Ben Nevis ( ; , ) is the highest mountain in Scotland, the United Kingdom, and the British Isles. Ben Nevis stands at the western end of the Grampian Mountains in the Highland region of Lochaber, close to the town of Fort William.
The mountain is a popular destination, attracting an estimated 150,000 visitors a year, around three-quarters of whom use the Mountain Track from Glen Nevis. The mountain has hosted a foot race since 1898. The cliffs of the north face are among the highest in Scotland, providing classic scrambles and rock climbs of all difficulties for climbers and mountaineers. They are also the principal locations in Scotland for ice climbing. The cliffs of the north face can be viewed from the Charles Inglis Clark Memorial Hut, a private alpine hut.
The summit is above sea level and is the highest land in any direction for . The summit is a stony plateau (a felsenmeer). It features a number of monuments and the ruins of an observatory which was continuously staffed between 1883 and 1904. The meteorological data collected during this period is still important for understanding Scottish mountain weather. C. T. R. Wilson was inspired to invent the cloud chamber after a period spent working at the observatory.
The mountain gives its name to the Ben Nevis Distillery at its base, a packet ship, Ben Nevis mountain in Svalbard, a mountain more commonly known as Hung Fa Chai in Hong Kong, and the cartoon character Wee Ben Nevis.
Etymology The name comes from the Gaelic , meaning "mountain of the Nevis" (referring to the river that skirts the base of the mountain). The river's name is of unclear origin. William J. Watson derived it from Old Gaelic *Nemess, "venomous one", from ne(i)m, "venom". W. F. H. Nicolaisen, however, favoured a derivation from the Indo-European root *nebh-, which is connected with water and clouds, giving a meaning of "the moist one" or "the misty one".
As with many Scottish mountains, Ben Nevis is often referred to locally simply as "the Ben".
Geography Ben Nevis forms a massif with its neighbours to the northeast, , to which it is linked by the Arête, and . All four are Munros.
The western and southern flanks of Ben Nevis rise in about above the River Nevis flowing down Glen Nevis – the longest and steepest hill slope in Britain – with the result that the mountain presents an aspect of massive bulk on this side. To the north, by contrast, cliffs drop some to ().
In addition to the main summit, Ben Nevis has two subsidiary "tops" listed in Munro's Tables, both of which are called ("red hill"). The higher of these, at , is to the northwest, and is often mistaken for Ben Nevis itself in views from the Fort William area. The other () juts out into Glen Nevis on the mountain's southwestern side. A lower hill, (), is further west, forming a saddle with Ben Nevis which contains a small loch, . The tourist path from Glen Nevis skirts the side of this hill before ascending Ben Nevis's broad western flank.
Summit The summit of Ben Nevis comprises a large stony plateau of about . (Subscription required for full access.) The summit is an example of a felsenmeer, a surface covered by rocks that are not exposed by mass wasting. The highest point is marked with a large, solidly built cairn atop which sits an Ordnance Survey trig point. The summit is the highest ground in any direction for before the Scandinavian Mountains in western Norway are reached.
The Peace Memorial, on the summit, is a cairn which was erected on V-J Day, 15 August 1945, by the Young Men's Class of Vicar Street Methodist Church, Dudley, led by Bert Bissell, "to the glory of God and in memory of the fallen of all races". They carried the materials, including a 2cwt memorial stone, to the summit. The inscription declares it to be "Britain's highest war memorial". A second plaque was added in 1965, brought by helicopter: "A tribute to the fallen of all nations from the youth associated with the World Federation of United Nations Associations and the International Student Movement of the United Nations." It is variously known as the Ben Nevis War Memorial, Ben Nevis Peace Memorial, or The Fort William-Dudley Memorial and Peace Cairn Includes images and transcriptions of the plaques A 2006 proposal to move the cairn to the foot of the Ben, was opposed by people in both Fort William and Dudley.
The view from the UK's highest point is extensive. Under ideal conditions, it can extend to over , including such mountains as the Torridon Hills, Morven in Caithness, Lochnagar, Ben Lomond, Barra Head and to Knocklayd in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
In 2016, the height of Ben Nevis was officially remeasured to be 1344.527m by Ordnance Survey. The height of Ben Nevis will therefore be shown on new Ordnance Survey maps as instead of the now obsolete value of .
Climate
Ben Nevis has a highland tundra climate (ET in the Köppen classification). Ben Nevis's elevation, maritime location and topography frequently lead to cool and cloudy weather conditions, which can pose a danger to ill-equipped walkers. According to the observations carried out at the summit observatory from 1883 to 1904, fog was present on the summit for almost 80% of the time between November and January, and 55% of the time in May and June. The average winter temperature was around , and the mean monthly temperature for the year was . In an average year the summit sees 261 gales, and receives of rainfall, compared to only in nearby Fort William, in Inverness and in London. Rainfall on Ben Nevis is about twice as high in the winter as it is in the spring and summer. Snow can be found on the mountain for approximately 7 months out of the year.
