Climbing Ben Nevis for Charity!
A thought I think that has crossed every Scot’s mind at one point or another, is to climb Ben Nevis. There’s something about being at the very top of the British Isles with nothing above you that’s almost empowering and worthy of a challenge. So, in my 40th year I decided it’s either now or never to conquer this peak, and why not do a good thing and raise some funds for Macmillan Cancer Support at the same time? To do this successfully I used the social reach of my work and managed to recruit a few volunteers along the way. Although this would only be my second Munro, I’d hoped that my training up Ben Ledi and Sgor Gaoith would be enough to see me through. However, even although I thought that by booking a date in August we’d be in with a chance of good weather, I didn’t expect it to be -6°C on the summit!
The Setup
At 5am on a very chilly Saturday morning, our team set-off from Purdie HQ bound for Glen Nevis. Our route to the top of Ben Nevis would be the traditional Pony Track, also known as the Tourist Trail: a 10 mile route up and down, via a path made from large boulders, forming steps at various points along the way. We were all warned that not only would this be a hard slog, but we’d need to be extra careful the higher up we went. The weather forecast looked ominously bleak, and the mountain summit forecast predicted 60mph winds and -6°C at the top come midday! After a swift trip up, we gathered in the car park of the Ben Nevis Visitor Centre, and got ready for an adventure that would see only 7 hikers return back to the visitor centre.
The Team
On this expedition we had veteran Mighty Hiker Peter Sneddon from Purdie Property Maintenance, who managed to convince his wife, Lee-Ann, that it would be a great idea. Oh how wrong he was!
Fresh from the removal trucks we had Stewart Bell, sporting a Celtic Tartan kilt combined with every green item of clothing he could find in his wardrobe. Simon, the last of the Infamous Cooper brothers to summit Ben Nevis, and proud all-year-round short wearer, joined us too. Then we had Jimmy Dunlop. Not much was known about Jimmy, as he’d only been working with us for a short period of time, but rumour has it he’s the son of old Saint Nick!
From the office we had myself (Mark) and General Manager Robert Cooper. Robert was one of only two members of the team to have climbed Ben Nevis before, having done so in his early 20s when he was a tad fitter and less curvy…
We were also accompanied by veteran football coach, Graeme Miller from our local and sponsored club, Blackburn United. A keen fitness fan, Graeme had never climbed a Munro before, so what better one to start off than Ben Nevis! Lastly, but by no means least, was the Sherpa of the group, Matthew Prince from A.M. Phillip Trucktech. Matt had been training me over the past few months, out doing dog walks and taking me up Ben Ledi. He was keen and volunteered to be our guide on his second ascent of Nevis. As you’ll soon find out, we couldn’t have done it without him!
The Ascent
Before we knew it, we were off over the bridge, and marching towards the summit. The weather had been particularly wet over the past week, leaving the path rather damp, with the rocks proving to be very slippy to say the least.
I had stupidly decided to wear shorts that day, more to promote the new work-branded shorts, but I wish I’d packed trousers. I also wish I hadn’t taken my massive Highlander Forces rucksack. It was too big and cumbersome and I couldn’t quite get the drinking straw to come down over my shoulder. I ended up giving up with it about a mile in as I didn’t want to stop sort it and then be left behind. A new piece of equipment I brought with me was a matching pair of walking poles, fresh from Amazon. They looked the part, but about two miles in I took a bit of a slip and put all my weight onto one of the poles. It decided it didn’t like my 100kg frame on top of it and duly crumpled and bent sending me down and forward. I tried to regain my balance, but over corrected with the weight of the pack on my back took a misstep and fell backwards down one step. I tried to stop myself from falling further and was at that point of losing balance with one leg in the air when Graeme grabbed my chest strap and pulled me back and away from the edge.
I’ll be honest, my confidence took a knock. After brushing myself down and denying any calls to stop for a moment I just ignored the pain and carried on, albeit at a slower and more careful pace.
One thing that struck us all when climbing Ben Nevis, was how busy it was! Even with the poor weather, you were never more than a few feet away from another walker. It is the UK’s highest mountain, but it did feel like a tourist trail at times, with some walkers not exactly dressed for climbing a mountain! I remember seeing boyfriends and girlfriends out in flat shoes as if they were out for a stroll, not to climb a mountain!
By the time we had reached the half-way loch, where it flattens out a bit, we had split into three groups. Up front we had Matt, Simon, Graeme, Jimmy and Stu, I was in the middle on my own sitting at my own steady pace, and Robert brought up the rear with Peter and Lee-Ann.
Unfortunately, as I passed the waterfall, the cloud came in and reduced my vision to about 10 metres. It was very eerie, not being able to see where you were heading, let alone where you had been. The temperature had dropped to almost freezing, and without gloves there was no desire to pull out the phone and check how far there was to go. So, I plodded on.
For me, it was a pretty lonely climb. Although there were plenty of people on the trail, we didn’t speak much – very odd for a Munro. It felt like there were ghosts coming and going as people disappeared in and out of the cloud. As the zig-zags started, I put my headphones in and listened to an episode of the Blindboy podcast.
About half way through I felt my energy beginning to deplete. I hadn’t had any breakfast or anything to drink, and I was more than halfway up Ben Nevis, in the cloud and on my own. I couldn’t catch the group ahead, so thought it best to find some kind of shelter and grab something to eat and get my energy back. A convenient, large boulder provided adequate protection from the wind, where I tucked into my ham sandwiches, an energy gel and some chocolate, and downed my spare bottle of Lucozade. It tasted good and was a welcome boost. Rejuvenated, I picked up the pace and within 20 minutes I came across Stu! He was hard to miss in his kilt, and although my head was down I instantly knew it was him. He had been struggling with his old Timberland boots that looked like they had seen better days, and had dropped back from the main group. At last, some company and someone to keep me motivated!
