One man’s mission to scale Ben Nevis – in a motor car
The Model T Ford driven up Scotland’s highest mountain is to be commemorated in a new statue at the West Highland Museum
It was a madcap venture of the highest order – and one that is to be permanently remembered in the shadows of Ben Nevis where it was staged.
Henry Alexander, the son of an Edinburgh car dealer, struck publicity gold when he decided to promote the new Model T Ford by driving it up and down the mountain in May 1911.
It took him five days to get his vehicle to the top, with workmen on hand to clear snow and widen the track as he went. Sometimes, a portable bridge was laid down to ease the journey.
The descent, watched by the press pack transported on a pack of ponies, took just two-and-a-half hours.
Alexander organised the expedition in a spirit of determination to promote this new motor car from Detroit.
The feat has long been celebrated in Fort William with 77 vintage Ford enthusiasts carrying the parts of a Model T to the summit – minus the engine – and reconstructing it to mark the 100th anniversary of Alexander’s efforts.
Last week, that same car was delivered to Powderhall Bronze foundry in Edinburgh where it will be cast, partby-part, into a permanent statue to be placed outside the West Highland Museum in Fort William.
The Ben Nevis Model T Ford Project has spent more than three years raising funds for the statue which will sit around five metres from where Alexandersetoffonhismountainmission.
Dr Chris Robinson, vice chairman of West Highland Museum, said the statue will be unveiled outside the museum on 19 May.
He said: “It was quite a feat and Alexander clearly wanted to raise the profile of the Model T Ford. Of course, Ben Nevis was not designed for a motor car. He went up what was basically a pony track. Even getting a pony up there would have been very uncomfortable.”
Dr Robinson said the idea for the permanent statue had been inspired by the car reconstructed on the centenary with the Ford later included in the museum collection.
“We hope it will be a big draw for the museum,” he added.
The Scotsman reported the “difficulties of an almost insurmountable nature” that were faced by Alexander on his 1911 venture.
The original route behind the old Long John distillery was abandoned, with Alexander choosing instead to access the mountain on a lower slope near Inverlochy.
Despite encountering snow, bogs and boulders, Alexander continued, with the workmen widening the bridle track as he progressed.
The report added: “The venturesome automobilist did not confine himself to the track and, in parts, he drove his car over the thickly strewn porphyry stones.
“Further difficulties were encountered on reaching the snow, which on the summit, still lies to a depth of 10 feet.
“The wheels… owing to the softeness of the snow, simply revolved without advancing the car, and a dash had to be made over bare patches composed entirely of tough boulders.
“By Monday, all obstacles had been overcome, and the car was left for the night alongside the dismantled observatory.”
The observatory, one of the first permanently manned weather stations in the world, shut in 1904 after 21 years of hourly checks and readings by a small team of meteorologists.
On reaching the top, journalists joined Alexander and his party for an alfresco lunch with hot drinks retrieved from the Observatory Hotel, sometimes called the Temperance Hotel given its alcohol ban.
On the day of the final ascent, the hotel, which closed in 1916, was surrounded by 12 feet of snow.
Mrs Cameron Lucy, who at the time owned the mountain, was among those who sent a telegram of well wishes to Alexander and his party. It was read on the mountain top by her factor, Mr Malcolm.
Following a show of the car’s abilities on the descent, the group dined at a hotel in Fort William when “numerous congratulatory toasts were proposed”.