Ben Nevis Mid Summers Day

PS - Obviously I meant he wants to climb June 21st and come donw June
22nd!

Lynda

Lynda said:

Hi,

We're off to Scotland in a few weeks and our holiday will coincide
with Mid Summers Day, June 21st.

My husband intends to climb Ben Nevis again but has an idea he'd like
to get to the summit and spend the night there due to the amount of
light during the night/the occasion etc.

He's a sensible guy and we thought it best to ask advice first so here
goes - has anyone had done this before, is it something dozens of
people try and do and therefore not very peaceful maybe, how low
temperatures could drop at that time of year during the night - in
other words, we'd be grateful to hear pros and cons.

Any thoughts would be more than welcome.

Cheers,

Lynda

Lynda said:

PS - Obviously I meant he wants to climb June 21st and come donw June
22nd!

Lynda

Climb or walk?

--
Mike
Some pictures of the Scottish highlands here http://www.prog99.com

Hi,

Sorry, walking.

Lynda

Mike said:

Lynda said:

PS - Obviously I meant he wants to climb June 21st and come donw June
22nd!

Lynda

Climb or walk?

Lynda said:

Hi,

We're off to Scotland in a few weeks and our holiday will coincide
with Mid Summers Day, June 21st.

My husband intends to climb Ben Nevis again but has an idea he'd like
to get to the summit and spend the night there due to the amount of
light during the night/the occasion etc.

He's a sensible guy and we thought it best to ask advice first so here
goes - has anyone had done this before, is it something dozens of
people try and do and therefore not very peaceful maybe, how low
temperatures could drop at that time of year during the night - in
other words, we'd be grateful to hear pros and cons.

As for temperature the top of Ben Nevis is only a few hundred metres
short of the permanent snow line and it can snow on any day of the
year. I would have thought there would be lots of folk with the same
idea, if solitude is part of the idea it might be better to go for
Aonach Mor which have the benefit of a great view of Ben Nevis if the
cloud is playing the game :-)

You say again, did hubby walk up the tourist path last time? Perhaps
he might want to try the Carn Mor Dearg arette this time?

--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

Lynda said:

Hi,

We're off to Scotland in a few weeks and our holiday will coincide
with Mid Summers Day, June 21st.

My husband intends to climb Ben Nevis again but has an idea he'd like
to get to the summit and spend the night there due to the amount of
light during the night/the occasion etc.

He's a sensible guy and we thought it best to ask advice first so here
goes - has anyone had done this before, is it something dozens of
people try and do and therefore not very peaceful maybe, how low
temperatures could drop at that time of year during the night - in
other words, we'd be grateful to hear pros and cons.

Any thoughts would be more than welcome.

Cheers,

Lynda

Unlikely to be a major issue as long as he has warm clothes for sitting
around on the summit. I've done a whole series of midsummer
"dawn-watches" with relatively inexerpienced work colleagues. Regardless
iof the weather they've all enjoyed the experience.

Don't expect to be alone though.

druidh

Lynda said:

My husband intends to climb Ben Nevis again but has an idea he'd like
to get to the summit and spend the night there due to the amount of
light during the night/the occasion etc.

I did it on MacDhui a few years back. It was a mild calm night and not
wasn't very exciting. It took ages for it to get dark enough to try and
get some sleep and there seemed to be no clearly defined sunset and
sunrise. It wasn't very dramatic - the light just got dimmer and dimmer
and then started to get brighter again. There was nobody else up there,
maybe because MacDhui is reputed to be haunted - so perhaps Nevis will
be busier!

Jim Ford

"Lynda" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi,

We're off to Scotland in a few weeks and our holiday will coincide
with Mid Summers Day, June 21st.

My husband intends to climb Ben Nevis again but has an idea he'd like
to get to the summit and spend the night there due to the amount of
light during the night/the occasion etc.

