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I am a novice hill walker and this was my first attempt at Ben Vorlich and first snow on Ben Vorlich or any hill for that matter, so this is a novice eyes view of this hill, would appreciate the feedback on what I done right or wrong?!
Arrived Inveruglas visitor center at 8am and walked in taking about one hour to do so, it was a fine crisp morning and I was all alone with the sheep - more on that later! Read the route plan on this website and eventually found the small cairn of stones at the side of the road, started up and after a few meters my right leg dissapeared up to mid shin into a bog - I did read it was a wet walk to begin with but this was just nonsense, lucky I had some good gaitors on and they saved my foot getting a good soaking. Tried several ways around it and all were very wet - returned to road and had a good look at the hill side. walked on down a hundred meters or so until the next stream where some manmade culverts are, looked up and decided that I would give it a go until I met with the path further up. So off I went, it was all grass/heather and not too steep and taking my time it was an enjoyable assent, I spotted a small sadle and aimed for that and hey presto popped up exactly on the path. This is where I met my new friend - Phil the sheep, he was only 10 feet away and just stood and look at me - we exchanged phone numbers and arranged to go for a curry!!!!. Turned left and followed the path, it was not long until it started to get frosty with frozen puddles etc... all of a sudden you climb out of a sheltered path into a very cold strong wind - again all new to me, I instantly felt the cold bite me and freeze my hands, I was wearing base layer, micro fleece and windstopper fleece on top, but still felt the cold, there was a large boulder so hid behind it and assessed what I should do. Decided to put on Gortex over jacket, wooly hat and gloves, had a drink and a cereal bar and set off again.
It was not long before the ground was covered with snow and ice, and I had to be careful with my footing, eventually the snow and ice became very cautionary and I stopped, it was getting hard to walk without slipping - was not a problem as I had nowhere to slip too except taking a fall and getting injured and this is what I was concerned about. I did get advice on what to do by an experienced climber from my workplace but that does not negate the requirement for a winter skills course etc.. he advised looking just of path for soft snow and cut my steps as I went along, I did this and found it safe a easy to make progress. I probably took a lot of time but eventually I reached the cairn but it was windy on the open ground, made a quick trip to the large stone cairn a few hundred meters away. By this time a few people had caught up with me and they did not have crampons on either, I asked and they said it was not necessary due to easy progress in the soft snow??? took a few pictures spent about 15 minutes just looking - it was very nice indeed. The wind suddenly picked up and doubled in strength where it was actually pushing me - time to head back to that big rock for lunch. I made my way off the sumitt and found the wind dissapear almost straight away but continued down to below the big rock. Stripped off back to sensible clothing, had a bite to eat while watching the world go by. Rather than go down the way I came up I followed the well worn path which was ok until bog time started, it was very wet and bogey and I would not have enjoyed walking up through this, so I kind of justified to myself the correct decision to assend further down the road - was it the correct decision?
Painless decent and took about 90 minutes, then another hour back to the car park where a warm bowl of soup at the visitor center was very much enjoyed.
For my first winter walk i think I did ok and was happy with the decisions I took, if it was much worst at the top with the amount of ice I would have turned back as even a small slip can cause big injuried. I had a very cautious head on that day and took care and attention to what and where I was going.
Please feedback any comments if I was a muppet or not.
- Winter wonderland with Loch Lomond behind
- New best friend