Walkhighlands

Good weather, good snow and good mates. The perfect Ingredients for a great walk and boy i was not disappointed. Boab(Haggissupper), Gary(Spirittoo), Tom (Never been up a hill for 5 years) and Myself arrived at the Visitor centre around 9:30 and saw the hill was going to be quite busy with the number of cars parked up. Low cloud shrouded the hills except Meall Corranaich who seemed to be shouting "Pick me!" We headed up towards Beinn Ghlas and hoped the cloud would clear. The cloud flirted with us as we reached the ridge for the top and people around us disappeared (Believe me there were a lot). A couple of Guys passed us by, one skiing and the other had "Big Feet" ski's on with a snowboard strapped to his back. Both were making fast progress up the hill. We put our crampons on as the snow was hard packed and we started to stuggle for grip. Once we reached the summit (In cloud) we quickly moved along the ridge and we started to get the views we came for. The wind had picked up and the chill factor was into "bl**dy freezing" even though it was only minus 4 on the temp gauge. Lunch was at the bottom of the final assent to Lawers and some interesting cloud formations was seen as well as a dog running off with most of my lunch! The climb to the top was not my finest hour as i struggled to keep up with the others. Don't know if it was the start of the virus that the rest of the family had last week or it was something to do with the visit to the pub last night. I still enjoyed the steep climb to the summit as a lot of people were going as slow. AT LAST the top. Shrouded in low cloud but giving glimpses of the surrounding scenary. We walked back down and walked the "by-pass" route to Coire Odhar getting some great views as we went. We had a great laugh all day and even though it was a bit more cloudy than expected it was still a classic

exellent pictures, favourite of mine those 2, i know i shouldnt but i always get a tad disapointed when i see loads of cars parked at "base" camp for any walk, yesterday at ben venue i was up early and had the way up and top to myself, good on the bloke who hasnt been out for 5 years on a hill, not the easiest to climb these 2, even more so in snowy conditions, looked a great day

baz