Ruminations from Glaswegia

Ben Nevis

A couple weeks ago, our professor took us on a weekend trip to Fort Williams, which is known around the world because it is at the base of Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the U.K. Unfortunately, Henry couldn’t come because he has class on Saturdays. But the rest of us woke up bright and early that Saturday and head out to Fort Williams, which is about 3 hours away from Glasgow.

It takes about 7 hours to climb the mountain, so there was no way we could do it before the sun went down after our train ride. Instead, we spent the rest of the day walking around Fort Williams (it isn’t very big) and ended up taking a cruise on Loch Linnhe, where we got to see salmon jumping out of the water and a couple of seals.

View of Ben Nevis from the lake

Loch Linnhe

After our lake cruise, we walked to our hostel (which was supposedly a youth hostel but was inhabited by no one under 40), where we settled in and hung out with the rest of our group. Joe and I went to bed before the rest of the group because we wanted to get up early (the girls decided not to climb the mountain). We woke up right after the sun rose, packed our bags, made some sandwiches, bought some water and granola bars and headed toward the mountain. This was the first mountain I had ever climbed, so I was relying on Joe’s boy scout knowledge to make sure we didn’t die up there. I had no idea what to expect. There were a bunch of signs illustrating all the things you would need to have to climb up the mountain (all of which Joe and I did not have). On the walk leading to the mountain, we saw the other hikers decked out in hiking boots, windbreaker pants, matching jackets, walking sticks and a whole bunch of other cool professional hiking gear. Joe and I had on jeans, a t-shirt and non hiking boots (Joe had vans and I had worn down timberlands). So needless to say, I was a bit worried about our preparedness. Add in the little caveat that more people have died climbing Ben Nevis than have died climbing Mount Everest and I was a little terrified. But, we hiked up our jeans, tied our shoes tight and started our ascent.

A lake that is about half way up Ben Nevis

View of the valley from Ben Nevis

I had no idea it would be as tough as it was. I mean, I figured it would be hard, but I wasn’t expecting the intense workout that I ended up getting. It amazed me how high up it really was. Every time we thought we had made it to the top, we realized we had about another 30 minutes left of hiking to do. When we found out what the record was for going up and down the mountain was, we were astounded. Someone made it to the top and back in an hour and 40 minutes. It took Joe and I 6 hours to do it and we were moving relatively fast while also making sure we didn’t slip off the edge and die. When you start to get up really high it gets a bit scary because the path is not very big and it’s very easy to slip. The temperature change is also pretty astounding. We went from drenching our clothes in sweat to having to put on every layer of clothing we had because it got so cold at the top. But the best thing about climbing it (aside from the grand feelings of accomplishment) was the view. At certain points, you could see all the way to ocean and got a great view of the valley and Fort Williams area. Of course, both Joe and I forgot our cameras but that’s nothing a little google image search can’t fix. Enjoy.