Ben and Stu messing around
on the Tarmachan Ridge

This was another walk done with the hiking club. I was keen to get lots of pictures taken. In the end I only got one photo taken - and even that wasn't a scenic one. I add insult to injury, the two nights there were filled with stars, grrrrrr!

It made a change to go up in a minibus rather than a coach - I didn't have that sleepy feeling on Saturday though the broken exhaust on the minibus was a discomfort turning the bus into a tin full of engine noise!

I intended to repeat the seven munros around Ben Lawers on Saturday after seeing a weather forecast for brightening weather. I awoke to the new forecast at 7am - 60 to 70mph winds with moderate to heavy rain. I went straight back to bed!

I decided to do the refresher winter skills session with the rest of the group. Our plan was to climb Ben Lawers via the northeast corrie direct before continuing to Beinn Ghlas and then descend to the visitor center car park.

We started on the A827 and ascended a track that contoured round the south slopes of Ben Lawers to the dam on Lawers Burn. The mist was down to 450m and was accompanied by moderate drizzle that is excellent at soaking your clothes under even the best jackets! We left the track to ascend to Lochan nan Cat. The ground was very soggy and squishy and somewhat remeniscent of many welsh mountain approaches!

We ascended by the stream into the northeast corrie and soon hit the snow fields. I could sense the ground getting steeper and steeper - time to get the ice axe out. At this point the snow wasn't too steep but it soon did get steeper though the snow was still moist enough to kick good steps into.

The slopes became more expansive and I could see steep bluffs looming ahead - imtimidating seen from here though not a problem. I moved off the snow. There was ice on the edges of the snow patches making moving on and off difficult. Now the slope had settled down into uniform steepness (still very steep) dissapearing off into the mist. It's important not to stare into the murk as it can be off putting. Instead I concentrated on my footsteps - with reason - the snow ws harder and so the steps created were smaller.

We could hear the wind as we closed in on the summit ridge and then the slopes tapered away to the relative safety of flat ground again. We were now exposed to the gales - not strong enough to buffet - but unpleasant. We reached the summit and Tom showed us how to do an avalanche test. We continued on the easy ridge across to Beinn Ghlas along a well worn path before dropping down seamingly endless slopes to the Car Park. Time to go back to the hostel for food, dry clothes and warmth.

We were promised sunshine and scattered showers for the morning. We we got instead was cloud, cloud and more cloud! We intended that this should be a morning walk as storms were forecast for the early afternoon.

We reached the main top after some bog trotting. Only the final slope had snow steep enough to require an ice axe. Creep lines were forming on these slopes. It was time for the mitts again. The freezing level was now on the tops so the ground was quite hard.

We continued over the slopes of Meall Garbh with its narrow crest and very steep descent to the next bealach. I dropped my trekking pole whilst doing this scramble but soon retrieved it.

We climbed the final summit and then speedily descended via snow slopes off to the track to get us back to the car. Time to hit the tea shop before going home. A disspointing weekend but still better than staying in Manchester.