Beinn Luibhean and Ben Ime from the Rest and be Thankful
Posted: Fri Oct 04, 2013 5:58 pmBeinn Ime was my first ever Munro: as a young teenager I walked up the Cobbler from Succoth and just carried on. I'm pretty sure I got to the top, but it was nearly sixty years ago, so I thought it would be a good idea to revisit it along with the neighbouring Corbett Beinn Luibhean, and what better place to start than the rest and be Thankful - a full 246m high! Naismith made pretty short work of the almost straight line I drew on the map - 3km , 950m, 2 hr 03min - optimistic I thought.
Arriving at the pass (between landslips!) on a sunny day, i found the whole East side barred by a fence, but after parking beside Loch Restil, I clambered with difficulty over a locked gate and headed straight up the hill. progress was very slow at first through deep grass/rush, but after crossing a second broken down fence things slowly improved and I eventually headed rightwards up a shallow depression to a shoulder on the East ridge. From here the top was soon reached. I found a faint path, followed it down to the flat col and avoiding the rocky outcrops directly below the summit, set off up easy grass slopes towards the East ridge of Beinn Ime, which was moving in and out of the cloud . Near the top the previously warm conditions cooled sharply and in a biting wind I had to don gloves and two extra layers. I Reached the cairn in 3.25 hours, found a sheltered spot and had some lunch - not much of a view.
I followed the path West nearly to the Glas Bealach, descended a steep grassy gully and continued down the easy slopes towards Butterbridge. On the way I met up with two delightful young ladies from Glasgow who had traveresed Beinn Chorranach and who seemed to spend most of their (spare) time in the Arrochar alps.
I crossed the stream to the path on the East side, which was boggy and tortuous - I suspect remaining out of the gully on the wesern slopes would have been much quicker - but I reached the road by the ruined cottage and walked back up to my car - only about a hour's descent.
Arriving at the pass (between landslips!) on a sunny day, i found the whole East side barred by a fence, but after parking beside Loch Restil, I clambered with difficulty over a locked gate and headed straight up the hill. progress was very slow at first through deep grass/rush, but after crossing a second broken down fence things slowly improved and I eventually headed rightwards up a shallow depression to a shoulder on the East ridge. From here the top was soon reached. I found a faint path, followed it down to the flat col and avoiding the rocky outcrops directly below the summit, set off up easy grass slopes towards the East ridge of Beinn Ime, which was moving in and out of the cloud . Near the top the previously warm conditions cooled sharply and in a biting wind I had to don gloves and two extra layers. I Reached the cairn in 3.25 hours, found a sheltered spot and had some lunch - not much of a view.
I followed the path West nearly to the Glas Bealach, descended a steep grassy gully and continued down the easy slopes towards Butterbridge. On the way I met up with two delightful young ladies from Glasgow who had traveresed Beinn Chorranach and who seemed to spend most of their (spare) time in the Arrochar alps.
I crossed the stream to the path on the East side, which was boggy and tortuous - I suspect remaining out of the gully on the wesern slopes would have been much quicker - but I reached the road by the ruined cottage and walked back up to my car - only about a hour's descent.