be aware of the dangers

Ben Nevis Summit Safety

The summit of Ben Nevis can be a very dangerous place, especially if you have no navigational skills in poor conditions with bad visibility. Ben Nevis has various translations including ‘Malicious’, ‘Venomous’ and ‘the Mountain with its head in the clouds’ for good reason, conditions can change quickly, it is important you are aware of the dangers and how to safely navigate your way off of the summit when the weather has turned.

Hopefully after reading this short guide with our Ben Nevis Summit safety tips and some further reading you will gain the confidence to tackle and stay safe on the Ben even if you experience the worst conditions.

What are the dangers?

The main danger on the summit of Ben Nevis is that the North Face of Ben Nevis has sheer drops. Quickly study the features on the map below.

Consider you have approached the summit in decent conditions on the zig zag Pony Track from the West, the route would have naturally lead you round the major danger and you may have not even noticed it. Then while having a quick bite to eat by the trig pillar/shelter (the blue triangle) a cloud has quickly blown over making visibility very poor.

With no knowledge of the features of Ben Nevis you may believe that heading straight west is the way you came from, this will lead you to a sheer drop. Walkers & experienced climbers have done this.

(The way NOT to do it)

The right way off Ben Nevis

So now we’re aware of the main danger and the wrong way to do it, what is the right way? From the trig pillar walk 150m on a grid bearing of 231. Then follow a grid bearing of 282 to safely get off the Ben Nevis summit plateau. It’s important to follow these distances and bearings carefully as going too far south can get you into equally dangerous terrain with Coire Eoghainn to the south of the summit and Five Finger Gully to the south of the beginning of the Zig Zags. It’s incredibly important to have a map (I recommend the Ben Nevis Harvey map – which we have in the sitting room) and a compass.

Please note this OS map is not as detailed as the Harvey map, there are significant dangers to the South of the Summit and south of the start of the Zig Zags (Coire Eoghainn & Five Finger Gully)

Using the Shelter & raising the alarm

If conditions have become truly treacherous on the summit of Ben Nevis and you have lost confidence in safely getting your way off then taking refuge in the shelter is an option.

Before heading out make sure your phone is registered with the emergency services by texting the word ‘register’ in an SMS message to 999, you will then recieve an SMS about the service. This is important because if there is no phone coverage you may be able to send a text even if calls are failing.

If you need to be rescued from the shelter call (or text) 999 ask for the police and mountain rescue, you will need the following information. Location, any injuries in your group and nature of injuries, number in your group, what equipment you have, numbers of the mobile phones in your group.

Sometimes raising the alarm via mobile phone is impossible so before you set off to summit Ben Nevis you should have told another person not on the mountain of your plan and when they should expect to hear back from you, and to raise the alarm if they haven’t.

It is much easier for Mountain Rescue to find you safely in the Shelter than half way down the North Face of the mountain.