Ben Bloody Nevis - anyone else done it?

[glasgowcyclist]

I'm not long back from a weekend at Fort William where I did my first (and last) climb of the UK's highest mountain, Ben Nevis.

I only went along to keep my daughter company while she and her friends and colleagues raised money for the charity Let Us Shine and was thinking I could pull out if it looked too tough but then she told me she'd got people to sponsor me. Bugger.

Can't say I enjoyed it as it was, for me anyway, really tough. I can't tell you how good the views were - we were in cloud from 1000ft and visibility was about 100 yards and I dropped my camera which pinged off one part after another on every rock as it cartwheeled down the side.

Forty minutes from the top we reached the snow line and it was knee-deep in places, all the way to the summit. Not a breath of wind though, which I'm told is unusual as it's normally blowing a hoolie at the top.

I wanted to pack it in sooo many times but the support and encouragement of others spurred me on. Anyway, that's it done now and out of the way. I can't see me ever repeating it although I might try some of the smaller Bens in future.

The target for the climb alone was £8000 which my daughter's employer will match £ for £, indeed they've agreed to do this for the overall target of £25,000 wich will be fantastic news for the children who'll benefit.

I didn't come on CC seeking sponsorship before the challenge and this is really just a bit of a blether about my weekend, however... if you feel that supporting free education for children in rural Ghana, giving young girls the opportunity to not be married and pregnant at 13 yrs old, destined for a life of servitude and poverty, then if you could give a couple of quid to Let Us Shine via the donation page at JustGiving.com that would be fantastic.

https://www.justgiving.com/BenNevisChallenge2015/

GC

 

[twentysix by twentyfive]

My Ben Nevis was done in torrential rain about 10 years ago.

My daughter did it in the last few days in super clear weather.

 

[Cush]

Take it as a right of passage if you are a walker Scafell Pike, Ben Nevis, Snowdonia. Non of them exceptional. All of them crowded, all of them on the tick list. Mind I did admire one of our USA cousins on Ben Nevis. Half way up he was smoking twenty to the dozen.

 

[Profpointy]

Take it as a right of passage if you are a walker Scafell Pike, Ben Nevis, Snowdonia. Non of them exceptional. All of them crowded, all of them on the tick list. Mind I did admire one of our USA cousins on Ben Nevis. Half way up he was smoking twenty to the dozen.

Ben Nevis has some fantastic routes on it -- Carn Dearg arrete for a start. The tourist route is indeed a bit of a trudge. Ditto Snowdon - the trudge up from Llanberis is tedious, but pyg track, miners' track or Watkin path - especially as a round trip are great. And Crib Goch ridge is one of the finest walky-scrambly routes in the country

 

[Archie_tect]

Did Snowdon on the school camping trip we were forced to go on when I was 11.... it was tedious then but would probably enjoy it now.

It was only when we got to the top that they told us there was a train.

 

[fimm]

I had the good fortune to climb Ben Nevis from the CIC hut in full winter conditions via the Carn Mor Dearg arete. Stunning views of the north face (which you don't see at all from the tourist path). Stunning views from the top. It was fairly busy up there with winter climbers. The base of the trig point was just in the snow - later I saw some photos from summer and learned that the thing sits on a 2m cairn... we were all keeping very well back from the edge, I expect the cornices were pretty impressive.

That night I had to get up to go for a pee. This was before they put a toilet into the CIC hut, you just had to go outside. When I got out, I had the most amazing view of the north face under a full moon.

 

[Drago]

Drove my Frontera up there. Twice.

 

[Cletus Van Damme]

I've been up the tourist route in shite weather (in July), cloud at about 1,000 feet, the dullest boring never ending walk I have ever done.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

This is a photo taken as we approached the shelter. Notice the footprints of the idiots who went to the edge for a closer look...

GC

 

[jhawk]

Ben Nevis, or really any big hill/mountain (not looking into Everest, K2, Kilimanjaro, etc, at the moment) is on my bucket list. I just want to be able to take a backpack and some hiking poles, climb to the top of a BFO hill/mountain and see some incredible views.

 

[fimm]

Here you go:

@glasgowcyclist that's some serious cornicing in the background...

 

[Profpointy]

Here you go:
View attachment 92012


@glasgowcyclist that's some serious cornicing in the background...

there you, rubbish just like the op said :-)

 

[classic33]

First done for a bit of fun in '89, along with Snowden and Scafell. Later done as part of the Four Peaks Challenge & the Five Peaks Challenge. As a bit of fun.

 

[BrumJim]

Did it in 2000, IIRC on the tourist trail. Dull, dull, dull, dull. Inevitably, cloud on the top, and could have been anywhere. On the positive side, we (three middle aged men with no children between us at that point)'d taken a stuffed Laa laa up, and at the top was a mum with a cold, wet, miserable little one on her back, that we cheered up with a telly tubby. Looking back, one of the more surreal moments of my life.

However it is the largest mountain in the UK, and you start from virtually sea level, so its the biggest continuous climb too.

Most disheartening thing about it is the number of couples walking up, him several yards ahead getting increasingly frustrated, her slightly behind, getting increasingly fed up and slow.

 

[Simontm]

Went up Nevis when I was 18. Behind me a mate had frozen as that summer he had been in the Himalayas and caught in a snow storm so freaked when he hit the cloud line - I was far ahead so had no idea until another mate caught up with me at the summit. At the top sat down near the edge looking down on the clouds and had a cigarette along with seemingly everyone else that day. The smoking's gone but wouldn't mind doing the trek again.