Ben Nevis the summit only to find "fragments of earthen and glass ware, chicken bones, corks, and bits of paper". It was not until 1847 that Ben Nevis was confirmed by the Ordnance Survey as the highest mountain in Britain and Ireland, ahead of its rival Ben Macdhui. The summit observatory was built in the summer of 1883, and would remain in operation for 21 years. The first path to the summit was built at the same time as the observatory and was designed to allow ponies to carry up supplies, with a maximum gradient of one in five. The opening of
Ben Nevis and Glen Coe National Scenic Area status of the other three Ramsay areas, including Ben Nevis and Glen Coe, was again not altered. In 2013 the Scottish Campaign for National Parks proposed seven areas deemed suitable for national park status, one of which was the Ben Nevis and Glen Coe area. Although named after Ben Nevis and Glen Coe, the national scenic area covers a much wider area of land, as detailed below. Much of the northern part of the NSA lies within the Lochaber region. Glen Nevis () lies in the north of the national scenic area, and runs south from Fort William. It is