Ben Nevis - The Most Beautiful Day
Ben Nevis, the highest point in the United Kingdom, a Munro that stands tallest of all 282 Munros and the pinnacle of the UK hiking scene. Jack and Matt took a long drive up there on Thursday 19th January 2023 aiming to arrive at the Achintee entrance to the Mountain track, ready to take on the slightly altered route up to the summit.
After an 8.5 hour drive up (and of course a brief stop at Gretna Green to get Irn Bru on the Scottish border), the boys finally were ready to start at 7.58am. They stepped foot onto the icy lower slopes of Glen Nevis, narrowly avoiding the atrociously slippery path that at times was more of a hazard than it was a help. Spikes would've been ideal at this point, but both Roberts boys decided to keep moving without stopping to add their grips.
It took 58 minutes to get to the quarter-way bridge under the path that hugs the side of the upper part of Glen Nevis, much longer than their average of 39 minutes and double the time of their 29-minute split on their record run of 3h 45m in 2022. A quick stop for pictures on the bridge and the mountains surrounding the south side of the mountain, it was back on. The ground conditions were certainly treacherous but the weather conditions were breathtaking. Pure blue skies, very little cloud to cover the sun as it was rising rapidly overhead! Just the little bits of Sirrus dotted around, making a very picturesque backdrop.
After scaling to the major switchback on the saddle with Lochan Meall an t-suidhe, the boys took off on a course hugging the gully under the middle-part waterfall. With no ground bearings available because the snow was deep, the boys had to use contouring and OS interpretation to navigate the slopes to the waterfall and they made it there after 2 hours, just short of their summit time on there record run. The mad thing was that they were just HALF WAY!
The track going on the upper slopes was completely hidden under knee-deep snow so at times the boys were trailblazing and other times they were finding tracks already trodden by hikers who had already passed through. They reached the end of the switchbacks and found the first cairn, to much relief, before a brief water break. It was time for the final summit push, on the plateau.
The summit plateau had waist-deep snow in some places and compact under-foot snow in others, finding a route through slowed the Roberts boys down a little more but as always, it was safety first! After some navigation and an interesting chance meeting with other adventurers and mountain leaders, the boys hit the summit after 4 hours 18 minutes, at precisely 12.16pm. They spent 30 minutes on the summit taking absolutely breathtaking pictures before making their descent.
The descent was alot of fun, taking as much opportunity to slide down on their backsides as they safely could, with videos of this surfacing on their instagram accounts! The boys made it down to the lower slopes within 45 minutes but then slowed right up from the bridge due to the conditions of the path. Freeze-thaw on slippy ice saw both of the lads slip over, Matt took a potentially nasty fall just 200m from the finish line and bent his arm back but luckily rode his luck and managed to come out without major injury.
The next one up is Lake District in early Feb!
After an 8.5 hour drive up (and of course a brief stop at Gretna Green to get Irn Bru on the Scottish border), the boys finally were ready to start at 7.58am. They stepped foot onto the icy lower slopes of Glen Nevis, narrowly avoiding the atrociously slippery path that at times was more of a hazard than it was a help. Spikes would've been ideal at this point, but both Roberts boys decided to keep moving without stopping to add their grips.
It took 58 minutes to get to the quarter-way bridge under the path that hugs the side of the upper part of Glen Nevis, much longer than their average of 39 minutes and double the time of their 29-minute split on their record run of 3h 45m in 2022. A quick stop for pictures on the bridge and the mountains surrounding the south side of the mountain, it was back on. The ground conditions were certainly treacherous but the weather conditions were breathtaking. Pure blue skies, very little cloud to cover the sun as it was rising rapidly overhead! Just the little bits of Sirrus dotted around, making a very picturesque backdrop.
After scaling to the major switchback on the saddle with Lochan Meall an t-suidhe, the boys took off on a course hugging the gully under the middle-part waterfall. With no ground bearings available because the snow was deep, the boys had to use contouring and OS interpretation to navigate the slopes to the waterfall and they made it there after 2 hours, just short of their summit time on there record run. The mad thing was that they were just HALF WAY!
The track going on the upper slopes was completely hidden under knee-deep snow so at times the boys were trailblazing and other times they were finding tracks already trodden by hikers who had already passed through. They reached the end of the switchbacks and found the first cairn, to much relief, before a brief water break. It was time for the final summit push, on the plateau.
The summit plateau had waist-deep snow in some places and compact under-foot snow in others, finding a route through slowed the Roberts boys down a little more but as always, it was safety first! After some navigation and an interesting chance meeting with other adventurers and mountain leaders, the boys hit the summit after 4 hours 18 minutes, at precisely 12.16pm. They spent 30 minutes on the summit taking absolutely breathtaking pictures before making their descent.
The descent was alot of fun, taking as much opportunity to slide down on their backsides as they safely could, with videos of this surfacing on their instagram accounts! The boys made it down to the lower slopes within 45 minutes but then slowed right up from the bridge due to the conditions of the path. Freeze-thaw on slippy ice saw both of the lads slip over, Matt took a potentially nasty fall just 200m from the finish line and bent his arm back but luckily rode his luck and managed to come out without major injury.
The next one up is Lake District in early Feb!