Law day, Sunburn, Man Chafing & Double Digits
Posted: Sun Jun 09, 2013 11:52 amBefore I start this I have to give special thanks to Jupe who not only agreed to do this route with me 2 days before hand but for showing great patience with my..........ahem..........breathers
I met Jupe (John) in the Lawers hotel carpack at the back of 7, where we then used my car to head off up to the start.
My original plan was to only do 5 (Glas, Lawers, An Stuc, Garbh & Greigh) with a camp overnight and then probably do Meall Nan Tarmachan today, however John then pulled out a guide which covered, not only the original 5 I had planned on but also included a Choire Leith & Corrnaich. So we set to do the seven, little did I know that was going to be me for the weekend.
We head up Meall a Choire Leith, few breathers here and there but made it up in good time, there was nothing really of interest on the way up except the wean's sun factor 50 I had put on about an hour before hand was probably starting to wash of. Few photo's and summit ciggie before heading to the bealach to take us up to Meall Corrnaich, this is where we met, well, the craziest guy I've ever met, a hill jogger, stopped for a quick blether before he set off on his way, I dubbed him "Mountain man" because of the high level of physical fitness he obviously had.
We reached the summit of Meall Corrnaich, usual photo's and ciggie which was where we spotted "Mountain Man" making his way from Beinn Ghlas towards Ben Lawers, to say I was impressed is an understatement. The descent from Meall Corrnaich towards the path which would take us up to Beinn Ghlas, although steep, wasn't particularly difficult.
We reached the bottom and started to plot how to make our way up to Beinn Ghlas, progress was a bit slow but finally made it to the Cairn and as I had read, it was generally bypassed by people making their way to Ben Lawers, again, photo's and ciggie before heading along the ridge towards Ben Lawers.
I could start to feel the effects that the day was having on me but I was determined to push on, finally we reached the summit of Ben Lawers, which was like Sauchiehall street, this was our chance to sit and have a good rest as we had passed the half way mark. The views from up there were absolutely stunning and I really started to feel better, the views make all the pain and hardships worthwhile.
Next on the list was An Stuc, I was dreading this one as it looked "steep" but surprisingly we made the summit pretty quickly even with more than a couple of breathers. However, the descent down the other side. FFS do people actually do scrambling and rock climbing for fun? I spent the almost the entire descent bum sliding my way down, every time I looked down it was a sheer drop, I've never been so thankful to be back on my own feet.
The ascent to Meall Garbh looked to my tired and weary body far far worse than it actually was because like An Stuc, we were up pretty quickly. Quick pause for a ciggie and some more photos and we headed for Meall Greigh.
The descent from Meall Garbh to the Bealach was quite possibly the 2nd worst of the day (the worst was still to come) by the time we reached level ground I was completely knackered, nevertheless another quick breather and we were on our way again. Looking at the ascent from Meall Garbh, it looked like it was going to be nothing but false summits, although once we were down it wasn't too bad and the ascent was pleasant enough as it contoured round towards the summit.
That was it finally, 7 Munro's 11 hours and I was a wreck, unfortunately we had the worst descent of the day, that long foot planting hill which just seemed to be never ending, not to worry, we were back at the hotel for around 8 where the food and drink was most welcome and I realised that, I was just going to head home, the thought of trying to pitch a tent was not a pleasant one after day like that.
Very happy with myself for finally hitting double figures and I be using today to sit and do absolutely nothing
Summit No 1 Meall a Choire Leith
Summit No 2 Meall Cornaich
Summit No 3 Beinn Ghlas
Summit No 4 Ben Lawers
Summit No 5 An Stuc
Summit No 6 Meall Garbh
Summit No 7 and my 10th Meall Greigh
Remaining photo's can be found at the following link, no account needed
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151675413491926.1073741829.545136925&type=1&l=48840875df
I met Jupe (John) in the Lawers hotel carpack at the back of 7, where we then used my car to head off up to the start.
My original plan was to only do 5 (Glas, Lawers, An Stuc, Garbh & Greigh) with a camp overnight and then probably do Meall Nan Tarmachan today, however John then pulled out a guide which covered, not only the original 5 I had planned on but also included a Choire Leith & Corrnaich. So we set to do the seven, little did I know that was going to be me for the weekend.
We head up Meall a Choire Leith, few breathers here and there but made it up in good time, there was nothing really of interest on the way up except the wean's sun factor 50 I had put on about an hour before hand was probably starting to wash of. Few photo's and summit ciggie before heading to the bealach to take us up to Meall Corrnaich, this is where we met, well, the craziest guy I've ever met, a hill jogger, stopped for a quick blether before he set off on his way, I dubbed him "Mountain man" because of the high level of physical fitness he obviously had.
We reached the summit of Meall Corrnaich, usual photo's and ciggie which was where we spotted "Mountain Man" making his way from Beinn Ghlas towards Ben Lawers, to say I was impressed is an understatement. The descent from Meall Corrnaich towards the path which would take us up to Beinn Ghlas, although steep, wasn't particularly difficult.
We reached the bottom and started to plot how to make our way up to Beinn Ghlas, progress was a bit slow but finally made it to the Cairn and as I had read, it was generally bypassed by people making their way to Ben Lawers, again, photo's and ciggie before heading along the ridge towards Ben Lawers.
I could start to feel the effects that the day was having on me but I was determined to push on, finally we reached the summit of Ben Lawers, which was like Sauchiehall street, this was our chance to sit and have a good rest as we had passed the half way mark. The views from up there were absolutely stunning and I really started to feel better, the views make all the pain and hardships worthwhile.
Next on the list was An Stuc, I was dreading this one as it looked "steep" but surprisingly we made the summit pretty quickly even with more than a couple of breathers. However, the descent down the other side. FFS do people actually do scrambling and rock climbing for fun? I spent the almost the entire descent bum sliding my way down, every time I looked down it was a sheer drop, I've never been so thankful to be back on my own feet.
The ascent to Meall Garbh looked to my tired and weary body far far worse than it actually was because like An Stuc, we were up pretty quickly. Quick pause for a ciggie and some more photos and we headed for Meall Greigh.
The descent from Meall Garbh to the Bealach was quite possibly the 2nd worst of the day (the worst was still to come) by the time we reached level ground I was completely knackered, nevertheless another quick breather and we were on our way again. Looking at the ascent from Meall Garbh, it looked like it was going to be nothing but false summits, although once we were down it wasn't too bad and the ascent was pleasant enough as it contoured round towards the summit.
That was it finally, 7 Munro's 11 hours and I was a wreck, unfortunately we had the worst descent of the day, that long foot planting hill which just seemed to be never ending, not to worry, we were back at the hotel for around 8 where the food and drink was most welcome and I realised that, I was just going to head home, the thought of trying to pitch a tent was not a pleasant one after day like that.
Very happy with myself for finally hitting double figures and I be using today to sit and do absolutely nothing
Summit No 1 Meall a Choire Leith
Summit No 2 Meall Cornaich
Summit No 3 Beinn Ghlas
Summit No 4 Ben Lawers
Summit No 5 An Stuc
Summit No 6 Meall Garbh
Summit No 7 and my 10th Meall Greigh
Remaining photo's can be found at the following link, no account needed
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151675413491926.1073741829.545136925&type=1&l=48840875df