Ben Nevis
Britain's highest mountain once had a weather observatory, a summit hotel and a daily climber, and it inspired a Nobel Prize-winning invention.
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Quick Facts
- Location
- Near Fort William, in the Scottish Highlands
- Height
- 1,345 metres (4,413 feet), the highest point in the British Isles
- Origin
- The remains of a collapsed volcano, roughly 350 million years old
- First recorded ascent
- 1771, by the botanist James Robertson
- Summit observatory
- Opened 1883, closed 1904
- North Face
- A cliff wall of around 600 metres, one of Britain's great climbing arenas
- Race record
- Kenny Stuart's 1h 25m 34s, set in 1984 in the Ben Nevis Race
- Gaelic name
- Beinn Nibheis
The man who climbed it every day for the weather
In 1881 the meteorologist Clement Wragge set out to prove that a weather station on the summit was worth having. He climbed Ben Nevis daily through the summer, taking readings at the top and comparing them with a gauge at the bottom. Locals later nicknamed him "Inclement Wragge". His figures helped win the argument. In 1883 an observatory opened on the summit, linked to the valley by a path built for ponies carrying supplies. That route is now the standard way up, and is known as the Mountain Track. For twenty-one years observers lived on the top, recording the weather every hour, day and night, in all seasons. The observatory closed in 1904, when funding ran out. Its ruins are still on the summit.
A hotel in the clouds
The summit was busy in the late Victorian years. Visitors came up the pony track, and a small hotel operated alongside the observatory, serving walkers who had climbed to a view that was often completely absent. That is the catch with Ben Nevis. The top is in cloud for much of the year, and even when the valley is sunny the summit can be wrapped in mist. The same mountain that gave the observers their data also gave them some of the most miserable working conditions in Britain.
The cloud that led to a Nobel Prize
In 1894 the young Scottish physicist C.T.R. Wilson spent a short time at the observatory. He watched sunlight create coloured rings and glows in the mist around the summit and wanted to recreate the effect in the laboratory. Back in Cambridge, he built equipment to make artificial clouds. Out of that work came the cloud chamber, a device that lets scientists see the tracks of charged particles. It became a key tool in early particle physics, and Wilson shared the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics for it. So the next time the summit is lost in grey, remember that the same sort of weather helped change science.
Cliffs, gullies and a very rude name
The tourist path takes the gentle western side. The north side is a different mountain, with a huge cliff wall that has drawn climbers since the Victorian age. Tower Ridge is a famous classic route, and the Carn Mor Dearg Arete offers a dramatic scramble that connects to the summit. One gully carries the name Gardyloo, an old Edinburgh warning shouted before slops were thrown from windows. Observatory staff reportedly used the gully as a rubbish chute. The summit plateau sits right next to these drops. In poor visibility walkers have to navigate with care, using compass bearings to avoid walking off the edge. Snow can linger in the gullies well into summer.
Racing up it
Some people treat the mountain as a race course. An early race to the summit and back was run in 1895, and the Ben Nevis Race has been a fixture for decades, starting and finishing in Fort William. Kenny Stuart's 1984 record of 1h 25m 34s still stands as one of the great feats in hill running. Most walkers take far longer, and several hours up and a couple of hours down is normal. The path is a long, rocky climb that begins almost at sea level in Glen Nevis, so the whole height has to be earned.
What to look for when you go
The summit has the remains of the observatory, a shelter and several memorials. In clear weather the views can stretch across the Highlands and out to the western sea. In bad weather, you may see nothing beyond your boots. The name Beinn Nibheis is often translated as the venomous mountain or the cloud-capped one. Either description fits on a bad day. Take proper clothing, a map and compass, and a respect for how quickly the weather can change. The mountain is high enough to be Arctic even when the car park is mild.
Notable people
- Clement Wragge
- C.T.R. Wilson
- James Robertson
- Kenny Stuart
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