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Our first trip of 2015 was to take Ben Lomond via The Ptarmigan Ridge. It`s not like a narrow exposed ridge or anything but it`s a nice walk with great views down Loch Lomond across the Luss hills and over the Arrochar alps. The rain or should i say hail started pretty early, as soon as we headed off the WHW path in fact and we stopped to gear up. Whilst we struggled with stretching our waterproof trousers over our boots a hungry little robin popped by. he stood right in front of us and i gave him some of my cereal bar. Jim tried to coax him onto his hand , but he remained a couple of inches away.
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- robin
As we left the wooded area and onto the hill proper the hail stopped, but we kept the waterproofs on as we knew it was going to be on and off all day. It`s a steep climb this and we were hurting and sweating already, unfit or what ? You gain height quickly though and the loch stretched out below us. But it wasn`t long before it started snowing. Some gentle wee flakes at first and then some ferocious little jaggy buggers flew at us in the wind. The hills of Luss across the water were in fine view when we started up the path, but now they were nowhere to be seen, a thick grey cloud covered most of the sky to the west of us, and the wind and snow were relentlessly smashing into us. But we kept on, knowing (hoping) it was going to get better.
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- snow covered path
The snow on the ground was fresh, lying quickly. As Jim was ahead I just kept my head down and followed his footprints, the best way to stop my face from stinging. Just as i contemplated getting my balaclava and goggles out, the wind dropped and the snow ceased. The clouds had also cleared and we had a fine view back down to Loch Lomond.
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- Loch Lomond 1
The sun had came out behind us and it felt great to have a bit of heat on our backs. And it shows how changeable the weather can be on the hills. We were only about 300 or so feet up when it started snowing, trailed through an icy blast and then had clear skies and sunshine all within climbing about 100 metres or so ! And within a couple of minutes the wind and snow lashed at us again and the skies turned grey.
We walked up the zig zag path getting blasted in the face as we walked into the wind , then found some relief as we turned the other way on the path. We had another break in the weather here and we looked back to see loch lomond being set alight by the sun coming out of the clouds.
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- loch lomond 2
Once we reached 700m and onto the Ptarmigan, where it levels out for a bit just before the lochan we were given another break. Luckily we were in a position where we could take advantage of the great views being served up in front of us. Although still a bit windy the snow clouds had dispersed and we were able to take our time taking pictures of the Arrochar Alps and enjoy a bit of bright sunshine.
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- Arrochar Alps
We then dipped down by the wee lochan, where Jim took some pictures and we decided now would be as good a time as any to have a lunch break. We huddled in under the rocks on the edge of the lochan and fired up the stove to make tea.
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- lochan
While we were here i took the opportunity to whip out one of my xmas presents, the selfie stick!
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- selfie
We had a laugh messing about, trying to hold the stick up in the wind,
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- selfie 2
We sat and watched the wind blow serpent shapes across the water and as we heard it actually beginning to roar behind us we ditched the tea, it was taking ages to boil and decided to try to make for the top. We packed up and headed back on to the path. We looked like two drunk men as we stumbled along, being blown from side to side.
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- Ben Lomond
We crossed the frozen boggy section over the stepping stones (Bealach Bhuide) and headed up onto the last section, a near 200m climb to the summit. It was tough going as frequently we had to crouch down and scramble up what is normally a walking route. Spin drifts of snow were dancing around us and the gusts were getting stronger the higher we got. We stopped to shelter behind a lone rock, not really big enough for both of us, before running for it towards the closest crags to take shelter. We snuggled in as the wind blew over us. We held this position for about 5 minutes until we realised it wasn`t going to get any better. A huge gust actually lifted my rucksack off my back once. And Jim`s new birthday hat blew away ! I clocked the height on Jim`s watch at 866m, so close to the summit , but too dangerous to continue. We inched ourselves down off the rocks and began to head down. With the wind now in front of us, we could see it lift snow off the ground and whip it across in front of us, at one point I watched Jim being engulfed in white stuff that seemed to come from nowhere. On our way down we passed a couple of walkers crawling up, hanging on to each other and advised them that it wasn`t very safe, I don`t think they could understand me, despite me practically shouting in their faces. I did see them come down behind us shortly after though.
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- ptarmigan ridge
When we dropped back into the Bealach Bhuide the wind was practically gone, it was almost like walking inside a locked building. We slowly descended, my knees beginning to ache the cause of this, back to the car park and although it wasn`t the greatest of days we still got some nice moments up on the hill . Happy New Year .
