Walkhighlands

This little bugger has been my nemesis. 4 attempts since January were thwarted by snow (well once was laziness, but the other 3 were ridiculous snow, once of those time with clag and no map )

So dragged my sorry ass out of bed at 6am today and headed up to Ardgarten to catch the better weather forecast for the morning. It was dry, no wind to speak of and I had seen for the past few weeks the snow was gone. The path was drier than I have experienced it before and that made for quick going. I've got it broken down into legs now having had so many walks up at least to the lochan. These all passed really quick and I was performing better than usual.

You get great views over cobbler on the ascent, and that was just about the only photo I took on the way up.


by MekonVengence, on Flickr

The lochan to summit was a bugger in snow, but the path was perfectly visible today and no problems were presented.


by MekonVengence, on Flickr

The 2nd gulley you tackle does not half leave you exposed at about 720m. I just crunched on up the path and eventually the cairn popped out to say hello.


by MekonVengence, on Flickr


by MekonVengence, on Flickr


by MekonVengence, on Flickr

I took some snaps and got going after a quick exploration of the summit area and consideration of the alternate descents. I decided to leave that for another day and gathered my kit and headed back down.


by MekonVengence, on Flickr


by MekonVengence, on Flickr

I did like looking down on the lochan from high above


by MekonVengence, on Flickr

Very pleased to get it done, it's not really obvious in the snow which way the path would weave and given the big drops and steep sections I'm thinking I was right on definitely 2 of the occasions to can it before. Now I have my own GPS route and experience of the way the path weaves around to gain the cairn I'll look forward to next winter and try and catch this again.


by MekonVengence, on Flickr

I think we all have a nemesis or three hills that have thwarted us for one reason or another Some of mine have been the easiest of hills too for some reason. Glad you finally cracked the Brack though. I did this hill in clag some years back and completely missed the path near the lochan that heads to the summit. As I retraced my steps it was blindingly obvious to me where it was

A nice little hill though and I'll always have a soft spot for the Arrochar hills as I very much cut my teeth there

PeteR wrote:Glad you finally cracked the Brack though. I did this hill in clag some years back and completely missed the path near the lochan that heads to the summit. As I retraced my steps it was blindingly obvious to me where it was

Snap - did this also on my first attempt in January this year. Looked for an alternate and had a disagreement with a grass slope and the grass slope won Walked back to the lochan and spotted the path in the snow, then got completely bamboozled by the clag & snow once up a bit higher and had to turn back.

PeteR wrote:A nice little hill though and I'll always have a soft spot for the Arrochar hills as I very much cut my teeth there

Arrochar has been great for me, 40 mins drive, and with the winter we just had, has given so many opportunities to go out and experience both success and failure - as you say, learning as you go. Only Binnein an Fhidhleir and Ben Vane to go, but I'm pretty confident I'll keep going back for the whole range again and again.