 Hi ladies and chaps,
We've been asked by the Mountaineering Council of Scotland to alert people to the fact that information given in the current issue of an outdoor magazine, regarding the descent from the summit of Ben Nevis, is wrong.
I won't name the mag – I don't think that'd help matters – this is a serious safety issue.
MCofS mountain safety adviser Roger Wild has stated that the Ben Nevis descent bearing provided on Page 105 of said-magazine's February 2004 edition "is WRONG – it would take you over the north face."
The correct bearings are shown on the reverse of the Harvey Maps' Ben Nevis, in an enlarged section.
Walk on a grid bearing of 231° for 150 metres from the summit trig, then on a bearing of 282° to descend the mountain.
The Harvey map has some excellent advice and enlarged sections to help with this notorious descent – this area is bloomin' tricky in winter and bloomin' very dangerous in poor weather at any time of year.
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 Thanks John, I'll run a news story as soon as I'm back up on my feet.
The correct bearings are also given on the 1:10,000 inset map of the summit of the Ben on the OS 1:25,000 Mountainmaster map of Ben Nevis and the Mamores.
I'm quite prepared to say that the magazine is Trail and the information is in the text of one of their Weekender routes, the Ben by the CMD Arete. I'm not having a go at the magazine btw, it's obviously an unfortunate error on their part, but I'd rather name the title for the sake of clarity and safety.
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 It's unlike Trail to make factual mistakes when it describes mountains.
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Do the Trail people read this site?
Maybe one of them would be able to explain how come?
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 Well, they've never bothered before, which is a pity because I would think people would be more favourably disposed towards them if they did.
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 Andy - yes they do, but they never post here!
As for explaining themselves, well I fear that if ever Guy P or even worse jean Luc were to pop up here on site they would have a LOT of explaining to do.
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I think it's fair to say that someone at Trail made an unfortunate mistake, but the important thing is that people are made aware of it since it's a safety issue. And that's it. Full stop.
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Sniff.
'nuf said.
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Well said Jon, I gotta admit we do make the occasional mistakes on tgo too. I hate publication days... heart-in-mouth stuff.
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 This could actually be a good thing as it's highlighted how tricky it can be to get off the Ben's summit and generated publicity showing the correct bearings.
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 The error was reported on Radio 5 live this morning. Trail have apparently got an apology lined up for next issue that says it got it wrong but people should use their own map reading skills rather than rely on published routes
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 The BBC News Website is also running the story (and a re-cap on their previous controversial advice):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3415911.stm
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Still running on the BBC 5 Live hourly news report as well.
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 Oh yes heard it myself on the radio. Poor old Guy is 'gutted'. I bet he is, having to put this out on national radio. This story will have been given to the BBC by EMAP, concious of their liability in the matter no doubt.
Still we all make mistakes... although not usually one a month on such a regular basis, you could set your clock by him!
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Quite funny listening to two BBC Five Live presenters:
Presenter one: 'Walking magazines, I don't think I've ever seen a walking magazine...'
Presenter two: 'I think I've seen it in WH Smith, Trail... hmmm.'
Poor old Guy. He must be kind of fed up with crisis management.
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 Well it's in the papers today, need to try and catch Radio 4 today on the net tonight to see if they have said anything. I'd love to hear Guy being quizzed by the Today staff. I'm sure they would remind him of the other recent mistake, as they covered that as well.
But they do say there is no such thing as bad publicity.
If Guy reads this, my Nan lives in Wisbech (30 mins drive from Peterborough), he can run round there and get her to check over each issue if he wants. She can't do any worse than they are at present.
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Well, as others have said, the positive side of this is that it draws attention to the general public as to how serious the descent from Ben Nevis can be. This matters because a lot of people go up it with no experience whatsoever just because it is the highest.
I don't want to see Guy hung out to dry by the Today staff or Emap or anyone else.
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The only reason people listen to Today is to hear people (mostly in some sort of position of power) being given a good verbal kicking. It kind of evens it up for the little guy.
I don't want to sound to pessimistic but no amount of publicity over this mistake will change the fact people will go up Ben Nevis without any experience or the right gear.
Hopefully it may save a life, but there are still The Sun readers out there, that unless it is plastered across the breasts of page 3 won't take any notice.
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Are you saying you think Guy is a big guy ?
:-)
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I should apologise to Guy (if he's reading this), as I have nothing against him personally (how could I? I don't know him). I enjoy reading Trail, and think there are some positive things in the mag. Based on the extracts from the Mountaineering for hillwalkers they've been running, I bought the book. It was helpful to be able to get a taster before deciding to buy. Plus I do buy Trail each month.
And lets face it we all muck up from time to time.
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