It had been 8 years since Iain had last been up there and I had been planning on doing some of the Lawers Group Munros for a while now so decision made and Loch Tay was our destination. A slightly delayed start was further delayed by a quick visit to a London friend who was up for the weekend and in the west end but we were soon on our way again and arrived and set off from Ben Lawers car park at exactly midday.
Strathyre had looked nice on the drive up and the hills were clear but it wouldn't last for long...
Setting off from the car park:

As we head up the path Meall nan Tarmachan on our left has white bags of rocks set on the path for some improvement work:

Beinn Ghlas up ahead, the path takes us up through the nature reserve then the hillside and the summit is retiring behind what looks like three summit mounds:

We head through the gate and up the good paths:

Looking back down hill, Stob Binnein and Ben More now visible to the west but not for long...

Behind us to the South Ben Vorlich, Stuc a' Chroin and Ben Each are now peeking out, again not for long...

Time for the steep ascent now as we pass another path that joins this one from Coire Odhar that we'll take on the way back:

Meall Corranaich summit on our left:

We continue uphill but it's looking ominous behind us as Stob Binnein starts to disappear... hmmm we may not have such good visibility for long, better up the pace:

Meall nan Tarmachan directly west with Meall Garbh summit sticking out:

Aaaand... they're gone!

Meall Garbh and Meall nan Tarmachan summits close up:

Meall Corranaich, looking pretty steep from this side:

We make good progress up the path despite stopping briefly to chat to a few people and overtake some others:

If only conditions were going to stay this clear...

It appeared that we were now on a time-limit... Ben More and Stob Binnein have completely vanished:

We make haste again and continue up the path to the level section below the 3 sub-summit mounds:


Directly south Ben Vorlich and Stuc a' Chroin are gone too now...

Meall Ghaordaidh:

Final zig-zag path section:

The weather was still closing in fast to match our pace:


Car park and Loch Tay in the distance:

Iain with Meall nan Tarmachan behind him:

Past the three sub-summits the actual summit comes into view:

As does Ben Lawers summit beyond it:

We reach the top and the view over to Ben Lawers, An Stuc and Meall Garbh is a cracker:


Our route ahead, Lawers then Stuc and we'd see if we had the time or energy to add Meall Garbh, at this point we fancied a double scramble down then back up...

Ben Lawers summit:

An Stuc, Meall Garbh and Creag an Fhithich just peeking out:

Meall Corranaich's long summit ridge can be seen well from here now although the clouds were still closing fast behind it...

A bit clearer to the north:

To the west it was a different story...


Going, going...

...


I bag the big camera and switch to waterproof camera phone in preparation as we don't hang around for long on Beinn Ghlas' summit and make a bee line for Ben Lawers:

Nice...


Beinn Ghlas, Meall nan Tarmachan & Meall Corranaich, this would be the last we'd see of the tops:

Just the final ascent to go, will they make it...


Hold... hooold!

They say timing is everything, ours was perfect it seemed... bye Beinn Ghlas...


Our luck was about to run out:

Meall a' Choire Leith starting to go now, the clouds have caught up with us...

Typical, just as we make the final summit approach, I blame Donny for our morning coffee pit-stop!


Beinn Ghlas a goner now:

Through the mist to the summit:


View indicator and trig point, we've made it:

Ah well, looks like we're left with a "classic" hill summit view...


I think this was the 3rd or 4th summit of Ben Lawers for Iain? Perhaps he can confirm...


I checked and we were on the summit of Ben Lawers 2 hours after we started, a good 30 minutes ahead of Naismith... hmmm, maybe I do have a fast hillwalking pace after all! We were being chased by the rain but didn't exactly run uphill, we just went at our (well, my) usual pace...

I take a few shots of the view...


That's the direction we're heading next, to the east and Creag an Fhithich:

But first up, lunch! Looking back at the summit:

With no view to enjoy (another hill added to my 'you owe me a view' list) we blether and observe a few people summiting:

As we approached the summit I had mentioned my disappointment and not being greeted by the local summit Raven, well it must have heard me as it appeared from nowhere and put on a little display for us!


Re-fuelled and now quite damp due to the mist we decide to set off towards Creag an Fhithich, An Stuc behind it here:

Approaching the Tump:

Made it, summit cairn:

By now the clouds were coming and going a bit, making it very atmospheric which was the one word we guessed would sum up this walk when discussing the weather during the ascent:

Panorama looking north:

In an instant the view would clear up for us and Lochan nan Cat appeared down below:

An Stuc & Meall Garbh:


A few more summit shots before we head for An Stuc:

It's clearing we may be in luck...


An Stuc panorama 1:

Lochan nan Cat:

Creag an Fhithich:

Heading down to Bealach Dubh:

Well that window didn't last long, An Stuc panorama 2:

At the bealach, time to enter the mist again...


By this point we were both pretty soaked and tired but still enjoying the fleeting views and the walk:

Tiny scramble up the easy side of An Stuc:

Approaching the summit...


Ben Lawers behind us:

Final section, clearing up again:

Creag an Fhithich below Ben Lawers:

Cairn and mound, we made it:

The happy hikers:


As you can see the view was still very changeable, taken from the mound east of the cairn looking towards the steep scramble side of An Stuc:

Looking back to Iain and the view decided to play ball, result:

I grasp at the opportunity and take out the big camera again while it's dry:

Lochan nan Uan and Loch Tay to the south:

Meall Garbh to the east:

We were still humming and hawing about whether to add in Meall Garbh and do the scramble twice but by this point we were both pretty tired due to our rapid pace uphill and along to this point. We decided to check it out anyway... looking down, yeah it's steep!


A path heads to the right and then downhill, Iain investigates and refreshes his memory:

We discuss our options...

As the cloud had returned and we were soaked through already so the thought of adding a 4th Munro and leaving just Meall Greigh on its own didn't appeal, better to leave two here and walk those two another day.
We spotted a couple down below descending An Stuc and they were using a rope which we thought was perhaps a bit much but better safe than sorry...

We set off back to the summit rocks to get our bags then headed back down, stopping at the edge overlooking Creag an Fhithich:

I let Iain go ahead for a bit so I could get him in a dramatic shot for scale:

Down the steep section:

Looking back to An Stuc and Lochan nan Cat, both coming in and out of view:


Back up Creag an Fhithich:

Back into the clouds...

Towards Ben Lawers...

Looking back:

Ben Lawers summit approaching again:

Another quick break at the top:


Then we're off again heading down to take the Beinn Ghlas bypass path on the right at the bottom here:

We contemplated heading up and over again but decided the variety of the bypass was worth exploring:

Beinn Ghlas up to the left:

Continuing around the bypass:

Meall Corranaich is just over there apprently...


We pass the cairn at the top of the Burn of Edramucky and head down the path:

This part of the walk was a bit of a slog but possibly due to the fact we were even more soaked through now and hadn't seen much else than hill sides or clouds for the last hour or more, at least the end was approaching but we were still in high spirits due to being out at high altitude:


Getting there...

A left after here and we were soon back at the start:

There was only one other car left in the car park, we wasted no time changing into dry clothes then fending off the Ben Lawers car park midgies... yeah I remember them from Tarmachan a few years back... they are well trained to home in on hikers as soon as they relax back at the car and get changed, the wee bisms!

One frantic change later and we were heading back through torrential rain at Strathyre to return home to the south side of Glasgow via the motorways. I dropped Iain off then enjoyed a hearty home-made meal, result. It was yet another excellent walk and we're already planning the next one for this weekend... i'll be back here again to climb the other Munros and Corbetts around Loch Tay at some point, looking forward to it already.
