Ben Nevis safety aids
By Alan Kimber on 02/05/2021
A bit of history on cairns and safety aids on Ben Nevis. This sparked my interest around 1996, when the LMRT placed two metal poles to aid navigation in poor visibility, especially under winter conditions. Too many fatal acidents had led to this action by the team. The Mountaineering Council of Scotland were somewhat ruffled about this, especially at their AGM at the Clachaig in 1997. Mysteriously the poles were cut down by person(s) unknown. Finally common sense prevailed and the cairns and various markers were replaced with materials sourced on the mountain. Below is archived from my feelings at the end of the last century!
Poles and Shelters on Ben Nevis
As some of you may know there is an ongoing debate as to the usefulness of cairns and posts as aids to navigation on Ben Nevis. My own view is that they can provide an extremely useful addition for folk navigating properly, offering re-assurance in poor visibility. Copied below are two of my more recent letters on the subject. Let me know what you think.
A Tradition of Posts and Shelters on Ben Nevis
Probably before, but certainly since the development of the summit weather station and hotel on Ben Nevis there has been a tradition of waymarking and various aids to safety, both on the high plateau and at lower levels. These have been placed by mountaineers and local rescue teams, with the blessing of the Police and the land owners. Indeed British Alcan who own much of the mountain have often supplied the materials to be used. This has continued to the present day.
In 1895 James Shearer produced four excellent prints of panoramas from the summit of Ben Nevis. The westerly aspect from the summit clearly shows a line of posts and cairns marking the way towards the ‘Pony Track’.. A later (1935) SMC guide edited by G.G. Mcphee reproduces these prints and interestingly states…”inexperienced climbers would do well not to lose sight of the posts and cairns which direct the way to the Observatory”…(p 17). He goes on to say…” In stormy weather even those who know the mountain best may easily be led astray, as when at Easter 1901 a strong party descending from the summit, and in spite of compass observations every fifty yards, failed to strike the true direction, and in the face of a driving blizzard, eventually reached Glen Nevis near Polldubh, arriving at Fort William at a late hour”…(p 18)
There has always been a tradition of mountaineering and rescue in Fort William and in 1945 the Lochaber Section of the Junior Mountaineering Club of Scotland was formed and…”its contributions to mountaineering and rescue on Ben Nevis have always been high”…(Ben Nevis – Britain’s Highest Mountain. Ken Crocket. 1986. p 141). Around that time Dr Donald Duff settled in Fort William and became deeply involved in mountain rescue and accidents….”Following a fatal accident on Nevis, Dr Duff oversaw the erection of direction posts indicating the safe descent route to the Carn Mor Dearg Arete. Duffs original pair of three-foot wooden posts were later added to, but only after the terrible accident involving the cadets”…(Ben Nevis – Crocket. p161). These posts still provide an essential waymark on the descent towards the CMD Arete and without them there would be more accidents in this area of Ben Nevis.
…”The obvious surface feature near the summit of Ben Nevis in winter is the emergency bivouac shelter”…”This tin shelter is like an ice-box in winter, though it continues to save lives from the crippling effects of the wind”…(Ben Nevis – Crocket. p 160). . Two other shelters are situated on Ben Nevis, one in Coire Leis and one on the west facing slopes of Carn Dearg NW Lochaber JMCS helped to pay for and erect the summit shelter and that on Carn Dearg (SMCJ, 1958, p 296). Some cash was also provided by the ‘People’ newspaper. Originally the summit shelter was prone to being covered by snow, so it was moved to its current location on the topmost part of the Observatory ruins in the mid 70’s by instructors and students from Loch Eil Centre. More recently it has been slightly enlarged and improved by Lochaber MRT. The latest shelter being put in place with the help of the RAF. Originally the shelters were erected in response to fatalities involving lost climbers who died of mountain exposure. To find the summit shelter in a full blown blizzard is very re-assuring.
