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 (horse) odds of 40/1 outsider in a race run on heavy going. He was ridden by the American amateur Charlie Fenwick, a merchant banker. By the second circuit, he had taken the lead. At the last jump, he was in front by 10 lengths, and at the end of the race he won by 20. Ben Nevis became the third American-owned jumps racehorse to win the Grand National. He died of colic in early 1995 at the age of 27, and was buried alongside the 13th fence at the Grand National course in Butler, MD. In 2009 Ben Nevis was inducted