ᐅ Cima Nº 4 Ben Nevis (Escocia) | Top Summits of the World

SUMMITS

SUMMIT Nº 4: BEN NEVIS (SCOTLAND)

SCOTLAND

BEN NEVIS

30 /09 / 2018

ALTITUDE

1.345 m

OSCAR SOLSONA, LEILA VÏON AND ANDREU LÓPEZ

DIFFICULTY LEVEL

MEDIUM

CHRONICLE

The land of William Wallace calls us. Both Òscar and I had a certain predilection for this destination. Scotland is a land of castles, legendary creatures, rain, spectacular green landscapes derived from the previous ones, whiskey, driving on the left… all this and much more awaits us in this 5-day adventure that will have its Start in Edinburgh, the country’s capital.

From the airport we went by public transport to the neighborhood where we have the hotel and which is located very centrally. We will be traditional in our first meal and we will eat “fish and chips”… small “spoiler” British cuisine is not characterized to be one of the great world references.

After eating we choose different alternatives with Òscar. He will go to visit castles that people from Barcelona like him don’t see very much, but a touenc like me who grew up in the land of castles doesn’t have much need and prioritizes resting in the hotel for a while.

We meet in the middle of the afternoon and walk aimlessly so that the city surprises us. We are struck by the speed at which the Scots speak that stresses and makes understanding and communication a little difficult.

We find that Indian cuisine places abound and this is good news, especially for me, who loves spicy and spicy cuisine. Here everyone has to end up happy and we will end the day drinking beer in which Òscar finishes it and enjoys it to the fullest satisfaction and I am unable to lower the level of liquid in the jug by 25%.

The second day will be to fully enjoy the city and its most characteristic places such as the botanical garden, the wall, museums among others, as well as to expand the group since Leïla will join us for dinner. She is a French friend that I met when I was studying in Girona and who is studying an Erasmus in Scotland. She loves traveling, adventure, the mountains and she will accompany us for a couple of days of our trip and she is very motivated to climb Ben Nevis, which at 1,318 meters is the highest elevation in the country.

The second phase of the trip begins and on our third day we will need the support of a vehicle to move to Fort Williams, which is the closest place to Ben Nevis where we have the possibility of accommodation. We rented a car at the airport and that’s where the adventure begins and never better said because reprogramming the brain to drive on the left is and doing a roundabout is already a festival. It’s a little hard to get used to but we’re not doing it too badly… on our way to Fort Williams we make a technical stop at Falkirk Kelpies because we couldn’t set foot in Scotland and ignore the monument to the great local hero, William Wallace. We don’t stop too much since we still have a lot of km to cover and at the airport we have wasted 2/3 hours waiting for them to provide us with a vehicle.

The pre-arrival to Fort Williams is very beautiful and is that to get there we have to go through Glencoe and its majestic landscapes that shelter us on both sides of the road. We are not going to sleep late since tomorrow a complete program awaits us with a linear route of around 8 km (total 18 km round trip) and 1,300 meters of positive elevation gain and a “weather” that does not exactly look sunny.

We got up early and left from the car park located next to the “Ben Nevis Information Center” (45 meters) and which is approximately 5 km from Fort Williams. The route is surprising since a large part of the path is paved and with large scales, especially the first section, laid out in 1881 and known as the “Pony Route”. We are also surprised by the multitude of meteorological contrasts that occurred along the route in the form of cold, fog, rain, sun and on arrival at Ben Nevis, snow. The first of the season that makes the arrival at the summit more mystical.

We practically didn’t find anyone on the road and the fact is that for a summit of more than 1,300 meters, the weather conditions are quite harsh. Despite the lack of people on the route, we are in luck and at the top we find a person who immortalizes the moment for us. We take out the flag, we take it between the 3 of us and we raise our arms victoriously since it has not been easy to manage the climatic variations. We did not last long at the top since the intense wind multiplied the effect of the cold.

We take the descent differently and with the work done we adopt a more contemplative attitude. Even the day gives us a few moments of sun that result in a beautiful combination of rainbows together with the green landscape that is understood to be seeing the one that falls from the sky.

We said goodbye to Leila. She has to go back to Aberdeen to continue with the practices and we will have a couple more days, although we will dedicate them to discover the Isle of Skye.

It has been a great adventure. It is Òscar’s 1st Top Summit that he has enjoyed a lot and with whom I will continue to share many more in the future. On a personal level I am happy to have known Scotland and achieved my 4th Top Summit.