So a couple weekends back I decided to attempt climbing Ben Nevis (tallest mountain in Britain) with a buddy of mine. The elevation is around 4400ft. The day that we decided to go the forecast was predicted to be 60-70mph winds with whiteout conditions in the early morning and clearing up in the late morning. We left Edinburgh around 5am and headed up to Fort William (where Ben Nevis is located). Once there, we prepped ourselves for the climb. I basically wore my ski clothes and had also brought my goggles as I wasn't sure if it was going to be snowing or not, and with the wind the way it was predicted I decided to bring my goggles. We began the ascent with no problems (my knees were doing great this time around). At around 400 meters up we ran into the typical Scottish rain, which was no good if the temperature was going to drop at the top. Not a good combination of being wet and then walking into freezing temperatures. The rain stopped at about 600 meters up and it started turning into ice/snow/slush coming down. The trail was maintained quite well and we walked by several groups of people. As we increased in altitude, breathing became more and more difficult and the trail began to collect snow. Further on, we encountered snow covered trail and ice as well. At about 900 meters up, the trail was all snow and the wind really began to kick in. I would say at this point the wind was about 45-50mph. We kept on pushing and eventually the trail disappeared and we decided to head up and make our own trail and follow the compass. As we did, the conditions progressively deteriorated and the white out conditions began. I would say that we were about 1100 meters up and the wind was about 60-65mph now. I was getting blown over and losing my balance constantly. The wind hurt my face as it was blowing snow so hard that it felt like a sand blaster was abrading my face. We finally reached a cairn that was about 4 feet tall. For those of you who don't know what a cairn is, it is a pile of rocks used to mark a trail. We knew we were in the right spot for the trail at that point. However, the wind was persistent and the visibility seemed to be getting worse so we made the decision to turn around.
We were unable to pick up our tracks from the original route so we had to head west and intersect our trail somehow. The entire descent we were battered with strong winds and had to maneuver around icy rocks and loose snow. There was enough snow, however, that we were able to slide down on our rear ends. The snow slopes were quite long as well. I would say that on average, we would slide down about 50 yards at a time! Which definitely makes descending easier and much more fun! We reached a point where we had to walk alongside a waterfall (or on top of it at some points where it was partially frozen). At one point, I was sliding down alongside the waterfall and when I went to push my hand up, it sunk down through the snow right into the small frigid stream below. We finally made it down to the main trail and I was so happy to have reached firm ground that wasn't icy or rocky! After an hour of descending via the main trail we arrived at the car park and were soaking wet! We changed and went into the pub that was near the car park. After we enjoyed a nice pint of lager we headed back to Edinburgh. That is our story and here are the photos of the climb.
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