The curious case of the disappearing marker on Britain’s highest hill

“No.4 Gully. For climbers returning to the CIC Hut or Allt a’Mhuilinn area, this descent is straightforward in good visibility. The top of the gully has a metal marker post with the number 4 drilled into it (grid reference NN158717 – GPS NN15821 71733). Sometimes the cornice can be impassable, but a slot is usually dug out from below. Also it is possible at times to move a few metres to the north, along the rim and gain access to the gully down steeper ground. Avalanches have occurred in this gully from time to time and the initial entry can be steep, but it soon eases. Take care.” Thus reads part of the very useful recommended-descent notes provided by the professional mountain guide Alan Kimber, who spends a fair part of his working life on the north-east face of Ben Nevis. For the past week or so, however, it appeared that the notes needed updating – not through any fault of Kimber, nor because of any rockfall or seismic shift on the UK’s highest hill, but because the “metal marker post with the number 4 drilled into it” was no longer at the top of No.4 Gully, where it had stood for many years. It was dug out and lobbed down the gully sometime last week, initially prompting speculation that its removal came courtesy of the John Muir Trust – which has owned that part of Ben Nevis for the past decade – given that the JMT has been conducting a consultation as to whether both the gully marker and the separate Coire Leis abseil post ought to be retained or removed. It wasn’t the JMT who did the deed, however. “For now I just want to state that the John Muir Trust wasn’t behind this action,” said Rory Syme of the JMT on UKClimbing.com this morning. “This is an act of vandalism which we condemn in the strongest possible terms. We were […] in the middle of a consultation process regarding the No.4 Gully Marker and the abseil posts in Coire Leis. Whatever work was agreed was to take place next summer, after everyone with an interest had been given a chance to express their views. It’s a shame someone has decided to take matters into their own hands.” It should be stressed that No.4 Gully is not a straightforward way up or down Ben Nevis. Walkers are never likely to want to attempt it, nor should they – in summer it’s a steep, messy slope of scree and vegetation, while in winter it is often corniced and qualifies as a grade I technical climb. It is also a surprisingly long way from the summit – even in good conditions, 20 minutes or more is needed to reach the lip of the gully from the summit shelter. The east-facing gully is half a kilometre away from the main path, which takes a north-westerly line off the hill while the main cliff-edge runs more to the north. The reason why No.4 Gully is both popular and important is that, in winter and in spring snow, it is regarded as the fastest and easiest way back down to the Allt a’Mhuilinn side of the hill – and to the lodestone of the CIC hut at the foot of the cliffs – for competent and well-equipped climbers. Countless winter climbers have, over the years, reached the plateau by routes such as Tower Ridge and North-East Buttress, or by the nearer Ledge Route, and have then descended via No.4. But it can be hard to identify if the cloud is clamped down, the spindrift is blowing, the daylight is seeping away and the climber is not entirely certain which of the various gullies it is that they’re aiming for. Only No.4 has a marker post, and this is widely regarded as having been a life-safer over the years, providing a definite reference point in what can be a very confusing area. That doesn’t mean it ought to be there, however. There has long been a mood against man-made markers on the high ground in Scotland, because of the need for people to use their own navigational skills and hill experience to get up and down safely. Start making things artificially easier, so the argument goes, and you will never stop – one “safety aid” will follow another, but will serve only to lure the clueless and incompetent into places they would be better avoiding. The high hills of Scotland in winter provide a serious environment, given the changeability and ferocity of the weather, and while anyone can go out on the hill, the onus has to be on competence rather than cosseting. At first – indeed until earlier today – it appeared that the marker had gone for good. But one of the posters on UKC said it could be seen some way down the gully, and at lunchtime today another professional guide, Alan Halewood, undertook a restoration job. "I went down [No.4 Gully] and recovered the post," he said on UKC, "and towed the post back to the plateau." There he dismantled the cairn that supported the marker and replaced it inside – although how resistant to gales (and returning marker-trashers) this will prove to be remains to be seen. Halewood has since blogged some interesting thoughts on the subject.

So things are back as they were. But there will be plenty of debate about this – Ben Nevis has a habit of stirring high emotions and opinions – and the situation might yet change again. Some people will demand the marker’s permanent reinstatement, while others, during the week or so of its absence, will have given a quiet cheer and regarded it as one less piece of clutter on a hill that is badly in need of “rewilding” (although the Ben can feel wild enough on a stormy January evening). Still others will suggest that the emergency summit shelter and the privately owned CIC hut – neither of which are being threatened with removal during the ongoing consultation – are examples of double standards on Ben Nevis. A precedent for what has happened here – in terms of a removed marker being regarded as of genuine navigational importance and restored – came three years ago in the Cairngorms, when persons unknown dismantled the large “1141-metre” cairn which stood at that altitude at the top of the ridge marking a relatively straightforward way down the Glen More side of the hill. There was an outcry about that, too – on much the same grounds of the cairn having been an important and life-saving point of reference in a whiteout – and in due course it was rebuilt. For now, Halewood's hard graft has restored the status quo - but there is going to be a problem on Ben Nevis, for a while, with regard to uncertainty. Whoever chucked the marker down the gully last week might well return for a repeat effort, and this time take it away down the hill with them (which would at least please the anti-litter brigade). There isn't really anything that can be done about that – 1,200 metres up on the edge of the biggest set of cliffs in the country isn't a place where casual thievery or vandalism can be easily monitored. All that can be hoped for is that, if there is a further disappearance over the next while, it will be quickly and widely reported. At least we are having a mild and more-or-less snowless autumn (and gullies such as No.4 tend not to come into condition until later in the season anyway, being thin and icy during the early snowfalls), so the marker is of little practical value at present. But the snows will come, and it's a fairly safe bet that at some stage over the winter months an anxious climber will spend the last few minutes of daylight fumbling along the chain of gully tops in search of the marker that they know indicates the top of a reasonably safe way down. For now, that marker is back in place - and common sense would suggest it should stay that way, until any properly considered and widely publicised decision is made to the contrary. Opinions continue to diverge, however, with one commenter on UKC congratulating Halewood as being "a man of action not words", while another argued that the marker was "simply there for the convenience of those who wanted quick way down to the CIC hut vicinity". The JMT is pleased to see the marker back, for now at least. “I’d like to thank Alan Halewood for replacing the post after it was dumped in the gully," said Mike Daniels, the JMT's head of land and science. "We now need to inspect it and determine whether it is secure or if further work is needed.”

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