free to be able to rate and comment on reports (as well as access 1:25000 mapping).
Hadn't managed to get any snowy days out over the winter by this point due to some extreme working hours so was very excited to finally have a day off with potential for snow. Set off from Dalrigh on my bike, anticipating a day of glorious sunshine (as predicted by the met office). It wasn't a terrible day weather wise but the predicted blazing sunshine never really materialised, and instead the first few hours were plagued by thick cloud which never really lifted until after I'd left the summit of Lui.
Having dumped my bike at Cononish, I marched up to the corrie at the base of the central gully on Lui and decided to attempt the ridge which skirts around the left hand side. I'd done the right hand ridge in summer but never the left and it looked doable on the map. There was a lot of very soft snow, knee deep in places and it made for pretty challenging going. I reached the ridge and headed upwards. It got very steep. I started to doubt whether I'd made a sensible decision and those doubts were amplified when I reached the bottom of a very steep section of rock, which in summer would make a fun scramble, but covered in loose snow looked more than I was comfortable with. Having promised my husband I wouldn't do anything silly while solo walking I decided that it would be more sensible to drop 50m and skirt around the bottom of some crags which would take me to a less steep section with less rock. This turned out to be much more manageable and allowed me to rejoin the ridge slightly further up where there was still some scrambling on snowy rock but nothing which felt unsafe. I reached the summit to find a few other folk who had come up from the other side, all lurking around hoping for a break in the cloud. I joined them, hoping that the met office were just a bit off with timings and the cloud would lift but with my Raynaud's kicking in very quickly in such situations, even with my heated gloves I didn't fancy spending much more time up there and soon headed down towards the bealach with Oss.
Of course as soon as I reached the lowest point I looked back to see a cloud free Lui. There was much less snow on Oss and Dubhcraig, no need for axe or crampons but still great views back over Lui and no cloud to obscure the surroundings. I didn't see anyone else after that and slowly made my way round over Oss and up Dubhcraig before dropping down back towards Cononish. I was very happy to see my bike and felt that inevitable smugness as I sped past a few groups of walkers trudging back out to Dalrigh. Will definitely be going back and trying that ridge again either with no snow or after the snow has frozen a bit harder.
