Ben Challum

Club Sunday.

7 showed up for a walk out and Ben Challum was decided upon at the car park at Crainlarich mainly due to the fact that 4 of the 7 hadn't been up the hill before (myself included)
Crampons and ice axes were carried but ultimately not used even though by 700 - 800m or so the ground was very solid and the patchy snow cover was iced solid on the North facing banks of the hill. At 3 hours we had a very leisurely wander to the top through more snow than any of us imagined, great views in all directions and the wander back down again saw us back at the car in 5 hours. Easy Peezy Lemon Squeezy day under great pleasant wintry conditions.

An Caisteal & Beinn a Chroin

We'd been saving these two "nearby" hills since last year for a day like today. No need to get up stupidly early and only an hour from Glasgow. So setting off from the layby at 10:30a.m. we wandered (sorry squelched) through the first soggy bit and up the path to the base of the mountain proper. A fairly regular incline leads right up onto the ridge that connects Sron Gharbh to Twistin Hill then An Caisteal herself. We were surprised to see a good couple of inches of snow at the summit and we enjoyed the first snows of the season like a couple of giggling schoolkids.
On round South Easterly the East and over some delicious rocky outcrops that weren't in the scrambling league but pleasant enough to get both hands on some rock and therefore walking pole between the teeth. After some navigation training for John we passed the two false summits, both with cairns to confuse novices in the clag, and on the the East (proper) summit in exactly the estimated time.
A steep descent Coire Erb and long muddy walk back along the River Falloch finished the day just as it got dark.

14km, 6 hours at a leisurely pace.