Ben Nevis Observatory - Scotland - Oct 2010 - ARCHIVE

[georgie]

info taken from http://www.ambaile.org.uk/en/

In 1877 the President of the Royal Meteorological Society proposed that 'mountain observatories on isolated peaks' should be established. The Ben Nevis Observatory was opened on the 17th October 1883 with data collection starting on 28 November of that year. The project was funded mostly by private donors, including Queen Victoria, and was run by the Scottish Meteorological Society and the Royal Societies of Edinburgh and London.

The building was manned by a superintendent and two assistants who were responsible for taking hourly readings of the office barometer, the outdoor thermometers, rainfall, cloud and wind notes. They also made observations about the depth of snow, atmospheric dust, ozone, rainband, earth currents, duration of sunshine and earthquakes or tremors when appropriate. The results were telegraphed to the town below, where they were used to warn shipping of storms and gales in the Atlantic.

Insufficient funds and conflicting scientific evidence regarding the importance of the Observatory led to its closure in 1904


i know its not exactly urbex as such but thought this place may interest some people ,standing at 4,409 ft above sea level and the highest point in the british isles its the highest ruin there is to see

other things include britains highest war memorial for the dead of world war 2

also a storm shelter on top of the observetory tower which makes it britains highest man made structure


info taken from wikipedia

The summit of Ben Nevis comprises a large stony plateau of about 40 hectares (100 acres).The highest point is marked with a large, solidly built cairn atop which sits an Ordnance Survey trig point.

The ruined walls of the observatory are a prominent feature on the summit. An emergency shelter has been built on top of the observatory tower for the benefit of those caught out by bad weather, and, although the base of the tower is slightly lower than the true summit of the mountain, the roof of the shelter overtops the trig point by several feet, making it the highest man-made structure in the UK. A war memorial to the dead of World War II is located

after a wet night camping bleak ascent and cold,wet and pissed off 9 of us made it to the top after walking in cloud for hours


mods feel free to delete this if it doesnt meet the exploring criteria


pic and info taken from ben nevis.com taken 1910

Around 1894, probably in response to the arrival of the West Highland Railway in Fort William and the subsequent rush of tourists to the area, an enterprising local hotelier decided to open a small hotel on the summit of Ben Nevis. The Temperance Hotel as it would generally come to be called, was annexed to the main observatory building and was run on behalf of the hotelier by two sisters who kept it open throughout the summer months.



pic and info taken from museumvictoria.com

a look inside the observatory



pic taken from ben nevis.com

The Pony Track was built in 1883 as an access route for the Observatory. The main contractor for the project was James McLean of Fort William and the last rise on to the summit on the path is named McLean's Steep in his honour.

Commonly referred to these days as the Tourist Route or the Tourist Path (although actually called the Mountain Path), this route up Ben Nevis is testament to it's construction as it has survived with very little maintenance, until recently, when conservation work was done on the path.



the way up just inside the clouds





off the beaten track it gets worse



after hours of walking this was the first glimpse of the observatory


















inside the storm shelter






heres the war memorial

[bucolic]

Nutter but nice and i suspect a good walk..

[Clough]

Nice mate bet that was a long old mooch!

[crippletron 3000]

Splendid work mate, thanks for sharing, bet that was a fair old mooch

[wolfism]

Great stuff – pity they wouldn't rebuild the hotel, would be ideal for pint after the climb…

BTW, the further west you go in Scotland, the more likely you are to get hill fog. The Cairngorms are slightly less foggy, but the clearest one is Ben Lawers in my experience (it's not quite 4000ft, but the Victorians built a giant cairn to raise it just enough to make the 4000 mark!)

[coops]

Wow what a great report loved the piccys and the history was spot on ..well done :-)

[sqwasher]

Really interesting read & photies-certainly a unique place! It must also be the highest trig point marker too!

[Kevsy21]

Good stuff m8,glad the trip went well,pics turned out good.
Ill have to join you next time.

[Rochester]

Wow what a great report loved the piccys and the history was spot on ..well done :-)

Totally agree with coops, nice one Georgie..

[boxfrenzy]

I like the history and old photographs that go with this report. Nice work there mate