BEN NEVIS
Height:	4409 feet or 1344 metres
Location:	West Highlands, Scotland
Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the British Isles. It is located at the western end of the Grampian Mountains in the Lochaber area of Scotland's West Highland, overlooking Loch Linnhe and the fishing town of Fort William. Known affectionately by hill walkers and climbers as 'The Ben' the origin of the name 'Ben Nevis' is disputed. Ben Nevis" is an anglicisation of the Gaelic 'Beinn Nibheis'. A beinn is a mountain - fair enough - but the definitive meaning of Nibheis is elusive being variously understood as 'malicious' or a derivation of 'neamh-bhathais' (from Neamh meaning 'heavens' or 'clouds' and 'bathais' meaning 'top of the head'. A literal translation of neamh-bathais would therefore be "the mountain with its head in the clouds'. The people of Fort William and particularly those who work in the local distillery will tell you it means "Mountain of Heaven" and since its waters are used to produce the Dew of Ben Nevis whisky, perhaps they are right. The first recorded ascent of Ben Nevis was made on 17 August 1771 by James Robertson, an Edinburgh botanist. John Keats climbed the mountain in 1818, and remarked that it was like climbing "ten St. Pauls without the convenience of a staircase". Surprisingly it was not until 1847 that Ben Nevis was confirmed by the Ordnance Survey as the highest mountain in Britain ending an age old rivalry with Ben Macdui in the Cairngorms to the east. There is quite a lot of summit furniture on the top including the ruins of an observatory which was built in the summer of 1883, and which was in use for the next 21 years. In 2000 the Ben Nevis Estate, comprising all of the south side of the mountain including the summit, was bought by the Scottish conservation charity the John Muir Trust.
SCAFELL PIKE
Height:	3210 feet or 977 metres
Location:	Lake District National Park, Cumbria, England
Pike is the highest mountain in England. The peaks of the Lake District are known as 'fells' from the viking word 'fjell' for mountain. There are in fact several Sca Fells in Cumbria. Sca comes from the Viking 'skali' for shelter and it was natural enough that the mountains which provided shelter from the prevailing weather to the farmsteads in the valley would often be named thus. What is now known as Scafell Pike is actually one of three summits above 3000 feet in a range once referred to simply as the 'Pikes of Scafell'. The Scafell in question here is the neighbouring massive and imposing mountain to the south west, which is connected to scafell Pike by the narrow rock arete of Mickledore. Though this fell is from many aspects even more impressive than England's highest, particularly when its imposing northern cliffs are seen, it is some 50 feet lower than Scafell Pike, and it is the summit of the latter that draws the fell walker from every corner of the district. The Scafell group is usually described as the hub of a wheel, the wheel being the Lake District and the various mountain ranges and valleys the spokes radiating from this central point. While this is useful as a rough sketch it does not quite give an accurate picture. For one thing it does not take account of the eastern valleys such as Ulswater and the eastern ranges of Helvellyn and High Street. For another, most of the Scafell group is itself more of a spoke than a hub being the dividing range between the valleys of Wasdale and Eskdale. No matter, the image of hub and spoke, mountain and radiating lake-filled valleys, first coined by no lesser Lake District champion than William Wordsworth, is an enduring one and serves to give a handle to a complex geography.
SNOWDON
Height:	3560 feet or 1085 meters
Location:	Barc Cenedlaethol Eryri (Snowdonia National Park), North Wales
Wyddfa, also known as Snowdon is the highest peak in Wales and highest point of the United Kingdom south of the Scottish Border. The mountain and the area round about are steeped in Arthurian legend. Its name means 'The Barrow' (a burial mound) and legend has it that a giant named Rhita Fawr who was slain by King Arthur lies buried beneath. Later the Anglo Saxons named it Snow-dun meaning 'hill of snow' which before the days of global warming, was exactly what it was from November to March. Yr Wyddfa is unique among mountains of Britain in that its summit can be reached almost without any physical effort. A railway line built in 1896 climbs the long north ridge from Llanberis to within 67 feet of the top. Many hill walkers have a love-hate relationship with the Snowdon Mountain Railway. Mostly they hate the crowds it brings to the summit and the ugly summit station buildings, once described by Prince Charles as "Wales' highest slum", but on a wild day when the cloud is down and the wind is blowing it provides great shelter and on these occasions a hot cup of tea is hard to resist. Note: the 80 year old summit buildings are currently being rebuilt into something supposedly less obtrusive and the old cafe has already been demolished. so don't expect a cup of tea or shelter at the top for a while. This mountain has a character far greater than its altitude suggests and its several ridges hide lakes and cwms which can only be properly explored on foot. The ridges and the valleys between also provide routes of ascent of differing character and scenery which together with a wide variety of weather, means that no matter how many times it is climbed the experience is never the same twice.