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Skiing Wi Nae Ski's on Ben Lui 4

Skiing Wi Nae Ski's on Ben Lui 4


Postby mr_ash_37 » Sun Apr 20, 2014 3:09 pm

Route description: Ben Lui and Beinn a'Chlèibh

Munros included on this walk: Beinn a' Chlèibh, Beinn Dubhchraig, Ben Lui, Ben Oss

Date walked: 19/04/2014

Time taken: 9.1 hours

Distance: 18.5 km

Ascent: 1700m

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I've longing to tackle these 4 for some time now and reviewing the forecast Easter weekend 2014 looked like the perfect time to take on this epic day out. GG was signed up too therefore picked him up 630am.

Thanks to bobble_hat_kenny and paula hubens for their inspiration and brilliant walk reports in prep for my attempt.

Arrived at Dalrigh car park and ready to set off (after a mild panic of losing my car keys, fortunately found them) and set off at 825am.

Perfect weather, we knew we were not going to get much better than this.

Excellent progress along the road to Cononish with the initial view of Ben Lui opening up which was stunning and at this point we realised that Lui was holding quite a lot of snow on the summit and that we had not packed ice axes or crampons....hmmm.

We followed the road all the way to Allt an Rund and spoke to a couple who had camped over night, what a perfect spot as the waterfall down from Lui was fresh with snow water and running well. We then made our way up the steep path, faint at times heading for Stob Garbh and upon reaching there the view was just awesome and so clear of Cruachan, Glencoe and the big ben sitting proud. It was just perfection and justified the day. At this point we had hit the snow level however was nice and soft with no overhangs at this point. And so began our snow walk up to the summit of Ben Lui. About 10 minutes in and just under half way to the summit the soft snow turned to ice ! Disaster as mentioned we had not packed out snow kit, however there was one set of icy foot holes so we carefully dug in our toes and walking poles and made slow progress - I must admit there were a few sewing machine leg moments, LOL however it was also a buzz and a real achievement reaching the summit, however lesson learned !

Summit of Ben Lui reached at 1145am and wow the views had just got better with a perfect 360 view and most of the best mountains could be seen. A lovely snow cornice at the summit also. I think this must be one of my best climbs to date.

A quick bite to eat and onto Beinn Chleibh, which turned out to be a nice up and down and not too bad on the legs.

Summit of Beinn Chleibh reached at 1245pm. Stunning views particularly of Cruchan and back to Lui. It also gave us a great view of the route ahead where we would skirt the SE banks of Lui.

We made our way back to the saddle between Lui and Chleibh and decided on a line and stuck to it, no path at this point just instinct. Progress was made however I felt a lot of strain on my left hand side especialoloy the ankle just due to the contour we were following. We started to gain height a little too early for the saddle between Lui and Oss however was not too much to walk back down and again at this stage the view of ben Oss was lovely and also back to Lui. Wonderful range so far!

Pretty steep ascent to Oss on a faint and sometimes disappearing path however this was probably tough due to a bit of fatigue setting in. The weather was still perfect sun and a little breeze probably around 14-16 degrees.

Ben Oss summit reached at 250pm. Spoke with a lovely family we had briefly seen earlier in the day and soaked up the views again. This time Loch Lomond and Ben Lomond and Arrocher Alps view was stunning. The best I have seen looking back south.

Route ahead to Beinn Dubhchraig was simple therefore we made our way and again hit some lovely snow, initially along a ridge which was superb fun and epic and thereafter down a nice gradient so we had a bit of fun and skied down using boot heel and walking poles. It was so effective and so much fun and also helped our progress.The sky was pure blue and snow pure white it was just the perfect setting.

On dry ground again made our way up to summit, legs really tired at this stage however the terrain was perfect.

Beinn Dubhchraig summit reached at 410pm.

Ben More and its neighbours dominated the view and we made our plans of descent. direct route was the plan! NE down the back towards the Caledonian Pines.

Again we encountered a load of perfect snow probably about 300m worth so again we were skiing wi nae ski's. Fun fun fun and excellent progress. Then we hit the path out which was extremely boggy in places, made our way through the pines which were superb and eventually back to the road at the railway and to the car park at 605pm.

An epic day, 4 brilliant munro's, stunning views and perfect weather.

Sun burnt heads and neck and hands. No blisters !

