Walkhighlands

At last after looking at it for ages and always finding a reason to put it off ,Ben More was getting done today!Just the sheer steepness of the direct route never appealed to Ian or me and after missing out on our attempt a couple of weeks ago when we tried from the south it was decided that we would bite the bullet and get up there before the winter .Looked at many reports for an easy way and taking on some sound advice from Pollyh we headed to the end of the farm track and started up towards the bealach between ben more and stob binnienPath here was boggy in places but we've seen worse recently had a cuppa at the bealach and then pushed on to Ben MoreGot to the top in about 2 hours 20mins spoke with one guy just before the summit and a good blether with two guys on the top who were heading on to stob binnien,bit windy up here and no much to see but at least it wasn't raining All that remained was the steep path down And it was pretty steep likes,first part of the path was pretty good but further down it got boggy and slippy but the views opened up and we met a few folk toiling there way up ,so glad we went the tother way round (sound advice polly All in all not as bad as we expected might even do it again on a better day ,4 and a half hours and into the ben more hotel for customary pint and discussion about where next week

Nice one, well done you guys.......been putting this one off myself for sometime now after looking at it for years....know your feelings that way. We have it pencilled in with friends now though and looking forward to it very much!

Will it be straight up the front Bod? Tried to do Stob Binnien and Ben More a couple of weeks ago from Inverlochlarig,got to Stob Binnien but the weather got the better of us that day,worth looking at this option though

I think I will be taking your route and trying to work in the two....cheers again

pigeon wrote:Will it be straight up the front Bod? Tried to do Stob Binnien and Ben More a couple of weeks ago from Inverlochlarig,got to Stob Binnien but the weather got the better of us that day,worth looking at this option though

Crikey 'sound advice from pollyh' !!! There's a phrase you wont hear too often

Glad to be of help! X

Heading to Carn Gorm tomorrow, hopefully I'll get a dryish day

Hi Bod & Val

Bod wrote:Nice one, well done you guys.......been putting this one off myself for sometime now after looking at it for years....know your feelings that way. We have it pencilled in with friends now though and looking forward to it very much!

Do you think we have a chance of doing this walk this year? I'll be looking for a window of opportunity. Until then its Bishop Hill and Benarty Hill with Su and Ruby!

That's a nice round Polly ,i see that will take you to the half century

Sounded good in the report thats another climb Mrs Bayne oldest son is not doing but all in all ended up a good day

managed to register big fella. at last

happygillmour wrote:managed to register big fella. at last

Get that bagging map filled in quick

pigeon wrote:That's a nice round Polly ,i see that will take you to the half century

Alas not- deer culling!

And then weren't joking! Arrived to find the place swarming with Basil Rathbone lookilikes with big rifles

Headed down to Meall Ghaordaidh instead

Hopefully getting back up to Glen Lyon at the weekend

All the talk of unrelenting steepness i've heard has put me off wanting to do this until i'm really fit and up for it, but this report makes it seem not too bad. Think i'll leave it til next year's nicer weather, but you've chipped off a few layers of dread for me!

pollyh33 wrote:

pigeon wrote:That's a nice round Polly ,i see that will take you to the half century

Alas not- deer culling!

And then weren't joking! Arrived to find the place swarming with Basil Rathbone lookilikes with big rifles

Headed down to Meall Ghaordaidh instead

Hopefully getting back up to Glen Lyon at the weekend

That's a bummer,i thought all that stalking caper finished a couple of days ago

nathan79 wrote:All the talk of unrelenting steepness i've heard has put me off wanting to do this until i'm really fit and up for it, but this report makes it seem not too bad. Think i'll leave it til next year's nicer weather, but you've chipped off a few layers of dread for me!

It's no that bad Nathan,we only done Ben More mind,it would be an extra few hundred metres to take in Stob Binnien as well.Is the forecast for nice weather next year

Well done pigeon - pity about the weather but you're fairly racking them up now

We went up the direct route from Benmore Farm to climb Ben More and Stob Binnein - then took a very direct route down from Stob Binnein sliding much of the way as it was in the snow. Don't remember the direct route up being that bad but then again it was nearly a quarter of a century ago with much, much younger legs

Good effort Pigeon. I did both these hills about three winters ago from the Stob Binnein approach. Had great weather until I started the plod up Ben More, when the clag descended. Visibility was so bad, and the combination of thick mist and thick snow meant I plodded straight past the summit and was heading down the other side a short distance. These two are steep blighters, but your report has added them back on to my ever expanding winter 2011/12 to-do list

Bring on the snow