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A Blustery Ben More

A Blustery Ben More


Postby Rossco » Sun May 06, 2012 10:02 pm

Route description: Ben More and Stob Binnein

Munros included on this walk: Ben More, Stob Binnein

Date walked: 09/10/2011

Time taken: 7 hours

Distance: 9.9 km

Ascent: 1494m

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Well after trying to get my pal up the Munros for months over summer, Peter and I could finally arrange a date to conquer his first Munro after only being out once before to do the Corbett, Binnein an Fhidhleir. And having never been up at all before, my pal Jamie was also coming for his first Munro too! And what a day it turned out to be. A baptism of fire!! Or maybe a baptism of wind is a more accurate account! :lol:

So being a first outing for the two guys up Munros, I didn't want to take them on a wild goose chase off the beaten track or on an epic journey taking all day long. So a wee double of Ben More and Stob Binnein, only the highest two around the area, should be just enough to whet their appetite for more and not completely ruin them I thought.

We parked at Benmore Farm in the layby and got going after about half an hour of mucking about at the roadside getting our gear together. Was already in a good mood before we even started as a convoy of a few Ferraris and Lamborghinis drove past us! :shock: Sticking to the path this trip so it was pretty easy going to begin with until you get to a gate higher up. The track continues on to where we would return from later in the day but we left the track here for the ascent up the steep and boggy front face of Ben More.

Image
All smiles at the start! by Rossco 7, on Flickr

Image
Loch Dochart by Rossco 7, on Flickr

This part was relentless and hit us hard as we probably tackled it a bit too fast to begin with. Jamie trounced ahead of us, I lingered behind him struggling to keep up and Peter further behind me as he wasn't as fighting fit as usual either! :wink:

Very quickly jackets and almost all other layers were removed as it seemed to be a really hot day somehow!!! :? :lol:

Image
Lagging behind by Rossco 7, on Flickr

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Caught up! by Rossco 7, on Flickr

We trundled along at a decent pace after this. Further up the hill the path started to come back which made it easier but this is when the crazy winds started which slowed us back down. I had never experienced wind like it in my short hillwalking career. We were constantly being thrown about and physically abused by both the wind and rain! Jackets, hats, gloves, waterproofs were all thrown back on and head down to march onwards and upwards toward the summit.

It seemed to get a bit easier near the top but the altitude graph shows it as a fairly steady incline. Must just have been because path got easier and the wind got a bit calmer... for the meantime anyway!

We finally reached the top after about 3 hours to bag my 18th and both Peter and Jamie's 1st! :D Just a pity the weather was so horrid as there was absolutely no view at all which dampens the fun of it a bit. When we headed down the other side and down into Bealach eader dha Bheinn, the wind picked up again though so we played about in it for a while throwing rocks into the air and watching the wind launch them backwards with such force. It really was something else!

Image
Finally at the top! by Rossco 7, on Flickr

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Obligatory cairn planking by Rossco 7, on Flickr

At this point, Peter was done in and didn't want to go on to do Stob Binnein thanks to a few too many pints the night before!! :lol: We discussed it for a while and decided that because it wasn't too far to go and that Jamie and I were feeling up for it, we would both just run up and down Stob Binnein as fast as possible and leave our bags with Peter at the bealach.

So we prepared ourselves, grabbed some last minute swigs of water and went for it. Initially we were racing each other but after about 100m we both hit a brick wall and just kind of trotted on for the rest of it. But we somehow managed it up and down in 37 minutes. Including time to stop in between to take photos at the summit, throw a few snowballs at each other (which was great fun considering it was only the start of October!) and even get lost on the way back down as we missed the path and had to check the GPS to make sure we didn't veer halfway down the wrong side of the hill!

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Snowball fight in October by Rossco 7, on Flickr

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King of the hill by Rossco 7, on Flickr

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Made it in record time by Rossco 7, on Flickr

Once back to the bealach, we showed Peter the snowballs we carried down from the top which he was a bit gutted that he missed out on. Rather than going back over the top of Ben More, we took the normal route straight down to the west. No path here really so just have to make your own way for a lot of it but it was easy enough especially as the wind had died down by now. When we reached the track again it heads north to finally meet up with where we left it at the start of the day. On the way we passed a broken bridge down on the left of the track and I decided it would be a good idea to cross it for a laugh on the wonky single beams of metal still hanging across it. I always have to do something stupid! :)

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Homeward bound by Rossco 7, on Flickr

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Me thinking I'm a daredevil! by Rossco 7, on Flickr

The rest of the walk back was easy going on the track and we made it back to the car in just less than 7 hours. Not bad for a couple of first timers in the crazy weather we had! And I think both of them got the bug to keep at the hillwalking, maybe just so they could hopefully get a view from the top next time at least. :D

18 down, 265 to go...


Ben More & Stob Binnein.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts



Ben More and Stob Binnein Profile.png


http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=1321443
User avatar
Rossco
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 183
Munros:129   Corbetts:12
Fionas:6   Donalds:4
Sub 2000:7   
Joined: Apr 18, 2011
Location: Stirling, Scotland

Re: A Blustery Ben More

Postby skuk007 » Mon May 07, 2012 9:17 pm

Well done on getting your pals out on the hills, looks like you had a laugh despite the weather.
Hope it didn't put them off doing others.
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skuk007
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 1419
Munros:44   
Hewitts:8
Wainwrights:16   
Joined: Aug 24, 2009
Location: Bristol

Re: A Blustery Ben More

Postby Jamie Steel » Mon Aug 26, 2013 11:30 pm

Waw! This was some time ago with that amazing wandering backpack :lol:
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Jamie Steel
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 4
Munros:55   Corbetts:1
Joined: Aug 26, 2013
Location: Glasgow
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Re: A Blustery Ben More

Postby Rossco » Fri Apr 18, 2014 1:51 pm

Jamie Steel wrote:Waw! This was some time ago with that amazing wandering backpack :lol:


Haha just seen this comment Jamie! That backpack was a laugh.

Oops, just realised I've needlessly bumped a two year old topic. :lol:
User avatar
Rossco
Mountain Walker
 
Posts: 183
Munros:129   Corbetts:12
Fionas:6   Donalds:4
Sub 2000:7   
Joined: Apr 18, 2011
Location: Stirling, Scotland

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