PAST IMPERFECT:Climbing to the top of Ben Nevis in a car may sound impossible; not so a century ago
IN 1911, a young man by the name of Henry Alexander announced to the world that he was going to drive a motor car to the summit of Britain’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis, in Scotland.
Was he going to use a specially prepared vehicle to make the climb? No, Alexander was going to use a common-or-garden 20hp Ford Model T which any motorist could buy.
The Alexander’s ran cinemas and dance halls in and around Edinburgh and had recently added a Ford Agency to their other enterprises. The Ben Nevis drive was intended to prove to a wary Scottish market that the Ford, although slight in appearance, was fully up to the toughest test that any owner could throw at it in Britain.
After a reconnaissance of possible routes, none of which looked particularly promising, Alexander set out from a farmhouse on the Spean Bridge Road, a few miles east of Fort William, on May 9th 1911.
Alexander’s initial target was the Half-Way House, a climb along some five-and-a-half miles of rock-covered moorland, bog and raging water courses. The little Ford slowly bumped its way along the course, helped by a team of workmen who cleared boulders, blasted rocks and on occasion, laid wooden planks across streams or marshy ground. Eventually, the Half-Way House was reached.
The rest of the journey would follow what was known as the Pony-Track, a rough path about 4ft wide. Here, the path became steeper as well as narrow and often dangerous.
At around 3,000ft, the route zig-zagged along several ridges, all of which were blanketed in snow which lay about 4ft deep. At this point, Alexander was close to admitting the challenge was too great for him and his Ford. But he kept going, and with great difficulty, reached the table-land of show. From here, it was another 400ft to the summit. This last stretch proved immensely difficult because of the depth of snow, but by laying a track, the summit was finally reached after five-and-a-half days of adventure.
Back in London, Ford executives were rubbing their hands in glee at this unexpected free publicity and quickly arranged for a special train to bring journalists from London to Fort William. There, the Fleet Street men were somehow persuaded to climb the mountain on foot. Those that couldn’t soon found themselves seated on horses thoughtfully provided by Ford. At the summit, pedestrians and horsemen milled around the little Ford, which upon close examination, appeared to have made its extraordinary climb without a single scratch. Photographers and film-makers recorded the scene and before long it was time for the Ford to begin its descent.
If anyone thought the whole thing an elaborate hoax, the descent soon convinced them that the Ford was the real deal. As one observer put it: “Looked at from in front, the car seemed literally to leap towards you, from behind, to jump and bump and hurl itself from one boulder to another. The brakes, springing, steering wheel and the entire mechanism worked in one fine harmonious whole, while the man sat easily at his gigantic task.”
The Ford was examined in detail upon its triumphant return to Fort William and was found to need no adjustments. Years later, Alexander repeated the remarkable feat, which has since has been achieved just three times.
