How NOT to climb Ben Nevis
When it comes to tall mountains, the UK isn’t exactly a place that attracts people from around the world looking to scale its peaks, however, it does have a few that are easily high enough to cost you your life. The tallest mountain in the UK is called Ben Nevis and is located just north-east of Loch Linnhe, and at 1,345 m tall it’s not the kind of thing you should do in a pair of trainers.
In February 2020, a group of four people described by the rescuers as “idiots” decided it would be a good idea to try and climb to the peak of the UK’s tallest mountain with a complete and utter lack of proper equipment or knowledge. This group of four people, thought to be students from Glasgow seemingly got up one day and thought it’d be fun so they’d simply just give it a go and see what happens.
The group started their climb early in the afternoon and managed to make it to a place called Coire Eòghainn near the summit, but the climb took them several hours, and since they didn’t leave early enough they had no time to make it to the summit before dark. To make matters worse a strong storm had started to build to a level that completely stopped all progress.
At the peak of the storm, the winds reached as high as 80 mph with temperatures as low as -20 °C, but by the time it was at its worst, the group had already lost sight of each other and were now badly off track, not that they were really sure of their route in the first place. It turns out that in their desperation to get out of the cold and reach the bottom, they managed to walk 150 meters down the wrong side of the mountain and got stuck on a very steep and exposed slope.
(A picture taken by the rescue team of one of the lost men, sitting in the snow with emergency wraps round his trainers)
This attempt to reach the bottom was the act that separated them, because not only were they doing this in the dark, but a thick blizzard was now smashing into the side of the mountain. When they were about 150 meters down the slope, each person tried to escape the icy wind and took shelter behind whatever they could find to block it.
Fortunately, one of the group still had a phone signal and called for help, and he was even able to use an app to pinpoint his exact location. The rescue team began to form immediately and soon had over 20 members and search volunteers who quickly made their way to the mountain. They found the group quite quickly thanks to the app, even though they were all several hundred feet apart, and walked them to the bottom before sending them off to the nearby hospital at Fort William.
Two members of the group were so cold that they couldn’t walk on their own and had to be supported the whole way down. Everyone later made a full recovery but if they had been stuck on the mountain overnight, there’s no way any of them would have survived. The rescue team was happy they did a good job and got them back safely, but many of them made comments about how they couldn’t believe the complete lack of equipment and preparation for the climb, and the word “idiot” was used to describe them more than once.
Climbing a mountain in the middle of summer in trainers is risky and you’d probably end up with a twisted ankle, but climbing the tallest mountain you can find, during winter, at night, with no supplies is just, well, stupid. For some more information about the mountain and useful things to know if you intend to climb it, check out some of the links below:
