afternoon, I found a hotel to ditch my gear and jumped around London using the Underground seeking all the spots I remember almost 20 years ago during my college years including Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Westminster, and Hyde Park.The best part of any adventure is one that is keep versatile with little planning. A few weeks ago when I discovered I needed to go to the UK for business, I started researching all the ways possible to get from London to Fort William at the base of Ben Nevis. My travel window was a mere 2 1/2 days which required me to travel over five hundred miles to the northern tip of the British Isles as quickly as possible on a budget. I first researched the train system as this method would be idea with a sleeper train leaving Thursday night with a return trip Saturday night back in time to catch the Underground for my afternoon flight from Heathrow. Unfortunately one leg of the journey going north was full which prevented me from booking my trip online.
My second option was to find a charter bus to Fort William but with my short window of opportunity, this was not feasible due to the fifteen hours of connections and with no hopes of an overnight trip. Finally I could always rent a car and drive the eight hours giving me additional versatility to see the country side, however I quickly discovered gas prices in the UK are three times that in the US and my calculation of driving thousand miles round trip in 2 1/2 half days including climbing a mountain seemed a bit excessive. Therefore, I flew on my British Airways 747-400 direct flight from Seattle to Heathrow with no plans on how I would make the trip north but reasoned to myself that worst-case without a solution, I would be forced to spend the weekend in London as a consolidation prize.Once in the UK, I started asking around on the best ways to get from here to there. My first advice
was to use Europe’s low-fare airlines EasyJet. The benefit of flying is of course time and the flight would be a little over an hour long. I searched online and found a flight for £120 but before booking the ticket, I checked one last time for any chances of using the train but all was still hopeless. As I turned to book the flight, there was a catch. First, the flight north did not fly into the small village of Fort William but to Glasgow, 100 miles short of my destination. Second, the flight back did not fly back into Heathrow Airport where my return flight was departing. Heathrow is the territory of 747s which are a predator to the smaller A319s whom like to security of regional airports such as Gatwick and Luton. The distance between 
Luton and Heathrow was about 40 miles and the first flight back on Sunday landed in Luton at 11:15 am, a mere 3 hours before the departing flight at 2:20 pm giving me a very tight window to make my flight. Knowing this was my best option; I booked it and put that worry to another day. I was committed and now guaranteed I would not spend a weekend in London, but potentially Glasgow where there is far less to do.When I arrived in Glasgow, the trains and buses worked well to get to Fort William on Friday being I had all day but not on Sunday morning when I need to be at
the airport at 8 am to catch the first leg of my flight back to the United States. I “gave in” and decided to rent a car for the weekend costing £113 plus gas to cover the 200 miles round trip. This decision also gave me the flexibility to stop to see sites throughout Scotland. All was well but first things first, I needed to get out of Glasgow with a car that had the drivers’ seat on the wrong side and not only that, the entire population of Scotland seemed to be driving on the wrong side of the road. After I made my way out of the airport I quickly got the hang for driving in the UK with hopes of finding a long lonely highway up to Fort William. As I made my way through the towns and busy roundabouts toward Crianlarich, I passed Loch Lomond and the West Highland Railway finally finding my highway. 
