Life of Wry

We got a text this morning saying, “We made it!”

Thrilled for them. Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in Scotland, Great Britain and the British Isles. It’s 4413′. Here’s where it is.. right about where Fort William is.

More info about the mountain is below.

Here are the pictures they sent:

The summit is a huge rocky plateau with a number of structures, a war memorial and a former observatory. Looks socked in!

I’m not seeing a clear trail in the spot where Peter is here, but I believe there is a common route to the top, used by 3/4s of the folks who climb Ben Nevis. There is also an annual road race to the summit. (Says Wikipedia.)

Looks like the weather cleared for a nice view!

Jim and I drove through this highland range (the Grampian Mountains) in May of 2019 when we spent two weeks in England and Scotland (11 days in Scotland and 3 days in Canterbury for Rob and Charlotte’s wedding). I’m not sure we saw Ben Nevis per se — could’ve been hiding behind mountains — but we definitely looked at that Grampian range! Gorgeous. Here are two photos I took back in 2019.. Ben Nevis must be somewhere in there!

Anyway… this is from Wikipedia:

Ben Nevis (/ˈnɛvɪs/ NEV-iss; Scottish Gaelic: Beinn Nibheis, Scottish Gaelic pronunciation: [pe(ɲ) ˈɲivɪʃ]) 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,^[4] around three-quarters of whom use the Mountain Track from Glen Nevis.^[5] The mountain has hosted a foot race since 1898. The 700-metre (2,300 ft) 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 1,345 metres (4,413 ft)^[1] above sea level and is the highest land in any direction for 739 kilometres (459 miles).^[6][a] 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.