In the 1960’s (21.6.64 & 5.7.64) Hamish MacInnes asked John Hinde of the Kinloss MRT to help in placing the abseil posts at the top of the southern corner of Coire Leis. Members of the Glencoe MRT plus some from Lochaber and members of the TA were helped by an RAF helicopter from Leuchers to transport materials and place seven posts. Three of these posts remain standing at the moment. Although the slope is fairly straightforward in descent these days if modern crampons and axes are used properly. At the time of placing the poles they helped tired climbers considerably, when faced with a long descent cutting steps. The poles can at times prove useful, especially in locating the correct descent into the corrie in poor visibility.
Also of interest here is the warning sign which was placed at the top Glen Nevis car park to tell folk of the potentially serious nature of the ground near the waterslide slab approximately three hundred metres higher up into Coire Eoghainn. Two direction poles with markers were also erected higher up to divert folk away from the worst sections. According to John Hinde and the SMC statistics, accidents reduced dramatically in this area following this action by the Police in consultation with the local rescue team.
The pole at No 4 gully was made in Lochaber High School by Bob Spalding (Tech Teacher) and put in place by Ronald Cameron. This would have been some time between 1966/71 . Bob thinks the Police asked him to do it.
Hamish McInnes who is in favour of marker poles and feels that they could save lives mentions the time when he was camped on the summit making a film for two weeks…”We had bamboo markers from the Red Burn to the summit and they were a tremendous help. It was interesting to see the number of late arrivals on the summit during this stay – Casual climbers – and several parties were saved a cold bivvy due to being able to follow the markers”…
At the Mountaineering Council of Scotland 1997 A.G.M. it was suggested by one of the guest speakers (Bob Aitken – Chair of the Scottish Countryside Activities Council) that Ben Nevis was a special (unique) case and may need to be treated as such in relation to waymarking and a host of other factors effecting Britain’s highest and most popular peak.
Every guide-book published this century to Ben Nevis has mentioned marker poles and shelters as aids to safety. So why all the fuss about the current debate to enhance existing stone cairns whose wooden marker post tops had rotted away. Until now nobody appears to have questioned the wisdom of those notable mountaineers and rescuers who placed the previous markers.
Throughout Europe local communities, climbers, mountain guides, rescue teams and police are involved in sensible placement of mountain waymarks aimed at reducing accidents. Why should we be any different in Britain?
The following from Godefroy Perroux in his new guidebook to Ben Nevis is of interest…”as blind as bats we faithfully followed the compass, our only hope of salvation. With frozen, half-closed eyes glued to the tiny instrument. I saw nothing ahead. It was Dave who spotted it first: a pole sticking out of the snow right in line with our course. It was a bamboo cane complete with illuminated marker tag. A few yards further on there was another and another. The feeling of relief was unbelievable. Here was a route to safety, obviously left by the BBC team. The markers took us swiftly and safely to the pony track”…
For the past one hundred years or more markers posts have helped people find their way up and down Britain’s highest peak. I believe that their contribution to safety has been immense. Given the large increase in popularity over recent years of winter climbing in particular, I believe that the number of accidents on Ben Nevis is small. This is in no small part due to the navigational marker posts which previous climbers and rescue teams have placed on the mountain. Alongside of encouraging good navigation by mountaineers we should also be supporting the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team in their efforts towards the sensible replacement of the old posts with modern material able to withstand the ravages of the Nevis climate.
In support of Navigation aids on Ben Nevis
Whether or not you are on a familiar mountain, have you ever experienced the panic which can grip you, causing uncertainty to set in during poor visibility? The ground is not quite right, the angle is wrong and you have been travelling for too long on your chosen bearing without finding the next landmark.
Chances are if we were honest about it, we would all own up to being in this state of mind on more than one occasion. We would also agree that one of the most satisfying and re-assuring aspects of poor visibility navigation is finding a familiar landmark, be it natural or otherwise. The flood of relief in some situations can be immense, leading to more clear and rational navigational decisions based on knowing you are where you thought you should be. Equally if you cannot find any familiar features your navigational senses will remain at red alert.