Now that all the planning was done, including the Luton to Heathrow leg on Sunday, I was on my way to climb Ben Nevis. As it turned out, a pier from the UK was coming to the States and had a hired car to take them to the airport on Sunday. They just happened to be driving next to the Luton Airport at the exact time of my arrival. The car was a Mercedes with leather seats. Life is great!The beauty and treasure of Scotland’s landscape includes mountain, glens, and lochs. Scotland’s unique landscape called the Highland Boundary Fault and is the most mountainous in the
British Isles. Hundreds of famous “Munros”, Scottish mountains exceeding three thousand feet, lie in the Highlands and Islands. Only a small fraction of the Highlands’ hills qualify as Munros, with lesser peaks numbering more than a thousand. The lower slopes of the Highlands are extensively wooded. In addition, there are hundreds and hundreds of freshwater lochs including the famous Loch Ness which lends the mystery of a legendary monster hiding in its depths. Another vital part of the Highland landscape is Rannoch Moor, a natural marshland surrounded by towering mountains, crossed by the West Highland Way, the popular 100 mile footpath from Milngavie to Fort William. As I made my way north, the hills continued to grow into Munros with the presence of snow on the upper slopes. The Munros appear forbidden 
in the low cloud cover giving the presence of why many say Scotland is the true birthplace of technical mountaineering. I continued on and stopped at a small store in a local village and an old church that most likely was built back in the early part of this millennium. As I crossed the bridge separating Loch Linnhe and Lock Leven on my final stretch to Fort 
William, I realize how lucky I was to live in this time in history when adventures can still be balanced between modern conveniences that allow travel in days when it took month’s only centuries before while still maintain the isolations of the high peaks.As I arrived at Fort William it was raining heavily on the small town with anger clouds all around. I use my Blackberry to Google the hostile I planned to stay, but interesting enough it pointing me to the wrong area in town as I obeyed my directions and drove up a steep road into the hills above. Clearly in the wrong area, I drove back down into the village and did what was done before GPS was available and asked someone in town. They pointed
me in the general direction to Achintee and I made my way on a back road next to Allt a' Mhuilinn river to my base camp for this adventure, the Glen Nevis Youth Hostile.Staying in a hostile is a treasure of life that brings you together with other like minds from all over the world. It is sort of like high camp with conveniences such as group lounge area, warm beds, full kitchen, and much more. I paid my £14 and moved into my 8 bed bunkroom which nobody was in at the moment. I explored the other areas of the hostile then took a quick break after a long day of travel. As a reward, I drove back into town and found an old Scottish pub serving fish and chips and stout beer. The pub was not busy but included a group of climbers speaking in a European language which their clothing spoke of their day of climbing. They drank and talked passionately about whatever they were talking about, left, and then came back for a few more beers as I sat enjoying my meal. After settling my tab, I cruised through the
outskirts of town then decided it was best to head back and prepare for my morning climb up the Ben Nevis.After traveling for a week throughout the UK, I lay in my bunk half way across the world with the rain pummeling the window above me; I felt the loneliness of the moment in a Scotland winter. I realized that even though my experience has taken me on many challenging peaks, these sorts of trips when you're so far from home truly test your mental muscles. My mind wondered to the climbing protection I was without that might be vital on the upper slopes if the weather continued as it was. I had earlier in the day tried to find a climbing store in town to rent an ice axe, man's best friend on any slippery slope, but nothing was open. As I lay there, I decided my best bet was to make a “wooden ice axe” from a tree near the river before heading up in the morning. There are many ways up Ben Nevis and I decided earlier in the week that I might try another technical climb verses the standard “hike” up the summit. As I laid there the night grew on and I had a hard time sleeping.
The standard route up Ben Nevis is Ben Path; a Pony Track built in 1883 that is the most popular ascent in the summer. It begins on the east side of Glen Nevis at 20 meters above sea level and can be intercepted
via a bridge from the youth hostel. The path climbs steeply to the saddle by Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe at 570 meters where a decision was to be made. I could continue to the right up the standard route and ascend the series of zig-zags up the remaining 700 meters to the stony west flank of Ben Nevis or I could descend slightly to the left toward the CIC Hut, a private hut owned by the Scottish Mountaineering Club, and ascend the Carn Mòr Dearg, a lesser peak connected by the Carn Mòr Dearg Arête to a summit of Ben Nevis requiring modest scrambling ability (in summer) and a head for heights.As I laid there listening to the heavy rain on the window sill, I knew exactly why these trips mean so much to me. I remind myself of why I climb which is “On great mountains all purpose is concentration on the single job at hand, yet the summit is bit a token of success, and the attempt is worthy in itself. It is for these reasons that we climb, and in climbing find something greater than accomplishment...” When you test yourself with the unknown,
