Ben Nevis
At 4410 feet (1345 metres) Ben Nevis is Britain’s highest peak and is actually the remains of a collapsed volcano with a pink granite ‘plug’ on top of a black andesite core.
There is a rough winding path, originally built in 1883 to access the weather observatory at the summit. This was operational until 1904 with readings being telegraphed to Observatory House which still stands on the shores of Loch Linnhe. From here forecasts were wired to newspapers and seafarers across the country.
Almost 200,000 people per year climb the path, many undertaking charity challenges. On average it takes 4-6 hours to reach the summit and about half that time to descend.
On the first Saturday in September, the Ben Race takes place with an entry of around 600 athletes from across the world. The current record for running to the summit and back stands at an incredible 1 hour 25 minutes and 34 seconds.
As the summit is 14 degrees centigrade colder than ground level, snow can be found for at least 9 months of the year, while clouds limit visibility for almost 340 days. For a brief period, there was a hotel near the weather station with a much-repeated phrase in their guest book being ‘Missed the view, but viewed the mist’.
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