Please could I have some Ben Nevis walk schedule advice?

[sheppy26]

Hello everyone,

I am hoping that you guys could help me with some advice. I am travelling with a friend up to Fort William next Thursday night on the Caledonian sleeper getting to FW at 09.55 on Friday morning. Another friend who lives in Edinburgh is looking at getting on the same train at 04.50 Friday morning. Will this arrival time in the morning be too late to try and get up and down Ben Nevis before it gets dark? We are staying near the station and was hoping to nip in the morrisons for some last minute supplies, so was hoping to be leaving FW by say 11am? The other alternative is to go up on the Saturday, but we need to be on the 15.43 bus to Inverness so would need to make sure we left early. We are not very experienced walkers so would prefer to not be out in the dark, although I am assuming that it would be better to start before sun rise, rather than trying to get back before sunset?

Does anyone have any advice they could share?

Thanks in advance!

Sheppy

[basscadet]

Hello everyone,

I am hoping that you guys could help me with some advice. I am travelling with a friend up to Fort William next Thursday night on the Caledonian sleeper getting to FW at 09.55 on Friday morning. Another friend who lives in Edinburgh is looking at getting on the same train at 04.50 Friday morning. Will this arrival time in the morning be too late to try and get up and down Ben Nevis before it gets dark? We are staying near the station and was hoping to nip in the morrisons for some last minute supplies, so was hoping to be leaving FW by say 11am? The other alternative is to go up on the Saturday, but we need to be on the 15.43 bus to Inverness so would need to make sure we left early. We are not very experienced walkers so would prefer to not be out in the dark, although I am assuming that it would be better to start before sun rise, rather than trying to get back before sunset?

Does anyone have any advice they could share?

Thanks in advance!

Sheppy

Well fitness levels play a large part - some would take 5 hours, some would take 8 or more! although I would say you probably have time.. Of course if you left from the Youth Hostel instead of Morrisons, then that would increase your chances somewhat - I'm sure there are taxi's in Fort Bill..
I wouldn't worry too much about the dark anyway, as long as you are back to the loch by the time dusk sets in you will be OK, the path is too big to lose from there down, but I would definitely put a torch on the kit list..

[sheppy26]

Thanks! The taxi to the Youth hostel sounds a good idea!

[Sgurr]

From your hill logger it would seem that you are fairly inexperienced walkers. The Ben is a big brute of a hill. To be safe remember that if you haven't done much downhill your leg muscles may find it as tiring going down as up. Work out how much light you have got and start downhill when you are half way through your time allowance. Easier said than done, since there will always be people who will think they are encouraging you by saying "Nearly there!" If you have a smart phone & it has a GPS function you can always check with a map to see if they are right.

"The mountains will always be there, the trick is to make sure you are too."

[sheppy26]

From your hill logger it would seem that you are fairly inexperienced walkers. The Ben is a big brute of a hill. To be safe remember that if you haven't done much downhill your leg muscles may find it as tiring going down as up. Work out how much light you have got and start downhill when you are half way through your time allowance. Easier said than done, since there will always be people who will think they are encouraging you by saying "Nearly there!" If you have a smart phone & it has a GPS function you can always check with a map to see if they are right.

"The mountains will always be there, the trick is to make sure you are too."

Yes, I am a newbie so any advice is gratefully received. I know it is going to be a struggle and I was thinking the same about the downhill being tiring - the limited walking I have done has been felt by my knees! I'm encouraged by the comment about the path back being wide enough to follow in twilight, and will have torches / head torches on us.

The smart phone will be charged and I will be trying to download the OS map later! (I do have a real map as well, in case you were wondering!)

[jmarkb]

It will be dark around 7.30pm, so you'll have about 8.5 hours, which is a bit on the tight side if you're not used to that amount of ascent and descent. Make sure you have a torch each and spare batteries. Don't be afraid to bin it (or not even start) if the weather is poor: it's worth doing when you're actually going to see something from the top. Your chances of this are less than 50%: it might be useful to manage your friends' expectations in advance.

[KatTai]

I'd get supplies the day before rather than at Morrisons on the day, that way you can head straight to the youth hostel and increase the time you have before dark. That should give you around 9 hours before dark if you go straight there so it will be less of a rush. If you are having to rush, you may not enjoy it so much.

I did Ben Nevis last year and it took me 8 1/2 hours. If it helps to be more specific, it took me 2 hours and 10 minutes to reach the halfway lochan (which isn't actually halfway up), 4 1/2 hours to reach the summit and just under 4 hours to get back down to the car, though I was hurried along a bit by my dog on the descent after the halfway lochan as there was thunder approaching.

[Sgurr]

You've probably googled Ben Nevis and read these FAQs, but in case you haven't here they are

http://ben-nevis.com/faq/faq.php

I don't imagine you are planning pushing a piano up, as it will take a wee bit longer.

