Ben Nevis

July 31st 2012
Attendance:
Anthony Griffin
Anne Griffin
Orla Griffin
Sorcha Griffin

Ben Nevis

Scottish Gaelic: Beinn Nibheis,  is the highest mountain in the British Isles. Standing at 1,344 metres (4,409 ft) above sea level, it is located at the western end of the Grampian Mountains in the Lochaber area of the Scottish Highlands, close to the town of Fort William.
The mountain is a popular destination attracting an estimated 100,000 ascents a year, around three-quarters of which use the Pony Path from Glen Nevis.  The 700-metre (2,300 ft) high cliffs of the north face are among the highest cliffs in the United Kingdom, providing classic scrambles and rock climbs of all difficulties for climbers and mountaineers.

We arrived in Fort William on July 30th 2012, having spent a lovely couple of days in Edinburgh. We  had booked hostel accomodation and were pleasently surprised with the Smiddy Bunkhouse at the Snowgoose Mountain Centre located about 5km outside Fort William. Great place.

We started our climb of Ben Nevis on Tuesday July 31st 2012 at approx. 10am. We were advised to park at the Ben Nevis Inn. We got one of the last car parking spaces here and set off on our climb.
The weather was absolutely fantastic. We chose the best day of the week for our climb - a clear blue sky and temperature of approx. 20 deg celsius. In Scotland!!!!!

It took us about one and a half hours to reach the lake. It's really beautiful at this point and we took a nice break here.

The mountain isn't very steep at any point but we found the climb very long. It took us four and a half hours to reach the summit. The last hour of this was fairly difficult because we were getting pretty tired. However, we did it, reaching the summit at around 2pm. The views were really stunning all the way up and were amazing from the top. The temperature dropped at the top and there was unmelted snow in parts!!

We ate most of our food and took a good rest at the summit. It was a bit cold though for hanging around for too long. We started the descent feeling elated and refreshed.

The descent went well at first and we reached the lake fairly easily. After this however, we all seemed to get very tired and our knees were beginning to ache. The large stone steps and loose shale made it difficult on the feet and slowed us down. Breaks became more frequent. We were really glad to see the Ben Nevis Inn three and a half hours later.

 

Orla and Sorcha had gone ahead of us on the descent and held a table at the Ben Nevis Inn. We had some much needed refreshments. Lovely cold beer / local ale and great food. What a great day!!