April Day Trip to Ben Lomond
The forecast for Saturday 11th April promised freezing temperatures and high winds, and resulted in a couple of early call-offs.
Seven members and one guest met at the Ben Lomond car park at 9:30 on Saturday morning, and we donned our winter gear for an ascent to mark the 40th anniversary of the Club, whose first outing was an ascent of Ben Lomond in April 1986!
Iris decided to stay at low level and opted to walk 5 miles out and back along the West Highland Way.
Bob, Cornel, David, Willie, Ian and and his friend Dave, and I also set out along the West Highland Way before turning onto the hill path at Ptarmigan Lodge. The well-engineered path led us up through the re-forested woodland and out onto the open hillside where we began to feel the effects of the wind. It was not long before a stop was made to put on our waterproofs.
We continued upwards until the path levelled out at the Ptarmigan (730m). By this stage the rain had turned to hail and snow so we found a sheltered spot for lunch. We had heard from descending climbers that the snow on the ridge was quite deep, and at that point the wind speed was still rising so a group decision was made to turn around and descend by the same route.
We arrived back at the cars around 3:15 and walked the short distance to the Rowardennan Hotel where the Club’s 40th anniversary was toasted.
Although we didn't make it to the summit of Ben Lomond, a good walk with some views of Loch Lomond and the surrounding hills was enjoyed by everyone.
James Anderson
On Friday morning I met up with Allan and James and we headed north to Fort William, and on to Spean Bridge. Here we stopped at Faith's Cafe, located on the site once occupied by the Little Chef, for an excellent lunch. Although there had been promising spells of brightness, it rained most of the way along the rollercoaster road to the parking area at the western end of Loch Arkaig. The car park was deserted, except for one person flying a drone.
Waterproofs on, we set off in the rain along the Glen Dessary track for 1km before turning north up the steep track leading to the 450m col between Fraoch Bheinn and Sgurr Mhurlagain. The track soon turned very muddy and the remaining walk to Kinbreack bothy was extremely soggy. We stayed to the east of the Allt a’ Chinn Bhric to avoid crossing it closer to the bothy. As we approached the bothy, we were surprised to see smoke from the chimney. We were greeted by the sole occupant, who had come in from the Loch Cuaich dam and had managed to get a good fire going. He had crossed the swollen River Kingie to reach the bothy, apparently not without difficulty. The fire was given a boost by adding some of the coal we had carried in. The bothy felt quite cozy despite the heavy rain and strong wind outside. After dinner, various whiskies were sampled before we settled down for the night.
At around 4 on Saturday morning, we were rudely awoken by one of the fire or carbon monoxide alarms going off! I managed to drag myself out of my sleeping bag, found and silenced the alarm. As the fire was completely out and a quick check confirmed that everybody was OK, and there was no danger, we all went back to sleep. Overnight, the rivers had risen considerably and effectively separated us from our planned hills on the northern side of Glen Kingie. It was also still very windy and raining quite hard. Over a leisurely breakfast we decided that attempting to cross the rivers would not be wise and decided walk back out to the car early. The climb from the bothy back up to the col was even soggier than the previous day.
James opted for a detour to the summit of Sgurr Mhurlagain (Corbett, 880m), while Allan and I continued on to the car at a fairly relaxed pace. Crossing the Dearg Allt was a bit more challenging than on the way in but we made it across, although not without getting some extra water in our boots. However, we were getting closer to the car where a dry change of clothes was waiting. It was still raining while Allan and I got changed, but we could soon retreat to the shelter of the car. James had made good time and arrived at the car less than an hour behind us. He was rewarded by being able to change in the dry.
Having negotiated the Loch Arkaig road in the other direction, we stopped at Faith's Cafe again for coffee and cake before the journey home. It was good to get out for a night in a bothy, despite the wet weather. In terms of water volumes, it was certainly up there with our drenching trip to Loch Chiarain in 2015!
Cornel Brozio
April Weekday Walk in the Largs area
