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Had a view of Beinn an Lochain the other week from Ben Donich, thought it looked like it had a bit of character and after looking up the reports on here (thanks again guys) I decided to give it a go today, weather report was good so I left Glasgow at around 10:45 arriving at the starting point at around 12ish. I took my girlfriends camera with me this time as it would save me draining my battery on my camera phone although I did end up using both cameras to compare the quality between them.
- Setting off
This was the stream you have to cross at the begining managed it without falling in, was prepared for it to be boggy after reading the reports however it wasn't boggy at all, a bit soft in places but pretty firm. The path is faint here but easy to follow and the begining of the ridge is unmissable. Once on the ridge the path is very well defined, steep though.
- Path
- gettin steeper....
- And steeper....
- Views early on were impressive
Very quickly I realised this was a differnt beast to Ben Donich, much more hands on and relentless than its neighbour and more like the sort of walk/climb that I was looking for. All the extra hard work was rewarded with more impressive views than you get on Ben Donich, probably why I ended up taking over 170 photos! Anyway like I was saying you dont get much in the way of respite on the ascent its just keeps getting steeper! Was thinking this would be a nightmare in bad weather especially on the descent. luckilly for me however the weather couldn't have been any better!
will let the pictures do the talking for a bit
There comes a point where you actually have a descent but any relief you feel is soon blown away by the realisation that the path goes straight up what has appeared in front of you
- this will hurt
It wasnt actually that bad of an ascent up this part. Lots of mild scrambling stopped me thinking about my sore knees and kept me occupied and you ascend remarkably quickly only to then be greeted by this
- his will hurt even more
- I shake my fist at you, you bloody steep mountain
Exhausted after shouting obscenities at the mountain for 5 whole minutes, I set off again up the final ridge, It was definately a bit more exposed on the last section which although very steep made it my favourite part of the climb.
At the top!
The descent was easier than I thought very sore on the knees though, All in all, a great way to kill an afternoon will definately be returning here at some point.