Once In A Lifetime
Exploring the UK’S highest mountain might be the start of a lifelong love affair, but Ben Nevis deserves recognition and protection
Cameron McNeish explains why Scotland’s hills need national funding
TRAVELLING down the A82 from the north, there is a road junction at Spean Bridge where a brown road sign points to the Cairngorms National Park. Curiously, no sign points to Ben Nevis, which is considerably closer – and therein lies one of the major problems of Scottish National Parks. While the protection of hills in the Cairngorms or Loch Lomond and the Trossachs areas are well-funded from the national purse, other iconic hills, like Ben Nevis, are largely ignored.
So, could there be a case for the Ben to receive a commensurate amount of government funding? I must confess to a personal interest here. For several years I was chairman of the Nevis Partnership, now known as the Nevis Landscape Partnership.
This organisation, in existence since 2002, brings together the local and visiting community, landowners and managers, to seek cooperation and consensus about how to look after this special place.
It’s not an easy task. My years as chairman were frustratingly dominated by funding – Highland Region drastically cut our grant because of government austerity policies, and the partnership almost had to disband.
On the other hand, the Cairngorms National Park and the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Parks have annual budgets of about £5 million and £7m respectively.
Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the UK and one of the busiest. It has to cope with special challenges that increases pressure on the hill and its network of footpaths.
It has deep cultural and environmental significance, with a large part lying within a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The encompassing mountain landscape of Glen Nevis constitutes one of Scotland’s most accessible and cherished National Scenic Areas, the entrance of which is only a short walk or cycle ride from Fort William.
The number of people enjoying Ben Nevis and Glen Nevis has doubled in the last 20 years and this
“Iconic ignored” hills, like Ben Nevis, are
trend is set to continue. As restrictions lift many more people will flock to the area to spend time outdoors, connecting with nature and wild land – a way to recover from the stresses of lockdown, tackle isolation and improve their mental and physical wellbeing. For many, this will be a totally new experience.
For thousands of tourists every year, reaching the summit of Britain’s highest mountain is a once-in-alifetime experience, an aspiration that touches even those with little interest in hillwalking or mountaineering.
Reaching the UK’S highest point is on many people’s “bucket list”, and every summer you’ll see swarms of folk struggling uphill from Achintee in various stages of duress.
Many of them don’t make it as far as the summit but, for others, the ascent of the Ben might well be the start of a lifelong love affair with hills and mountains. It can be a life-changing experience, and it’s for that reason I believe people should never be discouraged from attempting it.
For many others, the Ben represents something infinitely more challenging than a walk to the summit.
Consider this. The brooding, round-shouldered aspect of the hill is really a facade – a screen that protects the real guts of the mountain. The north-east facing cliffs which dominate the high corries above the Allt a’ Mhuillin present an aspect of the hill in direct contrast with the rest of the mountain. This, the most formidable rock face in Britain, is for many people the real Ben Nevis.
The cliffs are riven and seared by gullies, prominent ridges, towers and buttresses. Generations of rock climbers have pioneered long and difficult routes on these vast cliffs, and when the mountain changes its face with the advent of winter snows, the climbers return to enjoy a type of mountaineering which is world-renowned.
Scottish winter climbing is a masochistic blend of rock climbing, winter scrambling, balancing on tiny snow-filled footholds while you endeavour to bury your ice axe into a ledge of frozen turf. All this while the wind throws down showers of fine, powdery spindrift from above, and the cold throbs through your body like toothache.
The so-called tourist track from Achintee in Glen Nevis to the summit of Ben Nevis is long and relatively tedious, and to climb Ben Nevis without experiencing even a hint of what the north-east face holds is like going to the beach and not seeing the sea.
Try climbing it via Càrn Mòr Dearg and its airy arête, a walk taking you through some of the country’s finest mountain scenery, probably the most memorable way of walking up Britain’s highest hill.
Alternatively, a stiff climb up into Coire Eoghainn via the waterslide at Polldubh in Glen Nevis gives a hard, but spectacular route up to the Càrn Mòr Dearg arête from where the summit can be easily reached.
All this human recreation, however, has to be balanced against the potential damage to the mountain’s delicate plant life, flora and fauna, and the effect such huge numbers have on the local community.
Next year, on July 30, 2022, the Nevis Landscape Partnership will celebrate its 20th anniversary.
I recently spoke to local mountain guide Mike Peascod who is the current chairman of the partnership board. He told me the pandemic has caused the partnership to pause and take stock of where they are, a reflection that’s resulted in a fairly major shift in priorities.
During 2020, the decision was taken to change the partnership’s constitution and invite the local and visiting
“It is time to recognise Ben Nevis Mountain” as Scotland’s National
community to become members, and to serve directly on the board and be at the heart of decision-making.
“To ensure the Nevis area is able to be sustainably enjoyed by future generations we need to put in place new, secure, long-term resources,” he says.
“We need to develop the concept for a move towards a carbon-neutral, circular economy which directs funds raised from visitors to the Glen into environmental management work in the Nevis area.
“At the same time, we must also be aware that Glen Nevis has internationally-acclaimed cultural and natural heritage assets. In balancing economic drivers, we must be careful not to detract from the very qualities which make Glen Nevis a unique place to live and visit.”
I asked Mike what plans the partnership had to achieve a circular economy and, with some delight, he told me the first steps had already been taken.
“Jahama Highland Estates have agreed to lease the Lower Falls Car Park in Glen Nevis to us. We, in turn, secured funding from the Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund to improve the facility into a low-impact visitor hub – incorporating toilets, a bus stop, bike racks, visitor information and links to the wider path network.
“The aim is to both encourage better, greener choices in how people access the glen – reducing traffic, pollution and congestion – while at the same time directing all the income derived from visitor parking into the care of the area. However, this one facility on its own will not sustain the Nevis area.
“As we are not a National Park, we do not get the Scottish Government funding provided to those areas to promote access and care for the area. We believe that, as well as National Parks, there should be recognition of specific and discreet areas of national importance with access to direct Scottish Government funding. It is time to recognise Ben Nevis as Scotland’s National Mountain.”
And I agree. You can create designations – and we have our fair share of countryside designations in Scotland – and you can create National Parks, areas that simply create silos of conservation in this small country of ours, but it’s infinitely more difficult to create the international recognition, respect and love that is shown towards Ben Nevis, the UK’S highest and most iconic mountain.
This mountain wholly deserves recognition as Scotland’s National Mountain, and it deserves the government funding that should go along with such a designation, to protect it for future generations. I would urge the Scottish Government to pay attention to this special plea from the Nevis Landscape Partnership, a community-based organisation that reflects the very best in countryside conservation.
Wouldn’t recognition of Ben Nevis as Scotland’s National Mountain be a wonderful birthday gift as the Partnership celebrates its first 20 years next year?
Over to you, environment minister!
“Climb experience” can be a life-changing