The weekend was spent at Glenmore Lodge as a participant at the Mountain Training Association’s Winter Continual Professional Development weekend. It was interesting and the cake was included in the price. Enough said about that.
Last night (Sunday) Tom, Nick, Sarah, Sue and I all travelled from Aviemore to Crianlarich. Here we have taken a self-catering cottage for a very reasonable price.
After a late arrival last night (due to snow) we decided on a later start up Ben Vorlich in the Arrocher Alps.
We bought all the maps of the area in the local Londis (4) then off we trotted up the hill. The Avalanche forecast for today was dire. Almost all slopes were out of the question except for South and South East aspects. That said Ben Vorlich has a long and undulating ridgeline that runs on a South/South East bearing so we went and had a look.
We micro navigated our way up to the ridge then along to the summit. It was pretty grim if I’m honest. It rained heavily. There was a lot of snow on the ground and most of it was heavy and wet from the rain and a higher than predicted freezing point. However we made our way to the trig point then a further 150m to the Summit proper. Last time I was up on Ben Vorlich I didn't get to the summit (the trig point isn't the summit!).
Visibility was a bit short and time was against us, so we made the decision simply to retrace our footsteps and thus cut down on unnecessary navigation. Consequently we made a record time to the end of the ridge. It was then a case of slipping and sliding our way down the sodden heather to the access road.
As we reached the Cars by the power station on the banks of Loch Lomond full dark was setting in. Another Quality day on the Mountains.
Last night (Sunday) Tom, Nick, Sarah, Sue and I all travelled from Aviemore to Crianlarich. Here we have taken a self-catering cottage for a very reasonable price.
After a late arrival last night (due to snow) we decided on a later start up Ben Vorlich in the Arrocher Alps.
We bought all the maps of the area in the local Londis (4) then off we trotted up the hill. The Avalanche forecast for today was dire. Almost all slopes were out of the question except for South and South East aspects. That said Ben Vorlich has a long and undulating ridgeline that runs on a South/South East bearing so we went and had a look.
We micro navigated our way up to the ridge then along to the summit. It was pretty grim if I’m honest. It rained heavily. There was a lot of snow on the ground and most of it was heavy and wet from the rain and a higher than predicted freezing point. However we made our way to the trig point then a further 150m to the Summit proper. Last time I was up on Ben Vorlich I didn't get to the summit (the trig point isn't the summit!).
Visibility was a bit short and time was against us, so we made the decision simply to retrace our footsteps and thus cut down on unnecessary navigation. Consequently we made a record time to the end of the ridge. It was then a case of slipping and sliding our way down the sodden heather to the access road.
As we reached the Cars by the power station on the banks of Loch Lomond full dark was setting in. Another Quality day on the Mountains.
A gnarly old tree clinging to the side of the mountain.