Mountain Climbing Gone Wrong | Tragedy on Ben Nevis

This video covers three horrifying true stories of the tallest mountain in the British Isles and the second most dangerous natural attraction in the world, Ben Nevis. Ben Nevis is the tallest peak in the British Isles, rising to an elevation of 4,413 feet. There are many trails to the summit providing climbs and hikes for all skill levels, which leads to Ben Nevis being an extremely popular mountain. Because of the elevation and location, the peak is in a highland tundra climate. Snow is on the mountain nearly year round. It is also typically covered in a thick layer of fog, obscuring views and disorienting climbers, and the temperature is typically below freezing while also receiving 171 inches of rainfall each year. On a good day, a hiker can have a beautiful climb to the summit, while other days during the same season can be downright miserable. Furthermore, depending on the route climber takes, climbing the mountain can be extremely dangerous. On December 22, 1956, five young friends ages 19 to 21 arrived in Fort William. They were climbing the mountain over their winter vacation from school. These were not experienced climbers, they were simply a group of friends looking for an adventure during their vacation. The South Castle Gully is positioned on the castle side of Carn Derg and presents a steep climb fitted between massive vertical walls. It is an extremely picturesque route that is often used by adventurous skiers today. This route, however, is not typically completed during the winter months as it presents high exposure to the elements and is a particularly difficult climb where rope and crampons are required. This group of five young novice climbers began their climb from Fort William and arrived at camp later that day where they spent the night. The next morning, on December 24, they gathered their rope and crampons as they were prepared for the climb ahead of them. They also finished the last of their food and headed toward the Carn Derg. Sometime in the morning, they didn't know the time as their only watch was now broken. Though it may be obvious, it is necessary here to note the importance of knowing the time when climbing, particularly in the winter when sunlight is short. If their watch was working, when ascending the mountain they could track their progress and estimate their descent time at any point. If they believed that they were not going be able to summit and descend before nightfall, then they could have turned back. Further causing difficulties for them was the weather. As they set out in December, they had thick cloud cover and it was snowing, so they could not even use the sun to estimate progress up the mountain. Even with the obstacles, the group set out for the summit by the South Castle Gully. As they pressed up the mountain through the towering rock faces, the snowfall increased and the temperature plummeted. As they summited, the sky grew darker and the group was completely lost. With near whiteout conditions and the growing darkness, they had no idea which direction to go to get off of the mountain. With little clothing, in below freezing conditions, and lost in the darkness, they had no options. They used their ice axes to dig out a trench in the frozen snow. The five men cuddled into the trench while the blizzard now raged. Throughout the night, they tried to keep warm, but exposure and exhaustion was too much. When the sun rose the morning, with the blizzard still in full effect, all men were alive, but two of them were clinging to consciousness. Another of the climbers in better condition knew that he had to go for help or his friends would die. He quickly found the route down and trudged through the blizzard down the mountain. He stumbled into Fort William Police Station shortly after 11 a.m. on Christmas morning. He told the police of his friends trapped in the blizzard on the summit, then collapsed. He was immediately taken to the hospital, and a number of the police began their ascent into the blizzard to find the four trapped climbers. The police captain made it to Karn Derg's summit as night fell and the blizzard still raged. He crawled on his hands and knees looking for the boys but could not find them before he had to give up the search. The next day, on December 26th, they found three of the climbers frozen in the shallow trench with snow drifting across their bodies. The fourth climber was found 500 feet below the others as he had most certainly been the final one alive and fled down the mountain in an attempt to escape the fate of his friends. Two years before the Christmas Day disaster, on the morning of December 19th, 1954, 11 climbers awoke at the Charles Ingalls Clark Hut at the base of the north face of Ben Nevis. The climbing party consisted of eight men and three women from the Royal Navy Air Station Fulmer. They packed up their camp and prepared for their hike to the summit. As they exited the hut, they found the weather to be poor with low visibility and snow. However, this was expected, particularly in December, and the chosen route is challenging but not particularly dangerous, so they continued ahead. They began their ascent at nine o'clock in the morning by the Coralay. This is commonly known as the easy route. Though in good weather, this is the easiest route to the summit, in poor weather it can be challenging. Add in the fact that the route is very close to the cliffs in some places and only a small navigation error can be deadly, so it is considered the easy route, but care must also be taken. The eleven climbers continued from the hut following the stream to the back of the Coralay and up the ridge at the end of Carn Morderg Eret to the summit. Though the weather was poor, the ascent was not particularly eventful and the climbers reached the summit at one o'clock in the early afternoon. As the snowfall increased and visibility was obscured, there wasn't much to see from the summit, so they only stayed for a little while and collected themselves for the descent. They began their descent back the way they ascended. They planned to simply follow their tracks down, but because of the snow and wind, their tracks were covered. Also because of the snow and wind, visibility was reduced. Initially, these obstacles were not an issue as the path from the summit was obvious. However, two hundred yards from the summit they reached a plateau. This plateau, as it is flat and covered in snow, can be extremely disorienting even in the best conditions. As they continued their descent from the plateau, their direction was off. They were thirty yards northeast of their intended target. Instead of heading down Coralay, they were heading straight for the cliffs between the northeast buttress and Eret. As they descended in the wrong direction, the group became spread out, with some moving faster than others. The group broke up into two groups with six in front and five trailing. At this point, the climbers didn't know that they were heading in the wrong direction. They