BEN NEVIS THE MOUNTAIN
I awoke to the sound of a downspout outside my open window being flushed with water. Yes, it is raining again! We know the forecast was for early rain and then improving as the day went on, so we opted for a 7:30 breakfast. At 8 we are in the lobby with our day packs and trekking poles, eager to tackle Ben Nevis. Ben is the highest mountain in Scotland, the highest in Great Britain, and the highest in the British Isles.
We call 6 taxi companies and most do not answer our call. Only one answers and they say a 45 minutes wait for a pickup. The mountain calls, so we walk to the nearby train station where two taxis are waiting. In 10 minutes we are at the trailhead and in 3 more we are walking. The rain has stopped and a glorious day awaits us!
No midges today but the humidity is brutal. Shortly we are all down to short sleeve shirts. Scot goes into his afterburner mode and he and Bill quickly leave me behind. I will only catch a couple of distant glimpses of them until we reunite at the summit. The trail is full of other hikers and passing is a constant chore. Hikers come in all shapes, sizes and abilities. Most will make it the 5 miles and 4400 vertical feet to the summit. 75,000 people do so each year. Most them make it the 5 miles back down. A few do not. Most deaths are from getting caught in a whiteout at the summit and losing the path down and falling to their death. The north side is sheer cliffs and the wrong choice of routes can be fatal.
No such fear today as the forecast is good but we do expect fog at summit. The trail is a work of art and man’s ingenuity. The grade is almost constant the entire way with one leveling off section. Miles of the trail have been sculpted with boulder steps.
The weather improves as I ascend and I get glimpse into the valleys far below. I finally don my rain jacket 80% of the way up as the temperature drops and a breeze kicks in. After 3 hours and many false summits, I enter the fog enshrouded summit, a large flat rocky area with remnants of old stone structures. I arrive 25 minutes after Bill and Scot who stopped for a total of 3 minutes and likely spoke even fewer words. Their goal was speed. We eat a leisurely lunch huddled in our jackets in the fog. Finally we put on gloves and additional clothing and head down. Scot takes off and Bill and I hike down together. Two and a half hours later we have descended thousand of stone steps and crossed hundreds of streams, trickles, and puddles.
It is warm summer weather at the base of the mountain. We call a taxi and 20 minutes late it shows up.
This was a great hike and we were blessed with almost the best weather possible…for Scotland.
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