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Ben Nevis, normal route

Ben Nevis, normal route


Postby BertvdBeu » Wed Jul 07, 2010 7:11 pm

Route description: Ben Nevis by the Mountain Path

Munros included on this walk: Ben Nevis

Date walked: 14/06/2010

Time taken: 7 hours

Ascent: 1320m

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After completing the West Highland Way we planned our first day of rest on Sunday. And this was a good choice, because the weather on Sunday was very bad, starting drizzling and ending in rain in the afternoon.
But the next day Monday 14th of June it was a clear and blue sky. :D
Before setting off to Ben Nevis, we decided to take the mountain track. Our legs had already done the WHW and some Munro’s, so we preferred to do the more easy ascend.
Up early - about 7 AM, we took a good breakfast in the self-catering hostel of Achintee Farm.

At 8:30 AM we set off. We followed the ascending path from Ben Nevis Inn, the Achintee path. It was getting warmer and warmer and we felt no wind, not yet.
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Without taking a break we arrived at he Lake (about 580 m) where we stayed a short while tot eat. While the zig-zags, in the open rocky area are in front of us, we could see we just left the nicest part of the climb behind. And so it was. What an anti-climax. :(
In the zig-zag section with the stony path we stopped a few times, only just for a short while to look around and enjoy the stunning views on Fort William and the Highlands.
Our paces was moderate but steady. We felt our legs getting tired but without problems.
There was one big cloud hanging above the summit of Ben Nevis, but we were still walking in the sunshine. We felt the wind was increasing the higher we walked.

We reached the more flatter part just before the snowy slope (about 1250 m).
bew P1050876-border.jpg
The windshield, formed by the slopes of Ben Nevis was gone so here we had to put on an extra shirt with long sleeves.
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The scenery here was much more beautiful than the path behind us.
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Half a hour later we reached the summit after 3:30 hours walking.
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In the shadow and the open area the wind felt very cold, so we had to put on our windproof jackets.
We take some photos ...
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and after some time, we started to descent. Passing the snowy slope the wind was gone, so we could change clothes again.
In a moderate pace we walked down and were wondering about the great amount of people we saw coming up. Some were already tired out, still hoping to reach summit.
Tourists …. Exceptional kind of mountain walkers. :shock:

We stopped near the Lake to rest some time and than went on very relaxed. But our knees and our upper legs were sputtering. And it was warm.
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After 3: 30 hours we reached the Ben Nevis Inn
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were we took a pint of cool Lager :lol: to celebrate. On the terrace only enthusiastic people, some we saw at the summit, the way up or down. Everyone has his/her own story to tell. We like that atmosphere.
We had a nice talk to some people from Australia.
It felt good we have done this, ascend 1340 m without physical problems !
Ben Nevis, it was worth it, but as I already noticed, the tourist way up and down was a anti-climax because of the grater part of it has a poor path-scenery.
Total time 7 hours including breaks, taking photos.
We realised that this would be also the end of our holiday :( because the next day we would return to Glasgow by train and another day later we would be home.

Scotland: we enjoyed it very much !
Enough, to come back ….. once
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BertvdBeu
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Re: Ben Nevis, normal route

Postby Derek T » Wed Jul 07, 2010 7:20 pm

Thanks for the report. I will be doing this same route after walking the WHW and 5 other Munros in a couple of weeks time. I hope we are lucky enought to get the same weather that you did :D
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Derek T
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Re: Ben Nevis, normal route

Postby BertvdBeu » Wed Jul 07, 2010 9:32 pm

Derek T. wrote:Thanks for the report. I will be doing this same route after walking the WHW and 5 other Munros in a couple of weeks time. I hope we are lucky enought to get the same weather that you did :D


I'm looking forward to your report
Have a nice time.... walk on ...
Cheers Bert
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Re: Ben Nevis, normal route

Postby Graeme D » Wed Jul 07, 2010 10:29 pm

Well done Bert. Really like the photos in this report. When I finished the WHW back in 1997 the last thing I had on my mind was doing the Ben. It was a case of straight to the nearest pub followed by a curry. :lol: Still not done Nevis actually - maybe I'll save it for number 100 later on this year.
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Re: Ben Nevis, normal route

Postby mountain coward » Thu Jul 08, 2010 8:45 am

That second photo is especially good - but it's great to see the others of the summit plateau as, despite having done it, I've never seen it as it's normally in cloud. That snowfield must be permanent by now - I'm sure it's the one I slid down on my bum :lol: I also tried to snowball Richard with it but it was rock solid, even in June!
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Re: Ben Nevis, normal route

Postby BertvdBeu » Fri Jul 09, 2010 5:03 pm

Graeme Dewar wrote:Well done Bert. Really like the photos in this report. When I finished the WHW back in 1997 the last thing I had on my mind was doing the Ben. It was a case of straight to the nearest pub followed by a curry. :lol: Still not done Nevis actually - maybe I'll save it for number 100 later on this year.


Thanks, but i did the WHW together with my wife so i'am vvery proud because she walked on the whole WHW-route and up to several summits.
The end of the WHW is an anti-climax, no pub, no nothing, just a store where you can by a WHW-T-shirt :shock: .
To celebrate we went back to the Ben Nevis Inn (another 2 mile) and took a cool Tennant and an ale. 8)

I hope you will succeed to go to summit Ben Nevis on a clear day!

Cheers Bert & Lucie
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BertvdBeu
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