Geology Ben Nevis is all that remains of a Devonian volcano that met a cataclysmic end in the Carboniferous period around 350 million years ago. Evidence near the summit shows light-coloured granite (which had cooled in subterranean chambers several kilometres beneath the surface) lies among dark basaltic lavas (that form only on the surface). The two lying side by side is evidence the huge volcano collapsed in on itself creating an explosion comparable to Thera (2nd millennium BC) or Krakatoa (1883). The mountain is now all that remains of the imploded inner dome of the volcano. Its form has been extensively shaped by glaciation.
Research has shown igneous rock from the Devonian period (around 400 million years ago) intrudes into the surrounding metamorphic schists; the intrusions take the form of a series of concentric ring dikes. The innermost of these, known as the Inner Granite, constitutes the southern bulk of the mountain above , and also the neighbouring ridge of ; forms part of the Outer Granite, which is redder in colour. The summit dome itself, together with the steep northern cliffs, is composed of andesite and basaltic lavas.
History
The first recorded ascent of Ben Nevis was made on 17 August 1771 by James Robertson, an Edinburgh botanist, who was in the region to collect botanical specimens. Another early ascent was in 1774 by John Williams, who provided the first account of the mountain's geological structure. John Keats climbed the mountain in 1818, comparing the ascent to "mounting ten St. Pauls without the convenience of a staircase". The following year William MacGillivray, who was later to become a distinguished naturalist, reached the summit only to find "fragments of earthen and glass ware, chicken bones, corks, and bits of paper". It was not until 1847 that Ben Nevis was confirmed by the Ordnance Survey as the highest mountain in Britain and Ireland, ahead of its rival Ben Macdui.
A meteorological observatory on the summit was first proposed by the Scottish Meteorological Society (SMS) in the late-1870s, at a time when similar observatories were being built around the world to study the weather at high altitude. In the summer of 1881, Clement Lindley Wragge climbed the mountain daily to make observations (earning him the nickname "Inclement Rag"), leading to the opening on 17 October 1883 of a permanent observatory run by the SMS. The building was staffed full-time until 1904, when it was closed due to inadequate funding. The twenty years worth of readings still provide the most comprehensive set of data on mountain weather in Great Britain.
In September 1894, C. T. R. Wilson was employed at the observatory for a couple of weeks as temporary relief for one of the permanent staff. During this period, he witnessed a Brocken spectre and glory, caused by the sun casting a shadow on a cloud below the observer. He subsequently tried to reproduce these phenomena in the laboratory, resulting in his invention of the cloud chamber, used to detect ionising radiation.
The ruins of the observatory can still be seen on the summit. An emergency shelter has been built on top of the observatory tower for the benefit of those caught out by bad weather.
The first path to the summit was built at the same time as the observatory and was designed to allow ponies to carry up supplies, with a maximum gradient of one in five. The opening of the path and the observatory made the ascent of the mountain increasingly popular, all the more so after the arrival of the West Highland Railway in Fort William in 1894. Around this time the first of several proposals was made for a rack railway to the summit, none of which came to fruition.
In 1911, an enterprising Ford dealer named Henry Alexander ascended the mountain in a Model T as a publicity stunt. The ascent took five days, and the descent just one day. Part of the descent can be seen on film that is available in the archives of the British Film Institute. A statue of Alexander and the car was unveiled in Fort William in 2018.
In 2000, the Ben Nevis Estate, comprising all of the south side of the mountain including the summit, was bought by the Scottish conservation charity the John Muir Trust.
On 17 May 2006, a piano that had been buried under one of the cairns on the peak was uncovered by the John Muir Trust, which owns much of the mountain. The piano is believed to have been carried up for charity by removal men from Dundee over 20 years earlier.
Outdoor recreation
Hiking and climbing
Ben Nevis is a popular hiking destination, with 150,000 people a year visiting the peak.
The 1883 Pony Track to the summit (also known as the Ben Path, the Mountain Path or the Tourist Route) remains the simplest and most popular route of ascent. It begins at Achintee on the east side of Glen Nevis about from Fort William town centre, at around above sea level. Bridges from the Visitor Centre and the youth hostel now allow access from the west side of Glen Nevis. The path climbs steeply to the saddle by Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe (colloquially known as the 'Halfway Lochan') at 570 m, then ascends the remaining up the stony west flank of Ben Nevis in a series of zig-zags.
A route popular with experienced hillwalkers starts at Torlundy, a few miles north-east of Fort William on the A82 road, and follows the path alongside the . It can also be reached from Glen Nevis by following the Pony Track as far as , then descending slightly to the Charles Inglis Clark Memorial Hut (known as the CIC Hut), a private mountain hut above sea level, owned by the Scottish Mountaineering Club The route then ascends and continues along the Arête ("CMD Arête") before climbing steeply to the summit of Ben Nevis. This route involves a total of of ascent and requires modest scrambling ability and a head for heights. In common with other approaches on this side of the mountain, it has the advantage of giving an extensive view of the cliffs of the north face, which are hidden from the Pony Track.