Stay at home

[GeeDee]

We left the house at a cold and dark 7am with the intention of being booted up and walking before 8.30...... However !! due to my car not being a morning person on that particular day ( a mixture of cold and a less that average tank of diesel ) progress this morning was slow to say the least !!...
Anyways eventually we arrived at the Ben Lawers hotel carpark. Booted up with haste, quick gear check and off we set.
It's a great walk into these hills with a good distance of warming up the legs phase before the steeper sections.
Progress was steady ( i'm no fell runner !! ) and we hit the snow line around 500 metres. Once we were into the snow the going was actually easier, it was just the right conditions to support your weight and provide a bit of grip.

Onwards and upwards and the first top was reached ...... " Its a bit blowy " was one of the comments....... master of understatements my mates !! A quick photo shoot and then we headed down into the saddle for a bit of shelter, hot blackcurrant, cheese and jam sandwiches and a bit of banter. Piecetime finished and time to go again. An extra layer was in order now as the wind was getting lazy ( going through us instead of around us ).

The second top was achieved fairly quickly and of course more summit shots were in order.

And then its was the walk back out. The route down was an "as the crow flies" straight route which was pretty good actually. Whilst on the way down we took the opportunity to practice a bit of ice axe skills, cutting steps , ice axe arrest ....you know the script ( playing in the snow ).

The last 30 mins of the return route was dominated by one of my mates fantasize about a pint and a bowl of soup from the Lawers hotel........ The look on his face when it was closed was priceless and his spirit only lifted when when parked up at the Taybank Hotel for the obligatory post walk pint.

[Collaciotach]

Lovely day and the Alpine style photographs are great