it heightens your ability to handle stress in your everyday life and brings you to a place of peace in the mist of turmoil. I am reminded of the words penned so well by Charles Houston in the book K2 The Savage Mountain, “The pleasure of physical fitness, the pride of conquering a steep and difficult rock pitch, the thrill of danger – but danger controlled by skill - are also there. How can I phrase what seems to me the most important reason of all? It is the chance to be briefly free of the small concerns of our common lives, to strip off nonessentials, to come down to the core of life itself. Food, shelter, friends - these are the essentials, these plus faith and purpose and a deep and unrelenting determination”.Most mountains in alpine conditions require a midnight departure in order to climb on firm snow up and return before heat of the day warms the slopes causing weaken snow bridges, slab avalanches, or loose footing. Being on Ben Nevis, I wasn’t planning on leaving that early up since the mountain was technically
easier, but I still wanted to give myself plenty of time with either route I decided to take. As I continued to lie there, I decided to get back up and went into the living area where many others were drinking, laughing, and having a great time watching comedy on TV late into the night. I grabbed a beer and sat with my computer flipping through previous adventures which reminded me of why I love what I do. After midnight, I made my way back to my bunk and discovered I was not alone in my room. Not trying to disturb them, I lay quietly down and went to sleep.With a planned departure of 6 am, I rolled over in the morning and to my amazement it was light outside and a bit past 8 am. I quickly jumped out of bed and prepared for my
climb up Ben Nevis. Directly across from the hostile, I crossed the footbridge over the Allt a' Mhuilinn river I started my climb on the stony footpath to intersect the actual trail. I was happy to see that the rain was held back but the clouds to the West were packed with potential to soak me to the bone. I continue to climb a the trail on the lower section of Ben Nevis as it turned southward heading toward the saddle of Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe. Path was very straightforward and easy to maintain a nice pace upward. I reached a point when the path leveled out and turned from rock to dirt letting me know that I was close to the decision of either left or right. I took a quick break with a Snicker bar and contemplated my decision on which way to go. Go left to the CIC hut to the north face of Ben Nevis taking a direct route up the ridge or right on the footpath that zigzags up the west slope. Either way, the conditions were harsh, windy, with little visibility. I did not have a climbing protection needed to insure my safety and either route way would require precise route finding, and above all I was alone. Ben Nevis's maritime location 
leads to frequent poor conditions which poses danger with fog on the summit most of the time and temperatures hovering in the 20s °F.Once I left the saddle to the right, I traverse up in a series of zigzags which I counted on the map to be nine. Before I got to the end of the first traverse, the snow exposed its intent from this point on including the stiff wind driving into my core from the cold North Sea. I continued up and as I approached the fourth zag, I saw through the mist a lone climber coming down with his spaniel. As we met, he quickly told me that the route disappeared above and he could not find the way up. He searched and searched but being the only one on the mountain without a compass he thought it was best to turn around even though he had driven a long way to make this climb. I offered we partner to find the summit which he quickly agreed.
A few steps forward, the trail did disappear onto extremely hard ice leaving no traces of any previous climbers. The wind continued to drive against my gear as I search for clues up the route. I estimated we were half way up the western slope with the summit directly above us about 500 feet. I could climb straight up to intersect it however the danger of
Ben Nevis is the summit plateau that is a narrow plateau and any deviation off the route could put you on a dangerous cornice overhanging the 2000 foot drop on the north face or south face. I continue to search for the standard route and made a decision to follow the route my new climbing partner he had just come from. From experience when searching for a route in the conditions such as these, you cannot forge ahead without thinking through every decision. You must stop, wait, and decided the next steps using all the clues around you. Fortunately, many rocks were exposed through the snow keeping the horizon in view and my orientation fairly clear. A true white out is when the sky and the snow blend into one and you can’t touch anything with your mind. Studying the route earlier and knowing the zigzags narrowed as we approached the summit plateau, I decided to continue back to the left to try to intersect the route. After a series of dead reckoning attempts, I found the original route indented into the mountainside. It was also at this point that we discovered a large cairn that was strategically placed due the constant foggy conditions of Ben Nevis.As we continued up, I thought about the difference in climbing in the winter at latitude
equal to Alaska near the North Sea. Even in the summer, Ben Nevis gets little opportunity for clear skies with amazing views of the country side requiring this cairn placement for the protection of the thousand of hillwalkers whom visit the peak every year. I read the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team had erected two posts on the summit plateau in the late 1990s in order to assist walkers attempting the descent in foggy conditions. These posts were subsequently cut down by climbers, sparking controversy in mountaineering circles on the ethics. 
