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Ben Vorlich - Loch Sloy via Little Hills

Ben Vorlich - Loch Sloy via Little Hills


Postby findhornloon » Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:43 pm

Route description: Ben Vorlich via Loch Sloy

Munros included on this walk: Ben Vorlich (Loch Lomond)

Date walked: 17/06/2012

Time taken: 6.5 hours

Distance: 12.3 km

Ascent: 1064m

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Ascent of Ben Vorlich from Loch Sloy and completing a circuit by returning via the not so Little Hills and a very wet Coire na Baintighearna and onwards beyond Allt Ardvorlich. Total time taken 7h45m including stops and an adventurous short scramble in the Little HIlls. Joined on the climb this weekend with my son Leo climbing his first Munro. Weather a bit mixed, dry and dull down below but chilly with low cloud above 2000'.
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Leo enjoying a wee rest and a roll-up above Loch Sloy.

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Leo on the summit of his first Munro, pity he can't enjoy the view.

After a quick cup of tea we check our map and take a bearing then head off with the GPS through the mist keeping well clear of Coire na Baintighearna to the south so we can follow the ridge line of the Little HIlls and its interesting shapes.
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From the Little Hills we see across Coire na Baintighearna so we are on the right line.

Really enjoyed the walk along the Little HIlls, lots of interesting rock formations, lochans and variety of topography and the mist cleared giving some great views of Loch Lomond and Ben Lomond.
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A glimpse of Loch Lomond with the Ben in the mist beyond.

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One of the many lochans to be found between the summits.

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Some of the little boulders in the LIttle HIlls.

Care needs to be taken when descending from the Little Hill summits, one they are not so little and two some of the crags slope in such a way hand holds are downward facing making scrambling tricky. Leo was temporary stranded half way down and had trouble retracing his steps to go back up and take the long way around.
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If I had seen this 20m crag from this side I would have gone around it.

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Leo finally makes it after a 10 min detour around the crags.

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Our only view of the summit all day, taken from Allt Ardvorlich waterfall.

We decided to shorten our return route by heading down from the last summit towards Allt Ardvorlich and its waterfall, big mistake. After the waterfall it became increasing rough going due to the steep boggy ground having been churned up by sheep and cattle most of the way downwards to the road and railway, stopping for a break was a no-no due to clouds of hungry midgies - all part of a great day's adventure in the Scottish hills.

Ben Vorlich.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts

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findhornloon
Scrambler
 
Posts: 89
Munros:57   Corbetts:5
Fionas:4   Donalds:1
Sub 2000:4   
Islands:13
Joined: May 23, 2012

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