The hidden perils that make Ben Nevis so dangerous – by an ex-Royal Marine explorer

This week rescuers blasted “a bunch of idiots” wearing trainers who had to be saved from the UK’s highest mountain in a blizzard. Why is this sort of thing so common?

Passing through Fort William in Scotland, it is possible from the road to look up at the impressive bulk of Britain’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis.

Though it stands out above the trees and the lower hills that surround it, the ‘Ben’, as it is colloquially known, actually doesn’t appear that high, nor that difficult to climb.

Sadly, it is this deception that makes the Ben one of the most formidable mountains not just in the UK, but anywhere in the world.

One of the most important aspects of any mountain ascent is never to underestimate the peak you are going to climb. However, at 1,345m (4409ft) high, the Ben is a relatively modest mountain in terms of height - it is no Everest, for example, which towers above the world at 8,848m (29,029ft) - and there is a well-built path that leads from its base to the summit; how hard can it be?

Well, the answer is hinted at by the number of people who find themselves in difficulty on the mountain each year.

Last year the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team had to deal with 11 deaths and numerous emergency situations, and just this week a quartet were saved in whiteout conditions, with winds gusting up to 80mph. But it is not just during the winter that these scenarios occur.

Annually, the mountain attracts more than 150,000 walkers, each determined to reach the summit by what was once known as the “Tourist Route” but has been redefined as the “Mountain Track” to emphasise its hostile nature.

While this track starts out in the relatively protected confines of Glen Nevis, it ascends onto the exposed rocky western flank of the Ben, replete with the full force of Scotland’s changeable and commonly stormy weather. Furthermore, the route to the summit passes within several feet of precipitous drops down the North Face, just before the path peters out to leave the walker on the highest point in the British Isles.

At the summit, it is common to find hardened banks of snow, known as cornices, that overhang near-vertical drops; step on one of these and you are standing on thin air.

These cornices exist throughout the year and when storms come in from the west, they can be present in zero-visibility, 100mph winds and horizontal rain, even in the summer. Being caught on the summit in these conditions is a recipe for disaster and it is easy to walk unknowingly across a cornice in such conditions.

For the mountaineer, the Ben offers some of the most spectacular winter climbing anywhere in the world; many climbers are drawn here to develop their skills. However, the mountain is a more dangerous place than many experienced climbers would like to believe.

The variability of temperatures and weather conditions means snow can quickly be replaced by rain and then by snow again. This means the snowpack is commonly unstable and the cornices that build up will regularly collapse, particularly in strong winds, leading to avalanches down the main climbing routes.

These avalanches present a constant threat to the climber. Sadly, many ignore the avalanche risk and weather warnings in order to get the adrenalin rush of a winter ascent. Some pay the ultimate price.

For more safety and weather information on Ben Nevis visit ben-nevis.com; more information and advice can be found at the Mountain Information Weather Service website (mwis.org.uk) and the Sports Scotland Avalanche Information Service website (sais.gov.uk).