Monday, January 5, 2009

Ben Lomond

Looking up at the summit
It was getting late on Sunday night and I had just noticed the weather forecast for the west on Monday. Simply too good not to take advantage of it. A quick email and I managed to get the day off work. A quick phonecall and we had a plan. As it was late, we didn't want to set off super early and we had still to pack. Ben Lomond was mentioned and I wasn't too keen at first, but after a quick glance at the OS map, I saw there was a non-tourist path and this quickly changed my opinion. I had also read that it was still very much winter in the West so it would certainly be more than a walk in the park.
I found some ice!
We left Edinburgh at 8am and headed for Stirling and then across to the Trossachs. It was after 11am by the time we got walking from the car park at Meml Pier. The weather folk had come up trumps and, as predicted, it was indeed a glorious day. Little to no wind at all with only a handful of clouds in the sky. Not too cold either. We headed north passed Rowardennan, out of the wood and climbed up to Ptarmigan. The going was good and we got warm rather quickly going up the soft, steep slope. The snow-line was reached at around 600 metres and we continued on in winter conditions up to the small lochan on the Ptarmigan summit. Here we paused for a breather, had a bite and a brew, and inspected the frozen-solid water.
Approaching the top
Refreshed, we pressed on through the Bealach Buidhe to gain the north west ridge leading up the Ben Lomond's top. The going was a little slower here, as the eroded switch-back path was heavily iced up. After a brief slog, we were soon had the summit trig all to ourselves; taking in the breathtaking views all around; certainly living up to it's name of 'Beacon Mountain'. It was a little hazy but we still had a magnificent panorama of Loch Lomond and the Arrochar Alps. There was no wind and quite mild so we had a long stop; had some more grub and took quite a few pictures. It was truly beautiful up there.
As the sun started to sink low in the sky, we headed back down the Sròn Aonaich ridge via the 'tourist path'. Our descent was quite slow, as the wide path was rather icy and we narrowly avoided a number of accidents as we skited back down to Rowardennan Forest. As we approached the car park in the dark, we reflected on a great day; beaming from ear to ear.



Saturday, January 3, 2009

Allermuir and Caerketton

I had great plans to get out into the hills over the Christmas and New Year break this year, but I had quite enjoyed being able to just chill out and relax. I guess because I had been so busy at work, I was struggling to find the motivation to get out and get stuff done. As if from nowhere, the holidays were almost over so I was keen to make the most of this last weekend and hopefully sneak in a walk or two before heading back to the desk.
Saturday was a glorious morning and when I nipped out for breakfast, I noticed that the Pentlands had received a dusting of snow over night. The sight of the hills in the morning sun filled me with excitement because I knew we could be there in only 20 minutes. I ran upstairs to the flat and threw a quick pack together, then back down again and jumped into the car. We parked just off the slip road at Dreghorn junction and made our way through Chuckle Knowe. Initially, we took the track past the ranges and up the Howden Burn. But soon we left the track and headed straight up the steep slopes to the top of Green Craig. There was little movement in the air but there was certainly a nip in the air! The ground was quite firm, but not frozen. At about 450 metres up, we started crunching on the dusting of snow on the grassy hill. Carrying on up the more gradual incline, we were soon at the top of Allermuir Hill. As it was such a clear day, we were treated to stunningly clear views of Edinburgh.

Despite the views, it was rather chilly at the top. After having a short stop and snapping a few pictures, we continued east along the ridge over Byerside Hill above Windy Door Nick, down to the coll and steeply back up again to the summit of Caerketton Hill. After admiring the views once more, another steep descent took us down to Hillend.

The light was beginning to fade as we headed back to the car; passed Lothianburn and Swanston Golf Clubs and around Shearie Knowe. Back home in time for tea a very happy chappy :)