At 1344 meters, Ben Nevis is the highest peak in all
of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales, and last month a collection of the
nicest Venturers in the world set off to climb it. We left Busaras (house of the bus)
early, very early, too early on Thursday September 21st. The bus, full of heads from Donnybrook,
Lusk, Corduff, Tallaght, Rush and Knocklion, headed for Belfast City Port
where we were met by the Northern contingent consisting of Irvinestown and
Enniskillen. Planes, trains and
automobiles later we had Larne, Glasgow and a singsong behind us when we
finally hit Fort William at 10.30pm where we were
welcomed by our guides and gurus for the weekend- Shane and Paul. Breakfasted and booted the 41 or so of us headed downstream and
crossed a stile to commence the climb that was to be the highlight of the
Sleibhte Challenges. I think in general we
were all quite
Ben Nevis –The Scottish Lug By:
James Cusack
apprehensive about the climb and this apprehension was not helped
by the steepness of the first hours walking. Thankfully our fears went unrealized and the climb started to
level out. The steepness of the
first section meant that we elevated quickly and this led to some fantastic
views. At the halfway point we took our first decent break and fully
appreciated both the spectacular scenery and the piercing cold. Putting on extra layers we zig-zagged up
along a series of switchback paths.
At some points these were so steep that we were virtually on our
hands and knees, stopping every couple of steps to catch our breath and
dodge the dislodged rocks falling from above.
Though overcast the cold and rain held off and it was through this
mild magical mist that we made our gradual approach to the summit. The view form the summit was exactly the
same as the view from Carrantuohill, Donard and Lug – cloudy and
rainy. The summit boasts a weather
station and a hotel. Unfortunately for us it is in ruins, but it was here
that we took a few snaps and had lunch.
The lads from Cois tSiona had beaten us to the top and were sitting
snug in the ruined weather tower complete with tricolour. Despite the fact that it was cold and we could see
nothing, it felt pretty cool
to be on top of the highest point in Britain. We had summated in just 3.5 hours but the memories and sense of achievement would last a little
longer. The decent
split the group as tiredness and cold set in but the views and the chat kept us going, The fastest got down in 2.5
hours and the stragglers in a respectable 3.5(ish) not helped by torrential
downpours and a very slippery path. Back in base camp the consensus was that none of us
had had any great difficulties and that it had been superbly planned and
led by Shane and Paul. We went to
bed pleased, with thoughts of Mont Blanc!! Saturday was for chilling out and David and the team
led us on a whistle stop tour of the Ben Nevis Distillery and the Treasures
of the Earth Museum
before we had lunch in Fort William Town
Centre. The afternoon was spent on
a ‘seal watching’ boat tour to the invisible seal colony that was only
outdone by the invisible whales, porpoise and eagles that our bewildered
guide pointed out to us. The
evening was rounded off in perfect Scottish style with a big feed
and a Highland Fling that
included bagpipes, dancing, singing and excellent comedy – provided by
ourselves. Bright and early on Sunday we bussed and trained our
way home towards Belfast where we were met by Mary and Therese who
presented us all with
our Sleibhte Bright and early on Sunday we bussed and trained our
way home towards Belfast where we were met by Mary and Therese who
presented us all with
our Sleibhte Pins and a Certificate of Achievement for each venturer group. Homeward bound, the northerners took one
road and we took the other, all fairly tired but proud of our achievement. A very special thanks must go to Paul Manning and
Shane Mulhall for their special energy, time and commitment to both the
climb and the climbers
