Ben Nevis/Highlands trek - advice
Discussion
A few of us this weekend plan to head up to the Scottish Highlands to do some walking/trekking followed, no doubt, by a lot of puffing/panting and wheezing!
Ben Nevis has been mentioned and though climbing to its peak may be a step too far for us, we still plan to at least attempt to climb up some of it.
I am just after advice really on anything to do with anything - routes, best scenery in area, accomodation, etc.
Many thanks
Ben Nevis has been mentioned and though climbing to its peak may be a step too far for us, we still plan to at least attempt to climb up some of it.
I am just after advice really on anything to do with anything - routes, best scenery in area, accomodation, etc.
Many thanks
My BIL was up there last week to do some climbing and there is snow on the top ~200m.
Unless you can navigate by map and compass alone, I would avoid if the weather is remotely snotty. The Ben is not a place to get weathered in.
If you're doing any kind of highland walking at this time of year, make sure you are well equipped (Group shelter - bothe - emergency blankets, etc.) and file a route plan with someone.
Not trying to put you off, just make sure you're safe.
ETA if there is a group, why not consider hiring a guide for the day. Not that expensive and at least they can advise on an interesting and pretty route that will match your capability.
Unless you can navigate by map and compass alone, I would avoid if the weather is remotely snotty. The Ben is not a place to get weathered in.
If you're doing any kind of highland walking at this time of year, make sure you are well equipped (Group shelter - bothe - emergency blankets, etc.) and file a route plan with someone.
Not trying to put you off, just make sure you're safe.
ETA if there is a group, why not consider hiring a guide for the day. Not that expensive and at least they can advise on an interesting and pretty route that will match your capability.
Edited by rhinochopig on Monday 13th October 12:34
Agree that Fort William is a bit of a hole, but sometimes it's unavoidable. There's a couple of good places to stay near Spean Bridge.
Ben Nevis is a bit of a slog full of false summits if you go up the tourist motorway route. It's more fun and interesting if you go up the back way, up the carn mor deag ridge. It's well documented on other forums and on the mapping - you leave from the distillery at Fort William and pick up a well marked trail from there, being careful not to get sucked down the climbers track to the rock climbing routes.
If you're after a really good day's climb, one of the best in Scotland / UK, arguably the world on a good day is the Ring of Steall. This is at the top of Glen Nevis and involves a beautiful level walk through some glorious alpine territory, crossing over a steel wired commando bridge (worth a photo or two) over the slow moving river. You then cross beneath a huge waterfall before slogging your way up to the first peak. Once you've made up the height, you only lose a few hundred metres over the rest of the day as you work your way round clockwise around the peaks, returning back to the beginning. There's a tiny bit of scrambling involved and it's not for beginners, but it's a magical day out if the weather is kind and you can occasionally get a rare sight of the summit of Ben Nevis on the opposite side of the glen. Again, there are climbers' notes and guides on the internet and it's well marked on the maps.
The easy way to get a feel for the region is to pick out sections of the west higland way. They're pretty flat, pretty boring and you spend your time looking up at the mountains without the satisfaction of looking down from them. I've done several sections over the years, mainly due to bad weather / high wind forbidding us from doing the peaks.
Enjoy!
Ben Nevis is a bit of a slog full of false summits if you go up the tourist motorway route. It's more fun and interesting if you go up the back way, up the carn mor deag ridge. It's well documented on other forums and on the mapping - you leave from the distillery at Fort William and pick up a well marked trail from there, being careful not to get sucked down the climbers track to the rock climbing routes.
If you're after a really good day's climb, one of the best in Scotland / UK, arguably the world on a good day is the Ring of Steall. This is at the top of Glen Nevis and involves a beautiful level walk through some glorious alpine territory, crossing over a steel wired commando bridge (worth a photo or two) over the slow moving river. You then cross beneath a huge waterfall before slogging your way up to the first peak. Once you've made up the height, you only lose a few hundred metres over the rest of the day as you work your way round clockwise around the peaks, returning back to the beginning. There's a tiny bit of scrambling involved and it's not for beginners, but it's a magical day out if the weather is kind and you can occasionally get a rare sight of the summit of Ben Nevis on the opposite side of the glen. Again, there are climbers' notes and guides on the internet and it's well marked on the maps.
The easy way to get a feel for the region is to pick out sections of the west higland way. They're pretty flat, pretty boring and you spend your time looking up at the mountains without the satisfaction of looking down from them. I've done several sections over the years, mainly due to bad weather / high wind forbidding us from doing the peaks.