The Summit
After three hours of climbing, the first group managed to reach the summit. However, the weather on top was horrifically bad. The temperature was down to -6°C, and we were getting battered by rain and 60mph winds.
For myself and Stu the last mile seemed to go on forever. We thought it wouldn’t be far after the zig-zags, but with very poor visibility and a reluctance to take out my phone and freeze my fingers to look at the GPS, I couldn’t tell how far we had to go. Boulder after boulder stood in our way, with only faint cairns in the distance guiding us towards the summit. We really had to pay particular attention when navigating this last section. Little did we know, the clouds were obscuring the 1,000ft drop either side of the path, and at times we were closer to the edge than we would’ve liked!
After about the 50th photograph of Stewart in his kilt with passerby’s, Stu and I finally summited, meeting the first group who had been struggling to find any kind of shelter from the weather for about 20 minutes.
After touching the cairn, we shared a little dram with one another to toast our achievements, before the first group began their descent. We remained at the top for as long as we could, waiting on Robert, Peter and Lee-Ann. However, after 30 minutes of waiting, the weather got even worse.
Without gloves, my hands were numb and freezing: my lips were so cold and numb I even struggled to form sentences! So, the decision was made to start heading back down in the hope we’d pass the last group on their way to the summit.
About half a mile down from the summit, we ran into Robert on his way up. He explained that Lee-Ann had hurt her knee further down, and wasn’t sure if she’d make it. By this time the weather had got even worse and we couldn’t fathom returning to the summit; we wanted to get down and out of the clouds as quickly as possible. A huge kudos to Lee-Ann who was full of grit and determination as we passed her on her final summit push about one mile from the target.
Fortunately, Lee-Ann met up with Robert and Peter on the summit where they proudly displayed the Macmillan banner and took shelter in the old observatory for a well-earned mini lunch break!
About two miles from the top, whilst still in cloud, we could hear the drone of a helicopter getting closer and closer. It was a very disconcerting feeling knowing that there was a helicopter flying very close by, but not being able to see it! Just before the waterfall, we discovered why the helicopter was in the area. An older gentleman had taken a fall on his way back down the mountain and was rather badly injured. There was no way the helicopter could get close, so until they could arrive by foot, Matt had wrapped the casualty in a foil blanket and ensured he had enough food and water. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the first casualty that required Mountain Rescue; in total there were five call-outs that day – the busiest day in August on record for the Mountain Rescue team! Not sure we could’ve picked a worse “summer’s” day for it!
The Descent
The first group absolutely smashed the descent in under two hours. Myself and Stu took slightly longer at two and half hours, and in our opinion the route down was just as hard as the route up. Due to the wet and slippy rocks, we really had to pay attention to every single step we took. It wasn’t just as simple as walking down stairs, with some rocks bigger than others, more slippy and sometimes even loose! You couldn’t take it slowly either. You had to go with the downward momentum, or else the pain through your knees if you tried to slow yourself down was terrible!
Six hours and 10 minutes after they left the Visitor Centre, we met up with the first group just outside the Ben Nevis Inn, where a few pints had been swallowed in celebration. However, these celebrations would be a little short lived.
Robert arrived back alone about 30 minutes later. He informed us that Lee-Ann was really struggling with her knee, and coming down each step was agony for her. It was at this point when our fearless Sherpa Matt, sprung into action. I don’t think any of us had any energy reserves left to go back up, but Matt didn’t care. He grabbed supplies from everyone, filled his bag back up, and set off up the hill to rescue Lee-Ann.
The Rescue
Fortunately, we were smart enough to install tracking software called Life360 onto our phones before we set off. This gave us a real time GPS position of everyone, so it was relatively easy to locate Peter and Lee-Ann. Unfortunately, they were only half way down and progressing at a very slow pace.
It was touch and go for a while, and we debated in our minds whether we’d need to call on Mountain Rescue or not. However, Matt had a cunning plan! He would go back up and take Peter and Lee-Ann down the old path to the youth hostel. This would reduce the distance they had to travel by almost two miles. So, we all got on-board the mini-bus and headed towards the youth hostel further down into Glen Nevis.
About 30 minutes later we could spot two figures supporting a single person slowly down the path. To say we were relieved we would be an understatement. After about an hour we were all finally reunited at the youth hostel, complete with swollen knees and very tired legs. Had we known how bad the weather was going to be, I’m not sure any one of us would have chosen to go up Ben Nevis that day. We saw countless people heading up the mountain completely underprepared! Some were in jeans and a t-shirt, and some even had crocs on! So, although we’re incredibly glad we managed to conquer Ben Nevis, I’m not so sure any of us will be up Ben Nevis via that route any time soon. Unfortunately, the whole place seemed more like a tourist trap than an epic adventure in the Scottish Highlands. A huge thanks to the volunteers from Mountain Rescue, – without them goodness knows how many more casualties there would have been.
I learned many lessons that day, but none more so than to never be underprepared again. Things can change in an instant up in the mountains, and I never want to get caught out again. I needed to get gloves, a better bag and a more waterproof jacket. My Aldi special became totally soaked through after going through the clouds. I was happy that I brought a change of clothes with me, which I had left in the minibus. I felt a million times better after getting changed, and decided that from now on I’m always bringing a spare change of clothes in the car for any hike, as you never know what can happen up the side of a mountain!
Footnote! – In case you were wondering, we raised over £5000 for Macmillan Cancer Support!
