Climb Ben Nevis in a day
You start talking somewhere around the halfway lochan and stop within the hour, saving breath for the switchbacks. That's the pattern on the Mountain Track: chat gives way to just walking, one foot after another for most of seven hours, sometimes longer. The weather does what it wants regardless of the calm blue sky at the car park - wind, then sleet, in the middle of July. At 1,345 metres, the highest point in the British Isles, there's a trig point wearing decades of other people's stickers and hugs, and Fort William sitting small and precise below the cloud line, like a town seen from an aeroplane.
Practical
- Cost
- Free–$50 (parking, gear)
- Best time
- Late spring to early autumn, when snow and ice are less likely
- Difficulty
- Hard
- Time it takes
- 7–9 hours for the 17km round trip
- What people get wrong
- People check the forecast for Fort William, not the summit, and start in trainers and a t-shirt; the top can be 15 degrees colder, windy, and in cloud even on a sunny day below. Starting after late morning is the other common error, leaving too little daylight for the descent.
- With
- One other person