Enjoy!
wadgebeast said:
Ben Nevis is a bit of a slog full of false summits if you go up the tourist motorway route. It's more fun and interesting if you go up the back way, up the carn mor deag ridge. It's well documented on other forums and on the mapping - you leave from the distillery at Fort William and pick up a well marked trail from there, being careful not to get sucked down the climbers track to the rock climbing routes.
It is the interesting route up but IIRC it's 20+ miles and has 5000ft of up involved so possibly a bit more than the OP is up for
Even the tourist route is a bit of a slog.Agreed with points above re weather and navigation. There are cliffs on 3 sides of the summit and navigation in a white out involves compass bearings and counting steps
I've climbed Ben Nevis twice, once as a 7 year old with my father and then as a parent I took my sons to the summit. It is a slog and will take a novice all day. Good boots are a must, the tourist trail is mostly loose gravel and so sprained ankles must be avoided. Also on the decent, if your boots are new or poorly fitting you can end up with problems on your toes.
In the end the sense of achievement is worth the effort. Better to prepare well and plan to complete the climb than to give up and later wish you'd done it.
Think carefully about what to take, everything weighs a lot when you're on the way up. You must prepare for it to be cold at the top and snow blindness is unbearable so take some sunglasses. Minimise food and drink, in emergencies there's plenty of snow so don't cart too much water. Drinking too much will inevitable lead to vomit.
In the end the sense of achievement is worth the effort. Better to prepare well and plan to complete the climb than to give up and later wish you'd done it.
Think carefully about what to take, everything weighs a lot when you're on the way up. You must prepare for it to be cold at the top and snow blindness is unbearable so take some sunglasses. Minimise food and drink, in emergencies there's plenty of snow so don't cart too much water. Drinking too much will inevitable lead to vomit.
rev-erend said:
Always take a back pack with things for an emergency..
Extra food, drink and clothes (and a mobile) - you will probably never need then but ..
Also map and a compass.
+1Extra food, drink and clothes (and a mobile) - you will probably never need then but ..
Also map and a compass.
If you're going to attempt Ben Nevis, you must take it seriously. It's easy to underestimate how difficult conditions can be at/near the summit.
rhinochopig said:
tvrbob said:
Minimise food and drink, in emergencies there's plenty of snow so don't cart too much water. Drinking too much will inevitable lead to vomit.
No offence, but you're an idiot.Tactfully put.Your body works better with fuel and water, so generally it's better to take too much and be carrying a couple of spare mars bars at the end of the day. As far as eating snow goes, it's very inefficient and cools your core leading to increased energy use, cramps and hypothermia. It's also often yellow
The tourist track is a doddle, but very boring. If you have any experience of the hills and are properly kitted out, the best route is to Carn Mohr Dearg then you access the Ben across a very narrow Arete/ridge
Slip off there and its 2000ft before the sudden stop
Description of the route and more pis here http://bennevis.ms11.net/
If you get the weather the views are stunning
Or you can have a lazy option of going to Aonach Mohr take the Gondola up and look across to the Ben
http://www.visit-fortwilliam.co.uk/webcam/
Edit to suggest Glencoe as an alternative. Mind blowing hills and a cracking Bar.... the roads pretty cool as well but do watch for Scamera vans
Slip off there and its 2000ft before the sudden stop
Description of the route and more pis here http://bennevis.ms11.net/
If you get the weather the views are stunning
Or you can have a lazy option of going to Aonach Mohr take the Gondola up and look across to the Ben
http://www.visit-fortwilliam.co.uk/webcam/
Edit to suggest Glencoe as an alternative. Mind blowing hills and a cracking Bar.... the roads pretty cool as well but do watch for Scamera vans
Edited by Semi hemi on Monday 13th October 13:32
Mc Lovin said:
rhinochopig said:
tvrbob said:
Minimise food and drink, in emergencies there's plenty of snow so don't cart too much water. Drinking too much will inevitable lead to vomit.
No offence, but you're an idiot.Thats actualy scary!!
"Dad I'm hungry and thirsty"
"Shut up son, food and water will only make you sick and besides you eat 8 hours ago"
Edited by rhinochopig on Monday 13th October 13:36
Mc Lovin said:
rhinochopig said:
tvrbob said:
Minimise food and drink, in emergencies there's plenty of snow so don't cart too much water. Drinking too much will inevitable lead to vomit.
