So near yet so far

[martin.h]

Just a short report this time.
Another pre-planned jaunt up north from W.Yorks. We had this planned since last October and was looking forward to a good weekend thinking the first weekend of spring would be fairly kind to us weather wise.
We planned for An Caisteal and Beinn a' Chroin on Sat and Ben Chonzie on Sunday.
Well, Saturday dawned overcast, the mountains had had a lot of fresh snow, I was doubtful. We set off from Falkirk Travel lodge around 8:00 am and got to the layby on the A82 by 9:15, got geared up and off we went. The walk up Sron Gharbh was fairly straight forward, the snow was fresh and loose , made for hard work in parts. Got onto Twistin Hill and started the slog uphiill. At aroud 750 m the cloud came down,the wind increased and was whipping up spindrift, it was becoming hard to progress but progress we did to about 920m where it was becoming hard to stand up in the wind, the snow was coming at us horizontally it was like being sandblasted, what joy. At this point I can only describe the conditions as "epic" and increasingly becoming close to whiteout so at this point with visability reducing significantly, we decided it was a bit daft to continue so we decided to turn around and go back down, An Caisteal and Friend will still be there when we come back in April at Easter time. We were both disappointed but better being safe than sorry. We met up with a couple from London at the start of the walk and stayed with them up and down, they too were not happy with the conditions and were in similar mind when we decided to go back down. So Garth and Jackie, if you're reading this thanks for the company and maybe we'll meet on a Munro again sometime in better conditions.

Sunday dawned with wall to wall sunshine we chose Ben Chonzie so we were off hoping for better luck. However, we were on a tight schedule and, being a bit cautious about the wind and the chillfactor we fell short of the summit again, compounded by the fact that when we gained the ridge I missed the fence posts in a near whiteout, this did'nt help me because I did'nt fancy waiting for the cloud to blow over and spending longer on the mountain than I wanted with the prospect of a fairly long drive back to Halifax in addition. Another mountain for Easter????!!!!!!!!
Looking back now, I feel we could have managed Ben Chonzie, especially when we looked back 20 mins later to see a mountain completely void of cloud. My Munro winter conditions experience is very limited and I felt a wee bit unsettled. I need a bit more time to become more aquainted with harsher conditions than we get in the Lakes for example, this would help me and Denise become a little more confident with the conditions we found last weekend.
Did we do right aborting twice? I think so and it taught me a lesson, winter Munro's are much harder in these conditions, even the so called easy ones, so anybody who attained the summits 22,23 March, well done, you've got more bottle than me.
We are up again in Stirling 23rd to 25th April and I hope to report on some successful new Munro's.
Keep safe on the mountains everyone.

On Twistin Hill

On Twistin Hill

View back down at car

Sunday

Great day for walking, Sunday, towards Ben Chonzie

[scoob999]

Always better to be safe than sorry, the hills will always be there, and I'm sure you gained more experience than you think

Well done for giving it a go

[Fife Flyer]

Totally agree, always stay safe. The hills will still be there for your next venture north

We were out on Sunday, having said that we were east of your location just north of Glenshee. The conditions were very deceptive, blue skies & not too windy, however as we climbed the wind certainly blew away any cobwebs & being sandblasted was mentioned. We made our summit but didn't around for long

[simon-b]

A lot of people have cut Scottish mountain walks short this week, Martin. I've done if twice. I can sympathise with you, seeing B Chonzie clear after you'd turned back. Today I was attempting the West Drumochter 4. On reaching Geal Charn's summit, conditions were horrendous and I decided to leave the other 3 for another day. On getting down, things looked to have improved. The summits were clearing, but it was too late. At least we're both still here, Martin, as well as the mountains!

[martin.h]

Thanks for the support Guy's. Next time I may push myself a bit further just to put myself outside my comfort zone, but not too far away from it, if you know what I mean.