Stuc up The Stuc !
Posted: Mon Feb 25, 2013 1:33 pmI arrived beside Ardvorlich House around 8am and there were already a couple of cars there. You could see lots of snow on Ben Vorlich so knew it was going to ba a tricky climb near the summit. I made my way through the grounds of Ardvorlich House and onto the footpath. I walked with a young chap for a bit but felt I was maybe holding him back so suggested he could go ahead as I didnt want to hold him back. Before long he was well ahead of me and when we were chatting he told me he had done 80 Munros so was quite experienced compared to me. As i got further up the path the snow was more evident and I decided at halway to put crampons on to make it safer and quicker. I set a fairly brisk pace when on the snowy slope heading up the mountain and could see 2 climbers a good bit in the distance and it was really windy now and I could see the summit. It was completely covered in deep snow. Great weather for crampons ! I caught up with the 2 guys ahead of me and we reached the summit together and took some photos. The wind was really strong now and it would have been so easy to be blown over the side and down the mountain without crampons as it was really icy on top !
I got my first glimpse of Stuc A Chroin and it looked awesome. Last time up here a few weeks earlier you could see nothing for the thick fog so it was great to see where the next challenge was. I said goodbye to the 2 guys as they were going no further and made my way down towards The Stuc. It was quite tricky in parts due to deep snow and I caught a glimpse of the young guy who I met earlier and he was making his way towards the steepest section of Stuc. That was the sighting of him but I later saw him on my photos when I zoomed in and saw him reach the top. Eventually I reached the steepest section and followed the footprints heading up towards the top. It was quite steep and not too bad to begin with until the snow started turning to thick ice. I must have climbed a 100 feet up from the boulders and I slipped but managed to hold onto my ice axe which was stuck into deep snow and it saved me falling. I got a quite a fright but continued another 30 feet up and froze where I was! I seemed to all of a sudden lose all confidence and felt way out of my depth and knew I could go no further. I was Stuck up the Stuc !!! I done the worst thing in this situation and turned around so I was facing the bottom and then dug my heels in and managed to get my rucksack off my back and had to let it slide down 130 feet to the bottom where the boulders are.I knew that if I slipped in this position I was going down like a bobsleigh. I held onto ice axe for dear life and one heel at a time slowly inch by inch started to go down but not sure if at any moment I would just slip to the bottom and onto the boulders. It took me a painstaking 90 minutes to lower myself down to the safety of the boulders and I have never been so scared in all my life. If I hadnt panicked I could have come down properly but when you panick you just don't always react in a rational way. I was just so happy to be down safely and my left shoulder was in agony as I had been using right hand to stabilise myself for the whoule descent. I rewarded my efforts with a mars bar and plenty of water when reunited with my rucksack. I started to head back the 4 miles to the car and came accross another chap on his own and asked if he had an ice axe and he only had poles. I suggested he went up a slightly easier route and I watched him as we went in opposite directions and he made it to the top. I knew I should have gone the same way but never realised this til it was too late. It took around 2 hours to get back as the snow was deep in parts. I was so happy to get back safely and will wait til the spring before reattempting Stuc A Chroin.
I got my first glimpse of Stuc A Chroin and it looked awesome. Last time up here a few weeks earlier you could see nothing for the thick fog so it was great to see where the next challenge was. I said goodbye to the 2 guys as they were going no further and made my way down towards The Stuc. It was quite tricky in parts due to deep snow and I caught a glimpse of the young guy who I met earlier and he was making his way towards the steepest section of Stuc. That was the sighting of him but I later saw him on my photos when I zoomed in and saw him reach the top. Eventually I reached the steepest section and followed the footprints heading up towards the top. It was quite steep and not too bad to begin with until the snow started turning to thick ice. I must have climbed a 100 feet up from the boulders and I slipped but managed to hold onto my ice axe which was stuck into deep snow and it saved me falling. I got a quite a fright but continued another 30 feet up and froze where I was! I seemed to all of a sudden lose all confidence and felt way out of my depth and knew I could go no further. I was Stuck up the Stuc !!! I done the worst thing in this situation and turned around so I was facing the bottom and then dug my heels in and managed to get my rucksack off my back and had to let it slide down 130 feet to the bottom where the boulders are.I knew that if I slipped in this position I was going down like a bobsleigh. I held onto ice axe for dear life and one heel at a time slowly inch by inch started to go down but not sure if at any moment I would just slip to the bottom and onto the boulders. It took me a painstaking 90 minutes to lower myself down to the safety of the boulders and I have never been so scared in all my life. If I hadnt panicked I could have come down properly but when you panick you just don't always react in a rational way. I was just so happy to be down safely and my left shoulder was in agony as I had been using right hand to stabilise myself for the whoule descent. I rewarded my efforts with a mars bar and plenty of water when reunited with my rucksack. I started to head back the 4 miles to the car and came accross another chap on his own and asked if he had an ice axe and he only had poles. I suggested he went up a slightly easier route and I watched him as we went in opposite directions and he made it to the top. I knew I should have gone the same way but never realised this til it was too late. It took around 2 hours to get back as the snow was deep in parts. I was so happy to get back safely and will wait til the spring before reattempting Stuc A Chroin.
Glad you made it safely down in the end 
You'll enjoy it when you go back in Spring 
. Likely I'll take the easier ascent route. Good on you for wanting to get back soon