were enjoying the descent, which to this point was going quite well. One of the members in the trailing group decided that he wanted to catch up and pass the leading group, so he sat down on the ice and began sliding using his axe to control his descent in an action called a glissade. The climber quickly caught up to the leading group and passed them. However, as he passed, he used his axe in an attempt to stop and the axe pulled from his grasp. With nothing to stop him, the climber disappeared over what appeared to be a slope ahead of the two groups. Another climber ran down the slope, quickly kicking steps into the snow and ice to provide a footing. However, this climber soon slipped, sliding down the slope and also disappearing over the edge. The climbers still on top didn't know where their friends were, and three of them moved to the increasing slope to see if the other two needed assistance getting back up. They also slipped, lost control, and disappeared over the edge. The final six climbers split. One climber went for help back down the mountain, and the lead climber roped up to find the five that had disappeared down the slope. He slowly descended until he came to the edge of the cliffs, where there were five slide marks ending at the edge. Beyond the edge, he couldn't see anything except white snow. The others pulled the lead climber back up and all descended by corollae to the bottom of the rocky cliffs. There, 1,000 feet below the edge, they found the broken bodies of all five climbers. The climber that went for help arrived at the police station in Fort William, where they called the Royal Air Force Kinloss Climbers to lead the rescue. Due to the wind and snow, it took 10 hours to recover the bodies of the climbers. Because of this accident, the Kinloss team erected a barrier at the edge of the cliffs and a sign warning that rappelling is required beyond the barrier. December 1956, just a few days after Christmas, Jack Boyd and Jack Higginson were all set to climb Ben Nevis by the number five goalie. They were experienced climbers that had climbed together and trusted one another. They had been planning this trip for months and had everything they needed. They arrived in Fort William to a hostile crowd shouting and pushing them. There had been a series of deaths on the mountain, including the Christmas Day disaster, just a few days earlier, and the locals were frustrated. They were fed up with local climbers risking their lives to save unprepared tourists. After pushing their way through the crowd, they entered town and rented a room at a bed and breakfast from a local nurse. That evening, they had a conversation with the nurse, who told them stories of the emergency room and all of the injuries that he had treated from climbing accidents on Ben Nevis. He also told them that when recovering bodies from the mountain, they would follow the birds as they would find the birds feeding on the remains of the broken bodies. He also told them to be on the lookout while they were climbing, as a head of a recently fallen climber had not yet been recovered. The next morning, they set out for the mountain with their camping and climbing supplies. They hiked through cold and windy weather to the base of the mountain at the number five goalie, where they made camp. The next morning was similar to the first with cold blustery winds. Furthermore, when they looked up the number five goalie, there was an ominous sight. Birds were circling around on the mountain face above them. This could only be one thing, the as of yet not found head of the previously fallen climber. They decided not to climb the number five and would notify rescuers when they returned from their climb. They circled around to Immediately, the wind picked up. The wind would smash into the mountain face above them and would shoot down the goalie from above crashing into them. When they heard the wind above, they would drive their axes into the icy snow and hold on until the powerful gust had passed. They were also tied together. If one fell, the other could likely catch them. As they were tied in at this point on the mountain, they continued to climb higher on the face as the conditions worsened. The cold temperature and the strong wind froze the snow to a fine brittle that would frequently break off. With the changing conditions of the snow and ice, they decided that an avalanche could occur, so they disconnected the rope between them. Now, if one of them was caught in an avalanche, he would not bring down the other. They continued the climb. Nearing the summit, they came across an obstacle. Ice had built up on an edge of the cliff, causing an overhang just 50 feet below the summit. Their only options were tunneling through it or turning back, and tunneling through was a skill that neither of them had ever performed. As Boyd and Higginson discussed their options, just 50 feet from the summit, another gust blew down on them. Boyd slammed his axe into the wall of ice and held on as the wind tried to force him off. The wind was extreme this time, roaring so loud that he couldn't hear anything else. He closed his eyes and held on for his life. When the wind passed, he opened his eyes, looked up, and realized that he was now alone on the mountain. The roar of the wind was so loud that he hadn't even heard his friend fall. He was just gone. The following is an excerpt from the memoirs of Jack Boyd. You can read the account in its entirety by following the link in the description. I started down, carefully at first. Then, as there was neither sight or sound of him, faster and faster until I was bounding down the gully, the crampons tearing my pants and my legs, too. He had been wearing new blue leather mittens, and they had become wet, and every now and then I would see a blue streak of dye on the ice. When the wind came up, I still dug in, and in those moments I prayed desperately, making a bargain with God that if Jack survived this fall, I would look around for what I should do with my life. After an hour or so of reckless dissent, I found Jack, standing, dazed in the darkness. He had survived a fall of over a thousand feet. The strap on his backpack had broken, causing him to overbalance, and he fell headfirst, tobogganing down the gully, with the pack hitting obstacles first. Higginson had scrapes, cuts, and bruises, but was alive, incapable of descending the rest of the way down the mountain, knowing exactly how lucky he was to survive the fall. This, however, did not stop his outdoor adventures, but those, unfortunately, would only last another few months, as torn cartilage would finally force Jack Higginson from climbing. Jack Boyd also had his own issues after the fall. My life went on, but the experience left more than physical scars. I had recurring nightmares for some months, reenacting the accident, but coming down, I would find Jack's head and put it in my backpack, wondering how I would tell his mother about what had happened. Then, I would find him intact and wake up in a panic, soaked in sweat.