Beinn Ime from Glen Croe

[warbietoo]

Beinn Ime was the one that got away in the past so it was decided that this was the one for today. Three fat lads, my son and a big black dug set off from Glen Croe. We parked the car at the lay-by half way up (242063)the glen (Mind you we should have parked it 200mtrs south at the bridge). We crossed the stile and headed up the hillside. We soon realised this was not going to be an easy day with no path (It was down beside the river) and unforgiving grass to walk on.

View to the bealach with Beinn Narnain beyond.

We came across the first of many gullies filled with snow which produced loads of keystone cops hilarity.

Gary fighting the snow bogles who were trying to drag him under.....

Even the big black dug struggled.

Zaak has fun in the snow with a rear end drift...

It looked like the weather was going to close in instead of lifting and soon Narnain was shrouded in cloud. This coupled with a "I'm knackered" feeling really tried our resolve but as always a 5 min rest works wonders. We really have a hoot when we are out on the hill and its not the first time someone has said "We heard you guys laughing all the way up the hill". This with the rest got us up to the left of the bealach. Some guys had went higher than us and seemed to have a better time but when we met them even they said it was tough going and wished they had came in from the Arrochar side.

getting kitted up

We were just below the summit around mid-day, the visibility was not the best, temp was 2 degree's and the wind was picking up. We took a couple of pics.

The cobbler at 12:45

The cobbler two minutes later.

Wow! The weather forecast was right. The whole day was transformed as blue sky replaced the Gray heavy clouds within minutes.

Beinn an Lochan

We quickly walked to the summit which was just 10 min away.

Beinn Ime summit with the big black dug

We were rewarded with views that we thought we would never see. It was even warm in the sun so lunch was had on the top. The big black dug staring out the guys for food. He has only a couple of rules,
1: If you stare at someone long enough you will get what you want... He did!
2: Always give people a friendly greeting. A cold nose in the crotch is most effective.
3: If it's not wet and sloppy, it's not a real kiss.
4: Leave room in your schedule for a good nap.

Gary on the top.

Three fat blokes and the big black dug on the summit

Beinn Narnain (R) and Ben Lomond (L)

The snow was actually quite firm so we had a couple of good long glissades until we got further down when it felt like we in a slush puppy!!

Boab at the top of the first short slide

With my camera zoomed fully out we could see how busy the Cobbler was. How many? You must have had to take a ticket to get on the top.....

Twenty-five folk in this picture. How many were on top?

We finally found the so called path and made our way down to the bridge where we should have parked.

View down to the A83

I don't think i would like to try this route again unless it was hard packed with snow and most definitely not in Summer when the grass and heather is long but today is a victory for Three fat blokes and a big black dug.

Gary, Ally, Boab and the big black dug that ate all the lunch. OK we gave him nothing and scoffed it all ourselves. Can you tell?

A great day with good friends, loads of laughs, superb views and well done to Mark my son who climbed his first Munro putting us all to shame with his fitness levels. (PS Yer no coming back!!!)

[jools]

looks a good day, did you manage to keep up we the big black dug? Me and husband did this walk last year combined with ben vane and ben narnain, minus the snow, looks a good winter walk.
Here's a pic of The Cobbler from Ben Ime on our day.

not so crowded ..