David Whalley

FS David Whalley MBE BEM, more often known as ‘Heavy’ (don’t ask), is now one of the longest-serving MR members. He was on the recent Everest expedition.

It is tempting to treat the walk up Ben Nevis’s tourist track as an easy day out. Most of the RAF Kinloss MRT have ascended the mountain by one of the climbing routes round the back, and very rarely do we climb by the tourist route. The ascent for a fit, sighted walker can take anything from three to six hours and the descent from two to four hours. It is a long, hard day from sea level to over 4400 feet at the summit. There is rough path all the way to the summit, fairly steep in places. Non-mountaineers would think on the way down that they can relax but the effort on the body especially the knees is exceptionally difficult and tiresome.

The mountain rescue team has a history of assisting the Milton Mountaineers on various mountains. This group are all partially-sighted or blind and have a mountain background. Helping these people makes a long and hard day and an experience one never forgets. Every two to three years, we try to help and this time the project was to help the RNLI. This would involve a group of nine plus helpers. Most of this group had limited mountain experience and the daylight was limited and winter was just round the corner. It would be an interesting day out.

The team arrived at Roybridge after a two-hour journey and were given a brief on the Friday night by Eleanor, Karen and Barry, who is blind. This proved a tremendous experience especially with Barry describing how it felt to be blind and the numerous problems to be overcome. Our initial bravado was further brought down to earth as we took it in turns to lead each other blindfold for ten minutes to get a real feel for the next day. A lot of the newer team members were now fairly worried about our day on the Ben and the responsibility involved.

We had an early breakfast and were at the bottom of Ben Nevis leaving from Achintee. As we all arrived, Steve, out team leader, took the wrong turning and we had to explain that once he gets on the hill he is a different man. The weather was, thankfully, excellent - the gods were with us. The initial brief over, we met our companions for the day.

Luckily the first ten minutes is an easy path clear of obstacles and the ideal opportunity to get used to each other. I had taken other groups before on the hill and after a few minutes got the hang of it. My lovely companion kept me right and also saved me a few times as the path steepened. Previous experience had shown how tiring it is to guide on a mountain, and we tried to exchange guides every half-hour. This also gave our friends some different conversation. It was amazing and a great experience to witness the way people were communicating and building trust between each other. The first and only stile on the path was another adventure to be overcome - no easy problem - and from here the path rises steeply over broken ground for over 1000 feet. New skills were learnt, as what we took for granted was overcome, bridges were crossed, and steep slabs and narrow paths crossed. After two hours we had our first rest at the half-way, Lochan. The views were fantastic and we tried to explain the wonderful scene of Scotland in all its glory to our friends. We had by now built up a good trust and rapport and the mist had come in, but only for a few minutes.

The next part of the route crosses the Red Burn and then zig-zags up the last steep area for 1500 feet. This is the most physical part of the day and the path, full of loose scree and boulders, is hard going. Talking whilst going up this terrain is not easy and a few of us were fairly tired by now. We kept up a good pace and were soon on the summit plateau, from where it is a steady walk to the summit. By now our party was all feeling the pace, though the drive and determination were keeping everyone going. Most were ahead of my party at the end but we were certainly going to the summit. Stories of parachuting, tall ships race and rock-climbing by all our blind friends made the last hour easy. We had reached the summit and took the usual photos, followed by lunch and lots of phone calls to sponsors and friends.

The summit was very busy with another three sponsored walks heading for the top at the same time. There were plenty of people behind us still struggling, as we started off downhill at 1400 hours, remembering the descent is even harder and time was moving on. It was a slow progress coming down and by the time we reached the zig-zags we had formed into two groups. There was a bit of action on the path when a tourist fell and injured her knee and the local civilian team called in a helicopter. The casualty was evacuated quickly to hospital in Fort William. Our friends from RNIB were impressed and thought that we had planned this for them as a bit of excitement. The day was moving on though the weather was still superb. After another regroup at the Red Burn we set off for the last bit of the day.

The last bit of the day was steep even in descent, and the pace was beginning to tell. As time was moving on we asked our friends from No. 202 Squadron to help and they picked up our last man off the hill, just before darkness fell. We all met at the bottom of the Ben after nearly 11 hours on the hill had some well-earned refreshment. It was a very tired group which returned to Roybridge for a late evening meal. The ‘party people’ went out to Fort William for a drink; the rest of us took it easy. What a great day! Everyone enjoyed themselves and we learnt lots from our friend from the Royal National Institute for the Blind.

The successful climbers raised nearly £7,000 for charity and were a great bunch, and all are thanked for their efforts. The successful climbers were Peter Bentley, Carol Borowski, David Carrington Porter, Sarah Fortescue-Guess, Barry Ginley, Yvonne McCarthy, Ian McLeod, Debbie McLoughlin, Isabel Saez Ariyadasa and blind adventurer Miles Hilton-Barber.

Next time you struggle up the Ben have a thought: what would it be like to complete this adventure partially-sighted or without sight? There are some incredible people about and it was great to be part of a great day. Thanks to all the troops for their help.