[Andy J]

Friday looks like your best bet.

Sunrise in Fort William right now is about 7am, and sunset is about 7.30pm. Getting up and down the Ben on Saturday and then back to FW for your bus would be a stretch unless you started in the dark - and as inexperienced walkers I would recommend against that. There may also be a temptation to rush the descent: many accidents happen during descents at the end of the day when people are tired. So I'd tend to exclude Saturday.

If you arrive at 9:55 on Friday and your friend is already there then you should be able to nip into Morrisons and be on the bus/taxi to Glen Nevis by say 10:30 to arrive at the YHA about ten minutes later. That gives you about eight hours to get up and down, with no hard deadline at the end of the day.

(There are lockers and showers at the train station, and the bus station is adjacent.)

Since you said you're inexperienced:
* Bear in mind that eight hours may still not be enough - it depends on your level of fitness. Remember that when you get to the top you're only half way, and be prepared to turn back. The mountain will still be there next time.
* Don't let its proximity to FW deceive you: Ben Nevis is a serious mountain and the weather can be nasty at any time of the year. In particular, navigating back back across the plateau from the summit to the correct descent path can be tricky in poor visibility and requires map/compass skills. See http://www.mcofs.org.uk/ben-nevis-navigation.asp for info.

I hope you have a great walk!

[TheCoosTail]

My wife climbed it with me last month, her 1st hill of any note, in what were horrible conditions, gales, rain & 30-40m visibility (much less further up & on the summit). She did it in 7hours 15 mins (from Visitor Centre Car Park) & her fitness I'd describe as average. We stopped when she needed to (fairly often) for a minute or so, only stayed at the summit for 5 minutes & headed back down. This was when she found it hardest, in fact if I hadn't bought her walking poles the day before she doesn't think she could have done it at all, that and the fact she was with me and knew that I'm experienced enough to go up in conditions such as we had.

As for food etc. a sandwich (each), peanuts, flapjack, chocolate ,bag of Jelly Babies & 2-3litres of water was enough for us. You could get all that before the day?

Anyway, hope this gives you some idea of an inexperienced walkers day on The Ben.

[tidge58]

Make sure you check the weather before you go, MWIS would be a good bet. Don't be drawn into the 'I'm here so I'll do it routine' if the weather says it will be raining, sleet, snow thunder up there it's a good bet it will be approaching that. The mountain will be there another day make sure you are too.

[sheppy26]

Thank you everyone for your help! Some very good advice that we will be taking on board. Although it will be a disappointment if we don't manage to make it on the day, you guys are right that we shouldn't risk it if a number of factors look dodgy. Although it is a long way to go from Bristol, I would still rather go up another time if this time doesn't work out - as you say the Mountain isn't going anywhere and will still be there. It would be a good feeling though especially as this would be my first munro, so fingers crossed that it works out.

I have a couple of other trips up to Scotland planned - Ive booked up on a one day winter skills course in Feb which I am looking forward to, and a weekend at the end of March with a pal to the inverness area, so I think I will start to be quite familiar with the Caledonian Sleeper!

Thanks again, everyone, for the really useful tips and links!

Kind regards

Sheppy

[sking40]

Good luck with your walk, the Ben is not really difficult but the weather and wind/snow conditions are the main things that can go very bad up there. I turned back because of that the first time I went up there.

As it happens I'm also from Bristol and getting the Sleeper from London to Corrour but the night before you are (on the Wednesday) to do a few days in the Central Highlands. This is the first time I'll have got the Sleeper train on a walking trip so will be interesting to see how it goes. Before now I've always got the evening Megabus to Birmingham and then a middle of the night change to the Glasgow bus. Hopefully the train will be more pleasant than that, but it still involves the hassle of getting from Bristol to somewhere in the wrong direction first, albeit at more sensible time in the evening....

Simon.

[sheppy26]

Good luck with your walk, the Ben is not really difficult but the weather and wind/snow conditions are the main things that can go very bad up there. I turned back because of that the first time I went up there.

As it happens I'm also from Bristol and getting the Sleeper from London to Corrour but the night before you are (on the Wednesday) to do a few days in the Central Highlands. This is the first time I'll have got the Sleeper train on a walking trip so will be interesting to see how it goes. Before now I've always got the evening Megabus to Birmingham and then a middle of the night change to the Glasgow bus. Hopefully the train will be more pleasant than that, but it still involves the hassle of getting from Bristol to somewhere in the wrong direction first, albeit at more sensible time in the evening....

Simon.

We have chosen the train because we can hopefully have a pleasant couple of hours in the lounge car and something to eat before a few hours sleep and straight to Fort william was also a plus side. Other future trips are going to be a mix of train or flying or driving, depending on the location and duration. Hope you have a good experience on the train!

[AJNicholls]

Wow, there's more people from Bristol on WalkHighlands than I realised. This is going to become the de-facto Bristol meet-up thread!