Ben Lawers (Number 100) and Beinn Ghlas

Short day out on my own to bag my 100th Munro. Ben Lawers had been sitting in the middle of this five peak mountain range unbagged since I climbed Beinn Ghlas with John in ferocious winter conditions and turned back and the three on the other side with Chris last summer as prep for Mont Blanc.

A very busy bank holiday weekend in glorious sunny conditions. Walkers seemed to be split between those still carrying axes and crampons (presumably walkers who know the fickle conditions of the spring mountains) and family groups in trainers and jeans with no map to be seen. On this occasion the weather remained very friendly but it's easy to see how people can get into trouble.

Anyway, bagged Ben Lawers in an hour and a half from the car via the Bealach (that's a pretty good pace) had some lunch on the summit then came back over Beinn Ghlas on the descent.

Easy enough day and was back home by mid afternoon

Stuchd an Lochain

Monday 5th January 2009. First outing of the New Year and John, Robin and I headed for Stuchd an Lochain in Glen Lyon for a short day out on the winter hills since the forecast was cold, clear, sunny and superb visibility.

The long drive was spiced up as soon as we turned off the A827 and over the "B" class road to Glen Lyon. Actually on the map it's a dotted yellow line so I'm note sure it's even "B" class. It was icy and steep but my little Megane was superb and held true but I'm sure we were all happy to get to the car park at Loch an Daimh.

We headed up the hillside looking at the dark clouds coming in from the South and wondering if the MWIS had got the forecast badly wrong. We walked up the hillside and decided to make things more interesting by cutting up through the crags allowing some very minor ice scrambling up frozen burns. We stopped at a frozen waterfall that looked like someone had just instantly turned it into an absolutely beautiful static sculpture.

We pushed on through the crags into the clag and wandered up to the summit after taking a bearing. I thought we would be admiring most of the mountains in central Scotland but here we were taking compass bearings in clag.

We summited and headed back quickly since it was very cold and took a shortcut downclimbing a snowfield. The snow was superb and if it continues to remain cold Gully's like Ben Lui will be in superb condition.

A couple of pics of the Loch from the dam on the way up and down and a couple of our route through the icy crags.

Beinn Dubhchraig

I had a day off work in Lieu of some extra hours so decided to bag this hill which I'd passed last year on the way up the central gulley of Ben Lui. The carpark at Strath Fillan on the A82 was frozen solid and I genuinely nearly put my crampons on but instead hung on to the fence posts , trees and gates and slithered my way down and along the path to the forest. Reports on the Munro Magic website say that this route is very wet and boggy, not today, it was like glass as i crunched my way over the tops of the bogs and slop.

The forest at Gleann Auchreoch is stunning, not like the common dense fir plantations but a real sense of the ancient Caledonian Pine Forests of old. This would be worth a walk in itself on day if it wasn't for the nagging thought of knee deep slop in warmer conditions to get there.

Past the forest and out on the open hillside I took my time up the steep NorthEast spur of the mountain, not by choice but today my legs felt heavy, my breathing laboured and the whole thing a bit more tiring than usual. I did wonder whether walking alone on a weekday in sub zero conditions in less than perfect weather while feeling weaker than normal was a good idea but I soon realised I was just being a sap and pushed on.

It was one of those gloomy days where it never really gets light so photographs were few and far between.

Meall Ghaordaidh

Another stunningly beautiful Sunday, cold, crip and clear.

The car temperature gauge read -9degrees as we sped through Glen Dochart past the frozen Loch Lubhair and the Christmas postcard style snow laden pine trees. We parked in Glen Lochay at Tullich and set off over the frozen fields up the straightforward route. While the sun was out and we were waking on the lower slopes it felt pretty warm. As we climbed higher and the wind picked up the bitter northerly wind ripped at or faces. As we approached the summit we all had scarves pulled up and were adding extra layers as we picked out and tried to identify the hundreds of snowy summits all around us. With hats pulled low, sunglasses and scarves over faces it looked like a bank robbers day out in the hills.

In the pictures you can see the numerous paths churned through the deep snow up the hillside to the summit. Glad I did this on a clear winters day as i imagine it's a pretty boring lump in anything but these conditions.

Today it was stunning.