Ben Lomond

With a forecast of 60-80mph gusts and snow/hail showers we decided to head up Ben Lomond today with Chris and Hattie. The plan was to leave at '8am' so me and Keith got ready for around 8.20 as Chris's time keeping is never up to scratch. Turns out he (I say he as he was incharge of alarms) slept in, so we didnt end up leaving until 8.45! Got to Ben Lomond around 10.15 and set off at 1030 :)

 

The team

Bumbled up the first few hundred metres of ascent in the sun and a wee bit of wind to be greeted with lots of hail. Sadly Keith didn't bring any goggles, when I was packing my bag this morning he was convinced they wouldnt be required...

Silly Keith

However, I was prepared and had some mountain biking glasses in the top of my rucksack - lucky Keith. We soon stopped for lunch at a lovely spot which was sadly ruined by some dirty person who felt the need to curl a poo out and just leave it there! Could at least dig a hole. EW.

Still a bit windy!

As we got closer to the summit it got windier and windier to the point where the majority of others on the hill turned back, but since we're so hardcore we pushed on.

Pretty views

The paths leading up the last 200metres of ascent were super icy and the wind was so strong literally blowing me and Hattie over. The boys were ok cause they're fattys. We finally made it to the summit where the vis was pretty crap and there wasnt really any view...

Us at the summit

view from summit.

We then walked back down the other side of the hill and followed the tourist path back to the car park, then straight to the pub. Highlight of my day was the plate of chips and pint. Amazing :)

An Caisteal, The Trossachs National Park

Today me and Debbie went up to Crianlarich for a days hill walking. Fun times! The plan was to walk up the ridge over Sron Garbh and Twistin Hill followed by summiting the munros An Caisteal and Beinn a' Chroin.

I initially parked one parking layby too early, but soon realised and jumped back in the car along to the next one. The start of the walk was through a boggy farmers field to gain the track into the hills. I slipped and ended up knee deep in sloppy mud/bog! Thankfully it was only on my softshells and didnt go down my boots - It seems it would have been a good day for gaiters but I didnt take any - oops.

Post mud!

We then plodded on up the damp turfy ground to the summit of Sron Garbh at 709m where we stopped for some sandwiches. nom nom. The views were nice and pretty until the cloud started coming in.

 

top of Sron Garbh

wooooo, I <3 walking!

We then continued to plod along Twistin Hill where there was patches of snow cover and the path was pretty icy. Upon reaching the ascent to An Caisteal it had become quite snowy, and as everything looked pretty green from the road I hadnt packed any crampons or an axe. So after a lot of kicking steps in the hard neve we finally reached the summit at 995m. The vis had become quite crap at this point, the cloud level must have been about 850-900m and we were just above that. After having a look at the very wintery looking stuff infront of us I opted to turn back instead of continuing to the summit of Beinn a' Chroin.

view onwards from An Caisteal

We then returned via the same route as we came, getting back to the car 5hours and 55minutes after we set off. My knee is pretty sore from the descent but that is always the case :(

Nice day out though, I need a weekly hill/mountain day to get me through the week at uni it seems. Maths really isn't fun, especially since I have yet another exam on tuesday!

Here are a few more photos from the day:

more views

Debbie as 'Keith Scott'

Janey

Another Weekend in the Norries

So our plans of heading up to the ben for a few days this weekend didnt work out. The weather on saturday looked horrific so we decided to ditch winter climbing and head to the TCA glasgow boulder comp instead (which I can tell Keith was secretly more psyched for as it meant he got a long lie in bed). The comp in general was really good, as was their last one, but it was kind of irritating watching all the wall rats merely touch a hold as they fell off, turn around to their mates and say 'does that count?' mates reply 'yes that counts'. FYI the rules are to hold the hold and move off it. not slap for a touch as you're falling to the ground. So in that respect the entire thing was a total farse. It was just a good training session for us really as we have only been bouldering once since before christmas due to my horrid snowboarding injury. I came 5th and Keith came somewhere in the middle in the male seniors. Several people scoring higher than him did so in a very unhonest manor, as we actually watched them fall off things both Keith and I had onsighted. but hey ho, thats indoor climbing for you!

Anyway, today (Sunday) we opted to head up to the norries. Not very exciting to be honest, but the weather was drastically better on the east, so wasnt much of an option. The corries were absolutely heaving! I have never seen the place so busy (and it is always busy). There must have been about 300+ people!

We headed up to Mess of Pottage, and the only free route was Yukon Jack (IV 5 *). Upon reading the guidebook afterwards, this route is graded for ice. There was no ice. Keith was leading the first pitch, there was absolutely NO gear. 2 rubbish nuts, a hex, and dodgy bulldog in 20metres. Doesnt really sound like a grade IV - and that was after the epic powder clearing. After 1.5 hours of me freeeezing at the belay Keith managed to climb up an overhanging face (off route) to get some gear to bail from! The guy I was speaking to at the base of the crag was having a good laugh telling me he has several mates who've attempted the route and thought it was at least a V 6 under powder. Keith found it much harder than The Message which is tech 6. hmmm.

Keith on pitch 1 of Yukon Jack

Once that epic was over and done with, we headed over to join the last people in the queue for Hidden Chimney Direct (IV 5 **) - an actual IV 5. After hanging about having a wee snack, I set off to lead the crux pitch. Was quite tricky, but not as hard as Central Crack route (another IV 5) that we did a few weeks ago. I got scared on the easy snow slope near the top of the pitch after all the hard climbing was done, for some reason there was a lot of 'watch me Keithy' and actual screams at this bit haha. We then decided to ab off the insitu tat so that we could both lead the crux pitch instead of queue to climb the grade 3 bit above. It also avoided the walk back down the hill, a definate bonus. 

Janey on P1 of Hidden Chimney Direct

We walked off the hill and back to the car before dark, then decided to head back to Edinburgh instead of camp and climb tomorrow as we're knackered and I do have an exam on tuesday I really should be revising for.

posing for a photo on the walk out

Janey and Keith