How many of those who read this note have found the post at the top of Number Four Gully or those leading down towards the Carn Mor Dearg Arete on Ben Nevis in filthy white-out conditions? How many of those same people cannot own up to having heaved a sigh of relief on finding these comforting metal landmarks? I don’to think I would be far off the mark in supposing that the few people who have so far put pen to paper, or hacksaw to metal condemning the two poles placed by the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team would have been thankful to find them also. The life saving summit shelter (maintained by the L.M.R.T.) will have provided these same people with welcome respite from the elements as they ponder on their descent over a welcome hot flask.
Ben Nevis has for many years had a line of cairns which run straight and true on the current safety bearing from the top of Gardyloo Gully towards the Red Burn descent. These were more than likely placed by the workers from the summit weather station or earlier still last century, to aid way-finding on and off the summit plateau for tourists, Post Office personnel delivering mail to the summit hotel or early climbers such as Norman Collie and company undertaking first ascents, before spending a night in the hotel and descending the next day.
Navigational techniques and map accuracy have undoubtedly moved on since these way marks were built. However the cairns still provide a useful method of route finding to all who visit Ben Nevis.
During the summer months or seasons with little snow, these cairns offer very useful way marks in poor visibility for people using a compass and map properly, or indeed the thousands who climb the mountain without either map or compass! Unfortunately during the winter months they can become obliterated by snow and even if travelling on the correct bearing are impossible to find. The Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team felt it would be a good idea to extend the height of two of these important cairns with metal posts in order to offer at least some extra certainty to those people confronted with poor visibility, especially in winter.
In addition to the posts the L.M.R.T. also produced a very useful map showing the main gully features on the plateau as well as the exact position of the marker posts. This map was freely available in Fort William climbing shops. Hundreds of people also wrote to the team to ask for a copy of the map.
The decision to place the poles was not taken lightly. All of the team are mountaineers and love the free wide open spaces of the high Scottish peaks. Many of them are also members of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland through their association with the local climbing club. Some are mountain guides/instructors and they all enjoy mountaineering at home and abroad, some to a very high standard. Placing the poles was made from a standpoint of deep mountain experience and a balanced appreciation of the mountain ethics involved in their action. These people know all there is to know about the Scottish hills, and we should trust their judgement on this matter.
Current feeling from the executive of the MC of S is against the poles. Recent media attention on the issue suggests wrongly that the rescue team will not meet with the MC of S. I was at a meeting in Fort William Police Station between the MC of S and L.M.R.T. At that meeting the two sides agreed that the L.M.R.T. would review the situation in a years time. This has been done and in the light of the substantial amount of positive letters in favour of the idea received by the L.M.R.T. the concept of way markers on Scotland’s most visited summit remains a realistic option in helping to lessen the amount of lives lost due to navigational error on the Nevis plateau.
The MC of S quite rightly suggest that training in high mountain navigation is a way of helping to give people more skill and confidence in route finding, especially in winter months. However, training alone will never be enough. Many of the people who have tragically fallen from the Nevis plateau were experienced mountaineers who had visited the plateau numerous times before. I am convinced that some of these poor folk would have survived if the old line of cairns (especially above 1300m) had been more clearly marked.
Recent media attention on the subject paints a poor picture of the L.M.R.T. Letters emanate from a small band of mountaineers, editors of magazines or officers of mountaineering councils in influential positions. The impression given by these people is far from realistic. It’s about time that those who are in favour of the idea, also wrote to the magazines supporting this small action taken by the L.M.R.T.
The current issue is about saving lives by making existing way marks more easily found on the plateau of Scotland’s most popular peak. It is not the …”thin end of the wedge”….it will not….”lead to more deaths”…..it is not…..”pampering mountaineers”…..it is not about……”who rules mountaineering”…..and will not…..”lead to signs all over the Scottish mountains”….All of these sensational quotes can be attributed to a handful of people saying the same thing over and over again. It’s boring to listen to and does not represent a majority view.
I feel strongly that the posts should stay on the Nevis plateau and would ask anyone else who agrees with me to let the Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team know their views (c/o Fort William Police Station, Fort William.). And the next time you visit the plateau in the summer stick another rock on the line of cairns which run down bearing 282 deg (grid) from Gardyloo Gully towards the Red Burn. The higher the better.
Alan Kimber – Fort William Mountain Guide on Ben Nevis for thirty years.