He's a sensible guy and we thought it best to ask advice first so here
goes - has anyone had done this before, is it something dozens of
people try and do and therefore not very peaceful maybe, how low
temperatures could drop at that time of year during the night - in
other words, we'd be grateful to hear pros and cons.

Any thoughts would be more than welcome.

Cheers,

Lynda

If he doesn't mind a crowd and a piper etc the consider Lochnagar. Its
always climbed traditionally at the weekend near the 21st June and a good
humoured gaggle is guaranteed.

Dave

"Lynda" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi,

We're off to Scotland in a few weeks and our holiday will coincide
with Mid Summers Day, June 21st.

My husband intends to climb Ben Nevis again but has an idea he'd like
to get to the summit and spend the night there due to the amount of
light during the night/the occasion etc.

He's a sensible guy and we thought it best to ask advice first so here
goes - has anyone had done this before, is it something dozens of
people try and do and therefore not very peaceful maybe, how low
temperatures could drop at that time of year during the night - in
other words, we'd be grateful to hear pros and cons.

Any thoughts would be more than welcome.

Cheers,

Lynda

Small pedantic point, Mid Summers day is June 24th 🙂

You are quite right, my mistake.

Thanks for all replies so far, much appreciated.

Lynda

Bernard said:

"Lynda" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi,

We're off to Scotland in a few weeks and our holiday will coincide
with Mid Summers Day, June 21st.

My husband intends to climb Ben Nevis again but has an idea he'd like
to get to the summit and spend the night there due to the amount of
light during the night/the occasion etc.

He's a sensible guy and we thought it best to ask advice first so here
goes - has anyone had done this before, is it something dozens of
people try and do and therefore not very peaceful maybe, how low
temperatures could drop at that time of year during the night - in
other words, we'd be grateful to hear pros and cons.

Any thoughts would be more than welcome.

Cheers,

Lynda

Small pedantic point, Mid Summers day is June 24th 🙂

Bernard said:

"Lynda" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi,

We're off to Scotland in a few weeks and our holiday will coincide
with Mid Summers Day, June 21st.

My husband intends to climb Ben Nevis again but has an idea he'd like
to get to the summit and spend the night there due to the amount of
light during the night/the occasion etc.

He's a sensible guy and we thought it best to ask advice first so here
goes - has anyone had done this before, is it something dozens of
people try and do and therefore not very peaceful maybe, how low
temperatures could drop at that time of year during the night - in
other words, we'd be grateful to hear pros and cons.

Any thoughts would be more than welcome.

Cheers,

Lynda

Small pedantic point, Mid Summers day is June 24th 🙂

Eh?

druidh

Bernard said:

"Lynda" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi,

We're off to Scotland in a few weeks and our holiday will coincide
with Mid Summers Day, June 21st.

My husband intends to climb Ben Nevis again but has an idea he'd like
to get to the summit and spend the night there due to the amount of
light during the night/the occasion etc.

He's a sensible guy and we thought it best to ask advice first so here
goes - has anyone had done this before, is it something dozens of
people try and do and therefore not very peaceful maybe, how low
temperatures could drop at that time of year during the night - in
other words, we'd be grateful to hear pros and cons.

Any thoughts would be more than welcome.

Cheers,

Lynda

Small pedantic point, Mid Summers day is June 24th 🙂

The summer solstice (21st June) is the actual day on which the sun
climbs to its highest point in the sky. This was originally the day on
which people celebrated midsummer. There is still a famous summer
solstice celebration at Stonehenge, the ancient stone circle on
Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. On the night before midsummer, a group of
white-robed Druids gather at Stonehenge to watch the sun rising. As it
comes up, the sun rises exactly over the Heel Stone, one of the stones
that lies outside the main circle at Stonehenge.

With the coming of Christianity, many midsummer celebrations were moved
to the feast of St John the Baptist (24th June).

