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 :)