It has been reported from Fort William, that a man has died whilst ascending Ben Nevis yesterday. He was in a large group going up the tourist trail when he collapsed. A helicopter from HMS Gannet, a search-and-rescue base at Prestwick near Glasgow, airlifted him to the Belford Hospital in Fort William. Unfortunately, the man was declared dead on arrival. He apparently suffered a heart attack.
Ben Nevis, standing at 4,406 feet or 1,344 metres, is Britain's tallest mountain. It sadly claims lives every year, for various reasons. Quite often, inexperience, an underestimation of the challenges posed or flat ignorance on the conditions on the mountains contribute to accidents occurring. An exhibition in the Ben Nevis visitor centre tells chilling tales of people going up the mountain in summer, dressed in trainers, shorts and a T-shirt. They are not aware that temperatures at the summit are at least 15 degrees Celsius LOWER than in Fort William. The town may be basking in summer sunshine, with the mercury at 17C, but this does mean that there can be snow on the summit with the thermometer barely above freezing. The ascent is very steep, rocky and dangerous in poor visibility.
I climbed the mountain myself in late October 2004. When I got to the summit, the weather changed and cloud rolled in. Visibility was reduced to about 10 metres, and I did not know where I should go, so I waited for the cloud to lift or other walkers to appear. They came from my right; I had expected the trail to continue ahead - but ahead lay a chasm, many hundreds of feet deep.
There used to be a memorial at the summit, full of tributes to people who died on the mountain. These have now been moved to the valley (I believe), but they serve as a reminder that when you climb Ben Nevis, you should come prepared. It's not an afternoon stroll in the park.
For a taste of what Ben Nevis looks like on the wild side, check out this page.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Thats so so sad about the Ben nevis death. It is a shame that people do not make them selfs aware of the dangers before they undertake such dangerous pass times. hope your having a good sunday
ReplyDeletelove and hugs
Katie
I was in the same party as the gentleman who lost his life on Ben Nevis at the weekend and I am upset to find people speculating on the cause of his death. I can inform you and anyone else who reads this blog that the gentleman in question was very fit and had trained hard for this challenge. The group were attempting the three peak challenge for which the gentlman in question had completed successfully 2 years previous. The team were well prepared and had extremely experienced leaders.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that people do attempt these challenges without the proper training and equipment however on this occasion it was just down to bad luck. He had a loving family and I don't think it is fair on them for people to assume he hadn't prepared properly.
Thanks