There are only about two weeks a year when the skies are clear over Britain’s tallest peak, Ben Nevis. We were there for one of them. How could we not climb?

Climbing the stairs of Ben Nevis’s approach. The body of the mountain is ahead.

The trail crosses the stream on a long angle to the right, then back to the left, each time plunging us into the deep shadow of the narrow canyon to cross over the rushing cataract.

That’s where we will go—Up Up UP!

Always remember: “There are no lakes in Scotland.” This lovely loch reveals the gusting mountain wind on its surface that shoved from behind, blasted from above, pleasantly cooled, and chilled me to the bone.

The loch in the saddle between the approach mountain and Ben Nevis.

Ben Nevis is the remnant of an ancient caldera. The volcanic rock field is hard on all our feet, especially Troy’s. Steep walls and sudden crevasses make this a dangerous place to wander carelessly off the trail, even on a clear day. Cairns mark the path, and the guide books all have precise compass headings to use when the cairns are too far apart to be seen in the clouds.

The upper mountain.

The summit structures include the remains of stone buildings, an old weather station, occupied by dogged scientists who took hourly weather readings for years over a century ago.

The summit of Ben Nevis.

Troy was the highest corgi in all of the U.K.

On the summit of Ben Nevis.