. The summit observatory was twinned with one at ground level in Fort William for comparison purposes. An orange survival shelter is lashed to the ruins, a reminder that the weather can change very rapidly up here.

After basking in the sunshine about an hour it was time to start back for Fort William. More people were still on their way up, including a party with two dogs. Now it was my turn to tell them how far they had to go and that it was worth the effort.