The view east on the way up to Beinn Narnain

Ben Vane seen from the south

It was to be a super long hike for winter time, I was up one hour before the rest of the hiking club was up and set off around 8.15am. The hostel was cold with it being 9 degrees in the dining room so winter clothing was on straight away.

The day was showery though fortunately cold. Fresh overnight snow turned the mountains from summer back into temporary winter. The ascent to the first summit was largely up grassy wind blown slopes. Only the last 300m of ascent provided interest with steep slopes, nearby crags and huge boulders. The rest of the walk went quickly. As usual, lack of drink slowed progress down in the middle of the day after Beinn Ime.

Good views were abundant between the frequent showers but only limited to around 10km at best before another bank of cloud obscured the view. The winds increased to gale force for the final summit, progress was precarious on the icy summit rocks. The freezing level rose during the afternoon and thus much of the snow was removed. The walk back to the road via Succoth was tiresome though fast. A good achievement that day.

The walk was short and was just the ticket for an otherwise rainy windy day. Going up the sheltered side was a good move as the summit ridge was exposed to 90mph gusts. I was slow going up, the winds and prolonged heavy showers didn’t help. I contemplated turning back just 400m from the summit due to the wind strength, though I packed away loose items (map etc) and carried on without fear of loosing things. The winds were the strongest I’ve ever met and added flavour to an otherwise short day.

The next trip I made was in Easter thanks to the pestering and press ganging I suffered to go to the Annual Dinner. I would have otherwise gone to climb summits around Bridge of Orchy, never mind I suppose.