Ben Nevis – A Winter Ascent

This weekend saw a quick return to Fort William to introduce Philip from Holland to the delights of a Scottish winter mountain ascent. He decided to begin at the top and elected to make the mighty Ben his first conquest of a Scottish peak – and in winter! My Dutch was no match for Philip’s English (fortunately) and we only lost ourselves in translation once. Philip seemed unusually unimpressed when I told him that sea eagles could now be seen in Scotland. He thought I was talking about seagulls!

Sunshine in Glen Nevis

Following a milder – and wetter – week, the snow has receded up the mountain during the past week and the lower half of the mountain was clear. This enabled a relatively quick ascent to the Red Burn crossing and no real levels of snow were encountered until about 900m. The crampons came on soon after and the cloud came down to ensure a completely different atmosphere and ambience from the sun-lit glen below.

Approaching the Snowline

The summit arrived after 3¼hrs together with assorted climbers and walkers who were milling around as if waiting for the clearance that never quite came. A lone snow bunting provided added interest but it was not a place to linger long on this day. We headed down, breaking cloud half-way down the zig-zags and finished the day in warm sunshine and with maybe, just maybe, a slight hint of Spring in the air!!!

Spring is in the Air (Perhaps)!

Check out my future plans for this winter on: http://www.hillways.co.uk/winter/winter.htm