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Mountain Time!
Is the only time when I will bounce out of bed and blue skies and sunny weather added to my good mood. On my journey up north I picked up my my hiking buddy Michael and thanks to the company the nearly 3.5 hour journey to the starting point did not feel too long.
By the time we arrived, a freezing wind was blowing a few snow flakes across Loch an Daimh and sunshine was chasing clouds over the horizon.
Time to gear up and start the walk through the plantation towards the Stuchd an Lochain.
The start of the walk
We did not stay long on the wide path , as a wee cairn marked the start of the uphill climb. The steep path up, was covered in a thick layer of ice, which made me quite nervous, as I was still recovering from a fall on ice, which left me with a cracked Coccyx
. The path soon disappeared under a layer of snow and bizarrely most walkers had taken different routes up.
On the way up, looking back towards the dam
With no obvious route to follow we decided to take the direct approach and were soon scrambling up through the snow...great fun! Michael was soon ahead of me (his fitness level certainly better than my current one) and by the time we reached the bealach we felt the announced wind chill factor of -18 brrrrr.
But what a view!
The summit comes into view
Zoomed in Views towards the loch
The long ridge towards the summit
It was freezing! Not very often I have to wear my mega warm gloves on the way up
Another angle towards the loch
The walk toward the summit was pleasant until we saw a group of about 10 climbing the summit in a line
It was a matching picture for much higher mountains and reminded me about Everest movies
The last push towards the summit...
Impressive! Loch Lyon damn and a hell lot of water!
Summit views
Summit views
Summit views
On top of the cairn
The loch
Posing
Towards the end of the loch
Panoramic photo of the whole loch
Having taken a lot of photos, it was time for lunch and hidden away from the freezing wind we were able to enjoy some sunshine and cracking views. Eventually the cold cheeped through my layers of clothing and it was time to say good bye to the summit and walk back towards the car.
On the way back
A few lovely trees at the lower slopes
Back down
Lovely icicles