Supporters of navigational aids pointed to the high number of accidents that occur on the mountain with 13 fatalities in the earlier 1990s. The climbers voiced the aids on the summit are an intrusion into the natural landscape, which creates a false sense of security and lessen mountaineers' sense of responsibility for their own safety.Knowing before leaving camp the conditions would required accurate navigation skills, I was extremely surprised as I neared 3800 feet to find more cairns to the summit.
As we continued up, I cannot say I was upset but it definitely took the guesswork out of climb. That being said, you could still take 20 paces from one marker before it disappeared in the clouds without any sights of the next one leaving times when we were all alone between points. Not concerned from my mountaineering experience I choose the strategy of “fanning forward” having my climbing partner waiting in view of the previous marker as I continued to find the next marker. There was only a few times when even this approach did not maintain marker views but my trusty GPS was always tracing my steps if needed. As we approached the narrow summit plateau connecting to the true summit, it dropped in elevation enough to give wind relief as we approached the true summit point.
The summit of Ben Nevis is a large stony plateau of about 100 acres with the highest point marked with a large cairn. The summit also includes the ruined walls of the 18th century observatory, emergency shelter for those caught by bad weather, and a World War II memorial. I took some summit photos and stepped to the edge of
the north cliff wall, the birthplace of technical climbing that that spurred the advance of modern mountaineering tools and techniques. I could only see a few feet below but knew it dropped over 2000 feet making it the largest in the UK. I fantasized my view as if it was a clear day that would be extensive reaching such mountains as the Torridon Hills, Morven in Caithness, Lochnagar, Ben Lomond, Barra Head and to Knocklayd in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. I spent about 15 minutes on the summit and turned to head down.As we dropped off the summit plateau still in a whiteout condition we encountered the first group of climbers heading up to the summit after us. We let them know they were close to the top and to follow the large cairns to the summit. During the descent we encountered a half-dozen more teams including a few with “white” faces hinting at their chances of making the
top. As I continued the descent, I started to reflect my second climb of this life project. By no means is Ben Nevis the hardest mountain I’ve ever climbed, however the point is not always the climb but the adventure and experience itself. Living near the Northwest Cascades has taught me what it takes to be a mountaineer; however I realize as I hiked down Ben Nevis, there will be more that are easy, more that are hard, and more that are downright impossible. I know based on my 10 year experience I must continue to learn, to grow, and appreciate the mountains as I move forward in this venture. It includes a mental focus, physical challenge, and dedication that I’m willing to give. I know 2009 for me is about continuing to get deeper in my life and that’s what Ben Nevis taught me. It taught me how far I have come but how far I need to go whether on the mountain or elsewhere. We must never stop striving, learning, and testing ourselves how far we can truly go.I arrived back at the hostel a little after 2 pm and decided after a quick shower to head into town for some exploring. There are castles everywhere in Scotland but I found
my castle outside of Fort William. I spent a large part of the afternoon exploring the Inverlochy castle and reflecting those that walked this area over the last millennium. This castle originally belonged to the Comyns of Badenoch and was constructed in the 13th century, however the Comyns were destroyed by Robert the Bruce at the turn of the 14th century and the castle went to the Gordons of Huntly. Inverlochy castle has been the setting for two major historical events, the first and second battles of Inverlochy. The moat that surrounded the castle is long gone but the defensive position against the River Lochy gave the castle its advantage. In addition, the 
Inverlochy castle last played a part in Scottish and English history during the Civil Wars of the 1640's when royalist Earl of Montrose routed the forces of the Campbell Chief Duke of Argyll at the second Battle of Inverlochy. In 1650’s the Castle was "replaced" by a large timber fort built by Oliver Cromwell which in the 1690’s it was replaced by a stone fort named Fort William after King William III. The town which grew around it was named Maryburgh after the Queen, Mary II, though eventually it took the same name as the fort.It is amazing to ponder that we all stand together in time with similar core struggles in our daily lives no different than those that lived in this castle such a long time ago.
The reflection of time gives me the ability to pull myself forward from my daily life to know that at some point a long time from now, my life will be lost in time. This reflection confirms my core purpose to find a passion, make a stand, and live a life truly worth living. I gaze across the river sensing the ships that pulled into the port of this old castle such a long, long time ago. As I reflect, I know I’ve only climbed two peaks to date with many more to come, a smile comes across my face... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Nevis http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock/150801/ben-nevis.html
