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Pictures by David McConnell Hunter
Ben Nevis



Ben Nevis from Corpach

I do hope this selection of my photographs will give you a sense of the grandeur of this truly magnificent mountain and its surrounding scenery.

At 4,409 ft above sea level, Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the British Isles and as such attracts an estimated 100,000 ascents a year. So unlike many of Scotland's hills, you are sure not to be alone here!

However, it has not always been easy for the average person to get to the vicinity of Ben Nevis as is illustrated in the poignant letter below, from a gentleman living in the south of Scotland in the early 1930s, in response to his reading of “On Foot in the Highlands” by Ernest A. Baker which was first published in 1932.

Dear Sir,

I hope you will excuse an anonymous reader of your book, “On Foot in the Highlands,” sending you a few lines to thank you for the pleasure it has given him and for a new resolve it has awakened actually to see the Highlands, at least in part, before he leaves this mortal scene!

I am a married man of 43, and have two young boys; so, though I often turned my thoughts to the Highlands, I always thought that I should never be able to afford to go there, for I have only a very small salary.

After reading your book, however, I was so filled with the desire to go up the Highland Railway, and, particularly, to climb Ben Nevis by the Allt a’ Mhuillin, and cross over the Aonachs, that I broached the subject to my wife, and we have adopted a “Ten Year Plan” of saving weekly a matter of one shilling with the set purpose of having a joint holiday, a family holiday, there, and have opened an account accordingly.

I am a good hill-walker and a healthy subject, so perhaps at 53 I may be able to fulfill the ambition for which, again, I thank you! And my boys by that time will be able to come with me.

Yours very truly,

“A Hillman”

I often wonder if his scheme was successful despite the onslaught of the Second World War and like to think that he was able to achieve his goal just as I have been fortunate enough to.

I do hope you enjoy the photographs.




View to Ben Nevis from the Caledonian Canal


View of the Ben from Stronchreggan on the north eastern shores of Loch Linnhe


Looking towards the Ben from Inverscaddle


Setting off on the Annual Ben Nevis Race (Held every September)


Looking north towards Ben Nevis from Am Bodach in the Mamore Mountains.
The the sharp peak of Carn Mor Dearg can be seen on the right.
The mountain stream left of centre is known as the Allt Coire Eoghainn.


Cloud moving in on the North Face


Ben Nevis and Carn Mor Dearg from the Mamores


Approach to the North Face via the Allt a' Mhuilinn Path


The North Face and the Allt a' Mhuilinn


Approaching the half-way point on the "Pony Track"


Resting at Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe (the half-way point)


A slight dip in the path before the climb to the summit
(Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe on the left)


Passing through cloud on the way to the top


A glimpse of Corpach below the cloud


The Summit at last!  A busy place on this beautiful August day.


Ruins of the old observatory on the summit, built in the summer of 1883


Commermoration plaque on the summit


Yours truly at the summit


Looking west from the summit to Castle Ridge on
Carn Dearg and beyond to Loch Eil


Looking south from the summit to An Gearanach, An Garbhanach and
Stob Coire a' Chairn with the Steall waterfall in the foreground


Looking east to the Carn Mor Dearg aręte and to the Mamore Mountains beyond


Looking south to Sgurr a' Mhŕim in the Mamore range


Looking south west via Loch Linnhe to Ardgour, Lismore and Mull.
Lochan Lunn da-Bhra can be seen nestling in the foreground


Looking east to the Grey Corries


A glimpse into the depths of Corrie Leis


View to the south west on the way down
 


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