Wet and Misty Ben Lomond - 1st Munro climb!

[dogsandmoons]

Not much planning went into this other than I found myself in Dumbarton on Sunday, and after seeing distant views of Ben Lomond, the seed was planted, and arranged to climb it Wednesday with a friend when the weather was forecast to be ok. Ok as in, not quite as bad as other days! Was my first ever Munro, and my friends second one, his first being about 19 years ago. Slightly unprepared we arrived to the car park about 11am, thinking it'd take about 5hrs up and back. The weather was great to begin with, nice and clear, slightly cool breeze, but very warm on the initial climb. We stopped for a quick snack and to take a few photos at a couple of points as we climbed.

5Y1A0817 by dogsandmoons, on Flickr

Pretty soon after this, the blue sky was a distant memory and the clouds and rain started rolling in.

5Y1A0827 by dogsandmoons, on Flickr

5Y1A0828 by dogsandmoons, on Flickr

Once we got to around the shoulder, it was starting to come down pretty hard, and we realised it wasn't looking like relenting. We passed a few walkers coming down and trudged on up the shoulder, which is a nice gradient for us noobs and not too hard going on the lungs. The higher we got the wetter and colder we got, and by the time we reached the bottom of the last steep section leading up towards the summit, we'd all but given up on a clear view and getting some photos from the top. Glad to get to the summit, we didn't hang around, and set off back down the way we came.

IMG_20151111_134245 by dogsandmoons, on Flickr

As we started to descend our legs we so tired, wet, and cold, they had almost stopped working! Too scared to stop, we tried to go down relatively quickly to keep the blood moving and our bodies as warm as was possible in the conditions, which was not very warm! We didn't stop until we were just down around the bottom of the shoulder, where we tanned all the chocolate we had, and thankfully the rain eased off and eventually stopped, raising our spirits somewhat.

5Y1A0834 by dogsandmoons, on Flickr

We made it back to the car just after 4 o'clock, glad to get back before dusk was kicking in too much, and blasted the heaters in the car on the way home as well as eating as much as we could and eventually thawing out!

Pretty much as soon as I got home, I ordered some better gloves, hat, trousers, and jacket. For the next one

[Silverhill]

Congratulations on your first munro! Ben Lomond was my first too. Your pictures are stunning. I especially like the ones where the cloud comes rolling in, very dramatic. Although for you of course not so great because you got very wet. I look forward to reading about your next munro!

[webbie88]

You must have got a better day for it than we did, its my scout neckie with the poppy on it that is attached to the trig point we where there on remembrance day for a service with scouts.

[dogsandmoons]

Thanks Silverhill, and glad you like the photos. Next one hopefully Ben Vorlich in a week or so!

Webbie88 - Ah, interesting about the necktie on the trig, we did wonder what it was!