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Well then, what can I say about this little walk then? First thing to say is that we were not best equipped for this snowy one (no ice axe or crampons) and we fully expected to have to turn back as the snow was clearly thick nearer the summit.
However we set off optimistically and, after we had given some advice to a West Highland Way walker who was clearly lost, we got "tore right in" (sorry, I was born in Glasgow)
The start of the climb at Inverannan is a sweat breaker right away, before it levels out for a fair bit pretty much until you get near the snow line. By this time we were a bit more confident
about getting to the summit, as the weather was perfect
and what snow we had experienced caused us no problem.
We met some other intrepid heroes on the way. One couple on the ascent who were equipped similarly to ourselves and overtook us, and a very well equipped group of about seven who were on the way back. Other than that we were completely alone.
About three hours in we stopped for some lunch and, as we had stopped moving, quickly began to get cold so only took a short break. Then we set off for the last leg again optimistic we would make the summit ok.
Thankfully, although the last leg was pretty steep in parts, the snow was not actually frozen and afforded us a good grip for our boots, and steady anchor for our poles. The only problem we had really was being careful not to step into snow covered water channels, which would have happened crampons or not.
So after 4.75 hours we made it to the top, and our companion Chester the dog clearly loved the view, so much so, we had great difficulty getting him to leave, and as the wind was pretty fierce we didn't want to hang about too long.
Pretty uneventfull walk back - 3.25 hours - and straight into the Drovers Inn for hot coffee.
Christmas this year? Ice axe and crampons
