Ben Nevis
Distance: 17.8km (11.05 Miles)
Ascent: 1461m (4794ft)
Duration: 4 Hours 25 Minutes
Another couple of days off work and a 5 hour drive north to Fort William. The main reason I came here was to do the indoor ice climbing at Kinlochleven nearby but also thought I'd might as well climb something while I'm here!
The day before Ben Nevis I visited the lovely valley called Glenfinnan. The first few photos are from this visit.
The Loch and Monument from the view point.
The path leading straight to the monument.
Down at the shore of the Loch.
Now on with the walk up Ben Nevis...
Early morning over the River Nevis just by the visitor centre.
The stunning Glen Nevis looking very similar to when I was here two months ago - just without the snow-capped peaks.
Bidhein Bad na h-lolaire... How the hell do you pronounce that! The woodlands on the lower slopes is called Nevis Forest.
Glen Nevis.
40 Minutes in and I’m starting to head round towards the loch high up on the slopes of Ben Nevis.
Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe... Which I will now refer to as 'The Loch'
The huge scar of a footpath up the lower slopes. So far (and all the way to the top) I managed to overtake everyone I saw, but I suppose most people were not regular hillwalkers.
Getting higher up now - just hope its cloud free at the top!!
The range of mountains walling in Glen Nevis. The pointed one to the left is called Stob Ban.
A view down to the start of the walk and Fort William (over to the left).
The last 100m or so of ascent and I’m in the cloud! Nevermind! Last time I was here more than makes up for it and I had lovely views on the way up! Nice big patch of snow right across the path.
Couldn't help m'self!
Cornice along the top of the 700m tall crags.
Well this is all new! Or should I say pretty old... The snow was so deep two months back that all this was totally covered! I had no idea it was even here! By the way its the ruins of the Observatory.
The platform (again I didn’t know it was this high) with the Trig column on top. The snow was about 3 metres deep only 8 weeks ago...
he ruins of the Observatory from the very to of Ben Nevis. The only other person at the top of waiting over in the ruins for the cloud to clear.
On a small note I managed to get to the top in 2 Hours 18 Minutes!
Coming out of the cloud on the descent. That’s Carn Dearg (1221m) to the right.
Down only 150m from the top and its bright and sunny again. This was a perfect example of how conditions are totally different from one place to the next. Here it was hot and calm, at the top it was windy with a minus 5 windchill...
Never forget that once you at the top you're only half way along the walk! Its a long way back down to the car!
I took this photo hoping you could see the amount of people now heading up. I could have easily passed more than 500 people on my descent, and most of them looked pretty exhausted before they even reached the loch about 1/3rd the way up!
