Winter walking on Ben Chonzie

[SMRussell]

We'd purposefully been saving Ben Chonzie for winter given its relative ease and for various reasons Sunday the 11th became the day for it. However we'd also been umming and ahhing about whether we should do the straight forward Glen Lednock walk, a circular walk from the dam at Loch Turret or an even longer circular walk from the dam but including the Corbett Auchnafree Hill. In the end I'd been working late Saturday night (only making it to bed at 04.20) which meant I only crawled out of bed at 09.40 - given the small number of day light hours and my minimal amount of sleep we thought the straight forward walk would be the best option. We were not alone in taking on this route passing about 14 other people that day.

Friends of ours had bagged An Socach (Braemar) the day before and having heard tales of a snowy wonderland we were hoping the Perthshire hills would be as magical as the Cairngorms. To begin with things didn't look too promising we could see lots of brown and black poking out through what snow we could see and the ground was very icy, but the higher we ascended the better it got with some patches of snow up to my waist (I'm only 5"2 so not really that big a deal). I think my partner - who I'v witnessed losing a leg into a sink-hole on more than one occasion - enjoyed watching me disappear into the snow, he particularly enjoyed my rather ungraceful crab-crawl to get out of the deepest sections

This was our first bagging experience in icy conditions - my Kahtoola MICROspikes were on pretty sharpish and worked a treat I might add. My walking partner put on his crampons for a while due to the ice but soon had to take them off once we gained some height and thus softer snow - my spikes stayed on the whole time.

An icy start

some softer snow

As my partner was removing the crampons we noted a rather ominous snow cloud approaching. We were only about 50 mins from the top when the cloud caught us and resulted in poor viability.

That snow cloud

The wind picked up and once we'd got to the fence posts close to the summit (which really were helpful in those conditions) my goggles were on - and with the cold wind stayed on for a few hours. The summit was really icy and at first we weren't treated to any views but eventually the clouds cleared and we got a glimpse of Loch Turret.

Handy fence posts to guide us

Me on the top

The top

The cloud clearing

A glimpse of Loch Turret

With the snow cloud having passed over the walk back down enabled us to take in the views we missed on the way up and finding ourselves alone on the hill we took a little time to play around in the deep snow and take some snaps

Modeling the winter look

Views on the way down

This was a nice walk and I'm glad it was done under winter conditions as I think the Glen Lednock route would have been a tad on the dull side if it wasn't for the ice and snow. If it had been a long warm summer day the longer circular route would probably have been the way to go - perhaps next year.

[monty]

Nice report Smrussell,
Ben Chonzie looks so much better in the snow.

[pollyh33]

Well done on such a great report.

I was up there in June and saw absolutely nothing!!! Not even the fenceposts until I was about 10 feet away from them

Hope you had a good sleep when you went home

[SMRussell]

I was up there in June and saw absolutely nothing!!! Not even the fenceposts until I was about 10 feet away from them

Hope you had a good sleep when you went home

The fog this summer was awful (as most of my walk reports will show! I'm still bitter about Ben MacDui ). Thanks Polly despite the gross lack of sleep I just about managed to stay awake on the way home and through a shop at Tesco (must have looked like a zombie) before zonking out at home. Great little winter walk though.

[Fudgie]

Looks like you had similar weather to what I had today although it looks to have cleared for your descent. I could tell there had been a lot of people on the hill by the number of footprints. I'm glad to see you enjoyed it as much as I did.

[dooterbang]

Always great fun to be playing around in the snow - we had a sledge out with us on Saturday

[SMRussell]

Always great fun to be playing around in the snow - we had a sledge out with us on Saturday

Sledging on Munros sounds ace. We were just rolling around in it like a pair of hyper children on Christmas morning but think I might just have to invest in a wee sledge to take with me this weekend!

[smudger71]

I was up there with my son on sunday, i remember seeing you and your partner (wearing a yellow waterproof jacket) making your way up. we got lucky and must have had one of the few clear moments on the summit that day and even got to practice Ice axe arrests on the way down...

its not a bad route to do in the winter although the ice made it interesting at the start. you looked to be motoring up in those ice spikes...

My son was moaning that i didnt let him wear his crampons and you guys had yours on!

[SMRussell]

I was up there with my son on sunday, i remember seeing you and your partner (wearing a yellow waterproof jacket) making your way up. we got lucky and must have had one of the few clear moments on the summit that day and even got to practice Ice axe arrests on the way down...

its not a bad route to do in the winter although the ice made it interesting at the start. you looked to be motoring up in those ice spikes...

My son was moaning that i didnt let him wear his crampons and you guys had yours on!

Ha! That's brilliant! I remember passing you and your boy - I commented to my yellow jacket wearing partner that it was good to see a little one out in the hills! How many of the big ones has be bagged?

I certainly was on a mission once my spikes were on! With all that ice lower down I'm a little surprised you two didn't crampon up - or maybe we aren't as hardy and sturdy as the smudgers!

[smudger71]

ha ha. we managed to avoid most of the ice on the way up by going off piste...and then it got slushy higher up and didnt need them...i am sure by this weekend it will be a lot crispier and we will get plenty of opportunities to use them through the rest of the winter!!!

Chonzie was his 101st munro! which he proudly tells everyone who asks!

[SMRussell]

Chonzie was his 101st munro! which he proudly tells everyone who asks!

And I'm sure his father proudly tells everyone who asks also

That's great - must have been walking from quite a young age. Makes my 43 seem pitiful

[dogplodder]

Nice to see this one with winter coat on.

Quite a contrast to how it looked in May!

[smudger71]

ha ha... dont know wot your talking about.....

to be honest i forget how young he is...he is already demanding to go out again next week!!!!

43 will soon turn into 143 ill bet....