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My call 'who fancies a hill on Saturday' was answered by Lynne, Gary and Tommy. The requirements however were rather difficult. I had just recovered from a back injury and wanted to start with something not too hard, Lynne who had been out of action since July 24 had requested the shortest hill walk possible and for Gary and Tommy we just had to find a hill neither of them had done previously.
Having shared loads of maps and reports, Meall nan Subh was the winning hill of the day. I don't think anyone of
us had ever heard about Meall nan Subh before, but reading though a few trip reports it did looked easy enough and filled all the requirements.
One we had all gathered in Killin at 10am, we made our way towards the new car park at the end of the road about a
kilometer away from Kempock farm. We were really surprised that only 2 other cars were parked here...but it was nice to get parked without any issues. Back in the days some people took the private road up to the 500m mark, however, now two lockable gates on route and a truly horrific potholed road, probably means that the days anyone will drive up there with a car are over.
- The start of the walk
- The road up the hill
We left the car and made our way up the private road. With a lot of banter and an easy incline we truly took our time
and just enjoyed to be out in the hills again. Checking once in a while where we were, we finally reached the fence
that marked the starting point to leave the road and find a path up hill.
- The climb up the hill begins
There was no cairn or track and making our way up the hill, we followed more deer tracks than anything that resembled something where people might have walked before, but it was still easy enough.
- Ladies and gentlemen...its this way
- Snow was getting deeper
- Views were promising on the way up, looking west
Around the 600m mark the snow started and the visibility was pretty good. My last few hill walks had been
completely in clag, that any kind of visibility was a welcome change. Navigating deep snow fields, followed by areas
that were completely free of snow, Gary managed to find the local 'mud spa bath' and sank with one leg, knee deep
into thick wet frozen mud.
Not the easiest to get out of, but once we made sure that he was ok, we continued.
When we reached the summit, most of the furthest hills were covered in show and dark snow clouds were looming in the near distance. Trying to take a group picture with my camera ended up a nightmare, as I started to get all sorts of error codes. Cursing I took the camera apart and back together and my that time I managed a photo the views had clearly disappeared and snow started to fall.
- Zero visibility, but still happy
- Getting cold
Standing together with our backs facing the wind and snow, we had lunch and required all the layers we had brought to stay warm. When we finished lunch we started walking around the summit taking the odd photo. Lynne who was pretty frozen started to clap her gloved hands together to get her circulation moving, looking at her I thought good idea and clapped too.
Looking around we suddenly saw that the low cloud and fog started to disappear in the distance and within a few minutes incredible views started to open up.
- It looked promising (after loads of clapping)
Forget about the rain dance...who knew the cloud removal clap was a thing
Guys lets clap ! One of us shouted out and so we all stood at the cairn in a row and clapped our hands like maniacs.
- Clapping in unity
We were in stitches with laughter
, but it worked...within a couple of minutes the clouds had disappeared. Needless to say we were now 'totally' convinced that the cloud clap worked and had a few encores while everyone rushed to get photos and more photos...what a glorious day it had turned out to be and it was getting better and better and the cold was soon forgotten. At the end we probably stayed for half an hour, just marveling at the views (and
)
- Amazing views towards the east
- What a day
- Over towards the west
- Pano
Dragging ourselves away from the summit, we were surprised how uniformed the countryside looked on the way down. With a lot of 'I think we walked along here' and ' I remember that pointy hill over there' we made our way slowly back. Next it was Lynnes turn to find the burn under the snow and ended up with one leg knee deep in freezing cold water. Nothing beats a wet boot in winter!
We continues wary and bypassed everything that looked like a hidden stream or lochan (not that easy with the snow cover high on the mountain ) Luckily for the rest of us, that was the last encounter and we were happy when we reached the road again.
- On the way down
The way back seemed to have doubled in length, but since it was all down hill, it was easy enough.
Having probably broken all records for the slowest climb (we blamed all the blethering and frequent stops) we were
back at the car park 5.5h after setting off.
And if you find yourself in clag the next time, don't forget a
it might just clears the view, specially if you find others to join in