Two happy dudes....here's some pics. Enjoy!
Last edited by mr_ash_37 on Mon Apr 21, 2014 10:15 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Skiing Wi Nae Ski's on Ben Lui 4

Postby mr_ash_37 » Sun Apr 20, 2014 4:34 pm

Apologies picture glitch, uploading to Flickr and will post link ASAP....cheers
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Re: Skiing Wi Nae Ski's on Ben Lui 4

Postby mr_ash_37 » Sun Apr 20, 2014 5:24 pm

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Re: Skiing Wi Nae Ski's on Ben Lui 4

Postby pollyh33 » Sun Apr 20, 2014 11:47 pm

Smashing report Mr Ash and the photos were pretty braw too :clap:

I still have Ben Oss to do out these four. When you walked along to Cononish did you notice if the bridge was still there near the farm?

How boggy was the final part of the descent off Dubhcraig once you hit the forest?? And is the shoogly bridge gone completely?

Cheers.

P X
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Re: Skiing Wi Nae Ski's on Ben Lui 4

Postby mr_ash_37 » Mon Apr 21, 2014 10:05 am

Hi P,
Thanks for your comments.
It was an epic day on stunning mountains.
Sorry I do not think there is a bridge at cononish.
The bog was probably 50/50 but should dry with this weather and avoidable with careful foot choices.
If you can do it soon and catch the snow.
Thanks again enjoy when you do it.
A
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Re: Skiing Wi Nae Ski's on Ben Lui 4

Postby oldrayne75 » Mon Apr 21, 2014 7:23 pm

Nice report and pics Mr Ash. We had a near identical experience to you on Easter Sunday. We also tackled the final section of Lui without winter kit - those foot holes came in handy! As you say, lesson learned.
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Re: Skiing Wi Nae Ski's on Ben Lui 4

Postby Lynne2509 » Mon Apr 21, 2014 8:51 pm

Great report and fab pics on Flickr - Super stuff ! We passed Ben Lui on the way back from Mull today and remarked at how much snow was on there. :clap:
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Re: Skiing Wi Nae Ski's on Ben Lui 4

Postby mr_ash_37 » Tue Apr 22, 2014 9:01 am

Thanks oldrayne, appreciated! Yeah hope they helped you, it was getting quite sore at times kicking in further with no crampons but looking back wow was stunning. Grt day. Well done also.
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Re: Skiing Wi Nae Ski's on Ben Lui 4

Postby mr_ash_37 » Tue Apr 22, 2014 9:02 am

Thanks Lynne, appreciated. Got you on flickr too, look forward to your future trips. Yeah hope you get to do lui 4 real soon. Enjoy
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Re: Skiing Wi Nae Ski's on Ben Lui 4

Postby rockhopper » Tue Apr 22, 2014 10:07 pm

Ben Lui certainly looked to have quite a bit of snow on it the other day - it's a nice group of hills to wander, esp on such a good day - cheers :)
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Re: Skiing Wi Nae Ski's on Ben Lui 4

Postby mr_ash_37 » Wed Apr 23, 2014 8:03 am

Thanks rockhopper, yeah it was my favourite group so far, stunning day.
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Re: Skiing Wi Nae Ski's on Ben Lui 4

Postby tom14771 » Wed May 07, 2014 4:46 pm

nice report it led me ta ben Lui on monday douted the fairness of ur report with the fog at times but kept my faith as well as my nerve and and manged the 4 sumits thank for ur gidenss it realy help in the fog :wink:
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Re: Skiing Wi Nae Ski's on Ben Lui 4

Postby scottishkennyg » Wed May 07, 2014 6:16 pm

Grand day there..with some cracking photos..liked the ones showing the gradients and perspectives..nice one..
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Re: Skiing Wi Nae Ski's on Ben Lui 4

Postby mr_ash_37 » Thu May 08, 2014 4:30 pm

Hi Tom, thanks for your comments. Congrats on the achievement. It's a long hard day! Even worse in the fog! Glad my report was of use. Catch u some time.
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Re: Skiing Wi Nae Ski's on Ben Lui 4

Postby mr_ash_37 » Thu May 08, 2014 4:32 pm

Scottishkennyg, thank you very much for your pic comments. Very kind and glad you enjoyed them. Thanks again, ash
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