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
Càrn Eige Càrn Eige Càrn Eige, sometimes spelt Càrn Eighe, is a mountain in the north of Scotland. At an elevation of above sea level, it is the highest mountain in northern Scotland (north of the Great Glen), the twelfth-highest summit above sea level in the British Isles, and, in terms of relative height (topographic prominence), it is the second-tallest mountain in the British Isles after Ben Nevis (its "parent peak" for determination of topographic prominence). The highpoint of the historic county of Ross and Cromarty, it is the twin summit of the massif, being mirrored by the Mam Sodhail, to the