No offence, but you're an idiot.Thats actualy scary!!
tvrbob said:
Mc Lovin said:
rhinochopig said:
tvrbob said:
Minimise food and drink, in emergencies there's plenty of snow so don't cart too much water. Drinking too much will inevitable lead to vomit.
No offence, but you're an idiot.Thats actualy scary!!
tvrbob said:
Mc Lovin said:
rhinochopig said:
tvrbob said:
Minimise food and drink, in emergencies there's plenty of snow so don't cart too much water. Drinking too much will inevitable lead to vomit.
No offence, but you're an idiot.Thats actualy scary!!
ts who think it would be a nice bimble with their toddler who then proceed up wearing flip flops and carrying their lunch in an M+S bag. Grrr 
And it might be a tourist trail / motorway, but that's not going to help you in the low cloud when you miss one of the marker cairns and proceed to fall 3000ft off the north face because you didn't think you needed a map and wouldn't know how to use a compass.
Nevis is a proper mountain and the idiots built a big path up the middle of it to invite the idiots up. they should have just kept the hard routes round the back to act as a deterrance. Then only the people with some idea of what they're doing would be up there and keep the military search and rescue pilots better employed.
tvrbob said:
Mc Lovin said:
rhinochopig said:
tvrbob said:
Minimise food and drink, in emergencies there's plenty of snow so don't cart too much water. Drinking too much will inevitable lead to vomit.
No offence, but you're an idiot.Thats actualy scary!!
If you don't believe that Ben Nevis is a proper mountain and should be respected as such then you are a danger to yourself.
Rich (Member of a Mountain Rescue Team)
Edited by rhinochopig on Monday 13th October 14:22
only done it the once, three years ago as part of three peaks challenge, so no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but as a total tourist not raelly used to those walks anymore it is very hard, very cold, when clouds cover peak, as they did when I went up there, you really cannot see very far ahead of you. so echo everything said, well almost everything, wear/take plenty of thinish layers of clothing as the temperature, and yours, will change a lot over the course of the climb, youll go from hot and sweaty to bloody freezing in no time at all
we were lucky in that a, it was June and b it was part of an organised event, so plenty of people to follow and marshalls on the route to point out the right way, because I am not sure I would have found the top, even with map and compass, okay slight exageration, I was fortunate enough to have had a lot of training with maps and compasses in all sorts of conditions while in army, but even with that it was bloody hard, you need to treat Nevis with respect
Pace yourself carefully, it is worth reaching the summit when you get there, but remember you have the same distance to walk to get you back, sounds blatently obvious but surprising how many people dont really factor that in
On a seperate note, as part of the three peaks we finished at Snowden, which, as I am sure your aware, has a train which tourists can ride to the top. unfortunately it can also make people develop a false sense of security, as we were getting within 100 meteres of the peak, we saw a japanese couple walking down, the woman was wearing high heel shoes, and dressed for a stroll around town; we tried to tell her to go back up and get the train down, but they were not to be shifted from their stroll, the man said it should be easier as it was all down hill (still not sure if he was pulling our plonkers as we didnt see them on our way down. so hopefully they did come down by train (or at least gave up at the train stop midway up the mountain, cant remember how many stops there are between base and summit, 1 or 2)
we were lucky in that a, it was June and b it was part of an organised event, so plenty of people to follow and marshalls on the route to point out the right way, because I am not sure I would have found the top, even with map and compass, okay slight exageration, I was fortunate enough to have had a lot of training with maps and compasses in all sorts of conditions while in army, but even with that it was bloody hard, you need to treat Nevis with respect
Pace yourself carefully, it is worth reaching the summit when you get there, but remember you have the same distance to walk to get you back, sounds blatently obvious but surprising how many people dont really factor that in
On a seperate note, as part of the three peaks we finished at Snowden, which, as I am sure your aware, has a train which tourists can ride to the top. unfortunately it can also make people develop a false sense of security, as we were getting within 100 meteres of the peak, we saw a japanese couple walking down, the woman was wearing high heel shoes, and dressed for a stroll around town; we tried to tell her to go back up and get the train down, but they were not to be shifted from their stroll, the man said it should be easier as it was all down hill (still not sure if he was pulling our plonkers as we didnt see them on our way down. so hopefully they did come down by train (or at least gave up at the train stop midway up the mountain, cant remember how many stops there are between base and summit, 1 or 2)
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