Do these johnny-come-lately Christians really think they can re-arrange
the heavens to suit some made-up calendar?

druidh

You might want to consider water too. Or the fact that the last water
avai;able is at the Red Burn about half way up

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the
wonderful person druidh <[email hidden]> said
<snip>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Small pedantic point, Mid Summers day is June 24th 🙂

The summer solstice (21st June) is the actual day on which the sun
climbs to its highest point in the sky.

/Pedant mode on

Actually IIRC it may be the 21st, or it may be the 22nd .. that's why we
have leap year's to reset it every now and then (because it got notably
out of whack a few hundred years ago).

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Google may be your friend, but groups.google.com posters definitely aren't.

"GSV Three Minds in a Can" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bitstring <[email hidden]>, from the
wonderful person druidh <[email hidden]> said
<snip>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Small pedantic point, Mid Summers day is June 24th 🙂

The summer solstice (21st June) is the actual day on which the sun climbs
to its highest point in the sky.

/Pedant mode on

Actually IIRC it may be the 21st, or it may be the 22nd .. that's why we
have leap year's to reset it every now and then (because it got notably
out of whack a few hundred years ago).

--
GSV Three Minds in a Can
Google may be your friend, but groups.google.com posters definitely
aren't.

Mid-summers day is one of the Quarterdays which are

Lady Day (March 25)
Midsummer Day (June 24)
Michaelmas (September 29)
Christmas (December 25)

See also

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarter_days
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/quarter_days.htm

Bernard said:

Mid-summers day is one of the Quarterdays which are

Lady Day (March 25)
Midsummer Day (June 24)
Michaelmas (September 29)
Christmas (December 25)

Well - that might be the belief of a certain religious minority.
Doesn't change the facts though.

druidh

"druidh" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Bernard said:

Mid-summers day is one of the Quarterdays which are

Lady Day (March 25)
Midsummer Day (June 24)
Michaelmas (September 29)
Christmas (December 25)

Well - that might be the belief of a certain religious minority.
Doesn't change the facts though.

druidh

While the dates are tied to Christian festivals, it has nothing to do with
beliefs, they are definitions.

It is a fact that if you look in various diaries, dictionaries and web sites
like the two I mentioned you will see Mid-summers day is defined as being on
June 24th..

There's none so blind. . . .

It's easy to find websites supporting your beliefs. A bit more
difficult to actually re-align the heavens though!

http://www.skandland.com/midsummer.htm

druidh

druidh said:

There's none so blind. . . .

It's easy to find websites supporting your beliefs. A bit more
difficult to actually re-align the heavens though!

http://www.skandland.com/midsummer.htm

This is like the PS seasons argument. Spring begins when....?

Mid-summer's day and the solstice are two differnt things but when the
OP says mid-summer's day on the 21st I think we will all assume that
the solstice or shortest night is what was intended.
--
Phil Cook looking north over the park to the "Westminster Gasworks"

The message <[email hidden]>
from "druidh" <[email hidden]> contains these words:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Mid-summers day is one of the Quarterdays which are

Lady Day (March 25)
Midsummer Day (June 24)
Michaelmas (September 29)
Christmas (December 25)

Quoted message said:

Well - that might be the belief of a certain religious minority.
Doesn't change the facts though.

Facts in this case seem rather elastic. The dictionary definition of a
word is usually ample proof of its meaning (or indeed in all too many
cases meanings) and while 'midsummer' definitions often include a
reference to the summer solstice 'midsummer day' still seems firmly
attached to 24th June which is perhaps not surprising give the
Christianity has ruled the roost for more than 1000 years and it is only
in the last 50 years or so that reason has started to supplant
superstition in the minds of the public at large.

However if you want to be mathematical you have a problem. Summer (per
Concise Oxford) is defined as:

"1 the warmest season of the year, in the northern hemisphere from June
to August and in the southern hemisphere from December to February.
2 Astron. the period from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox."

The middle points of these 2 periods are (approx):

1. 15th July
2. 5th August

Neither of which are anywhere close to either 21st or 24th June.

--
Roger Chapman